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Please try to use complete sentences. Your grammar just isn't cutting it.
It seems Stupid and Re ed...OOPS, I mean Dazed and Confused and the rest of the frontrunning Laker people don't understand the history of their own team that well.
The success of the Lakers, outside of the the championships of the old Minneapolis Lakers, has been based upon taking advantage of the stupid GMs of stuggling teams.
Look at the trades made for centers. Acquiring Wilt Chamberlain for three players none of you have heard of from the 76ers in 1970. An NBA le came in 1972.
Acquiring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from the Bucks for four players (the best of which were Junior Bridgeman and Brian Winters) - not even remotely equal compensation. Kareem was the MVP of the league many times in LA and five NBA les were won during Jabbar's tenure as a Laker.
Let's go to 1996 - stealing Shaquille O'Neal from an Orlando Magic team offering Shaq more money than LA. In the same year getting Kobe Bryant from the Hornets for Vlade Divac in his contract year - the Charlotte Hornets end up getting one year out of Vlade and he walks to Sacramento as a FA. Once again - getting outstanding players for next to nothing or garbage.
Do you how the Lakers got Magic Johnson? A completely washed up Gail Goodrich signed as a FA with the New Orleans Jazz in 1976 and the NBA League office decided (as was the case at the time) that the Jazz should compensate LA with a No 1 pick in 1979 - which turned out to be the 1st pick overall and Magic Johnson. Once again, a HOFer for garbage.
How did James Worthy get to be a Laker? In 1980, the Cleveland Cavaliers just had to have Don Ford in and a low Laker 1981 1st rounder for Butch Lee and a 1982 first rounder. Low and behold, that 1982 pick turns into the 1st overall again and James Worthy - another HOFer for garbage. See a pattern here? The Lakers essentially have been getting something for nothing since 1970. It sure helps you stay on top when you can do that time after time after time after time. BTW, Byron Scott, another really good player, got to the Lakers in 1984 in a way similar to the Worthy deal.
For Spurs fans back in the 1980s such as me it was extremely frustrating to see this kind of stuff go on and know your team had little to no chance of beating the Lakers in the playoffs. We Spurs fans are a little sensitive when it comes to LA getting something for nothing way too many times.
As far as SA tanking games, I don't think the 1986-1987 Spurs tanked. That team was terrible and lost a ton of games. The Spurs lucked out and won the lottery and got David Robinson. A sidenote - when SA got the rights to DRob, none other than Brent Barry's dad (HOFer and NBA commentator) Rick said that Robinson should not sign with the Spurs, wait two years (until 1989) and sign as an unrestricted free agent with which team? You guessed it - the LAKERS! I'm glad David had some integrity and a sense of obligation to the city San Antonio.
The 1996-1997 Spurs team also stunk because of Robinson's broken foot and a rash of injuries to lesser players on the squad like Chuck Person. Is it possible Robinson was held out late in the season? Yes, but that still didn't guarantee anything on the draft pick. SA just got lucky again and won the chance to draft Duncan. San Antonio at least had to endure really bad seasons to get Robinson and Duncan - they did not get the free ride the Lakers got through the years.
The team that is responsible for the lottery we have today (and not the old coin flip with the two worst teams) is the Houston Rockets, who had the first pick in 1983 (Ralph Sampson) and 1984 (Akeem Olajuwon). The 83-84 Rockets team coached by Bill Fitch was playing Elvin Hayes (in his last year) 40 minutes a game late in the season and doing other weird stuff with the lineup to get a 50% chance at the first pick in '84. Without the Rockets misdeeds, the Spurs likely would not have the 4 NBA championships we currently enjoy today.
Dazed and Confused, the Chuckster should have blamed his own former team for the lottery system and not busted the Spur's chops when he made that 1998 lockeroom quote about the Spurs cheating. Sir Charles doesn't always think when he speaks.
One last thing - guess which team came in 2nd place for the opportunity to draft Kareem in 1969 (by coin flip) and David Robinson in 1987 (by lotto)? The answer is - the poor Phoenix Suns! That should make most of us on this board smile.
Last edited by Harry Callahan; 02-10-2008 at 07:24 AM.
Please try to use complete sentences. Your grammar just isn't cutting it.
As Justin Timberlake would sing - "Cry Me a River."
I hope you read my previous post so you can enlighten yourself about the Lakers trade history.
A question for you. Are you still in grade school? You make numerous spelling errors in your posts. You can't even spell the last name of your Hall of Fame center ("Jabbar" just so you'll know).
Are you lazy or just plain stupid? Just wondering.
So Jerry West is less? Because buddy...he tanked last season. In fact they had the worst record in the entire NBA last season. Just in time for Oden.
Oh...and this from Wikipedia:
has been reported that after he leaves Memphis, that West will indeed return to the Lakers front office, but only as a summer consultant, however it is reported that it is very unlikely for West to come back full-time, mostly due to his son playing collegiate basketball at West Virginia University
Maybe they thought it would be too obvious?
I think that the one top blame here is not Popovich but Wallace, that decided to make a stupid challenge thinking nobody was gonna answer.
When you make a stupid thing (assuming it's not a collusion) you don't have to publicly ask to say if someone thinks you're stupid.
Popovich was totally legitimate to answer 'cause he's one among the coaches of play off teams ed by that trade.
When asked, he just told what everybody thinks...(and, probably, he said that anly after Memphis refused to trade Miller to S.A. for expiring contracts)...that's not only been a bad trade, but a really suspect one...simply 'cause just turning around your head you could have received a far better deal than the one you made (alias : expiring contracts + better draft choices + better players).
By now looks like some people in some management is working against the best interest of the team that's paying him...due to his previous connections. Look at the mc hale garnett trade with celts, for example...but this Gasol trade is by far the most unanderstandable.
The point (I think) is that behaving this way is not professional...and owners should realize that is a high risk to give a team to a manager that's not completely sold on the greater good of the team that's paiyng him...
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...58,full.columnHonest, West says, it wasn't his deal
Former Grizzlies boss and Lakers legend praises Kupchak for getting Gasol.
February 9 2008
Finally, Jerry West can watch the Lakers without being swamped by the anxiety that drove him to pace the hallways or roam the freeways while the team he assembled became a behemoth that would win three consecutive NBA championships.
The Lakers still bear his imprint nearly eight years after he retired for the first time, after that first le, and they will forever have a claim on his heart. And West, back in Southern California full-time after five seasons as the Memphis Grizzlies' president of basketball operations, likes what he sees of his old team.
General Manager Mitch Kupchak's acquisition of 7-footer Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton and two first-round draft picks -- a trade West said he was not involved in, contradicting the rumors and conspiracy theories that have buzzed around the Internet -- was a good one, he believes.
And who's going to argue with Jerry West?
"I think they have the best team in the West and I said that before they got him," West said Friday in a rare interview.
"He's a terrific kid, a very skilled offensive player," West said of Gasol. "He's got size and some versatility. He's a very good player. It's a terrific deal for the Lakers.
"He's a wonderful person. Very team-orientated. If you're around him you'll find he's not aloof. I have nothing critical to say about him. This is a steal for the present."
West still follows the Lakers, but from a distance. That's purely by his choice.
The man who brought Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal to Los Angeles and made the Lakers the hottest ticket in town again, who mentored Kupchak and brought passion and dignity and pride to everything he did, would be welcomed at Staples Center any time he showed up.
Actually, the Lakers should commission a statue in his honor and plant it outside the building, so much do they owe him -- and so important is it that no one forget what he did for this franchise.
West visited Staples Center briefly on Dec. 30, the night the Lakers played the Boston Celtics and wore their throwback uniforms with the short-shorts. He participated in the ceremonial tipoff and then vanished, not lingering for interviews or self-indulgent plunges into pools of nostalgic memories.
"I don't go out that much," he said. "I've seen a lot of basketball. A lot of general managers and agents call me, but I'm trying to be out of the limelight. I really don't like being in the limelight."
He's not involved with any team now.
"And I'm not going to be," he said.
It takes some patience to discover why this retirement might stick.
West, who will be 70 in May, is still recovering from a dislocated shoulder he suffered in a golf-cart accident five months ago. For West, who wastes neither time nor words and speaks in emphatic, staccato bursts, it was a frustrating time.
"I'm just now getting to the point where I can do some things, like work out and lift weights," said West, who continues to follow a regimen of physical therapy.
"I am a very solitary person. I have to be active. I love to hit golf balls just to have something physical to do."
That was as much time as he was willing to spend on talking about himself.
"Let's get back to basketball," he said with a firmness that would allow no challenge.
"I think people are very excited about this trade, and obviously I'm very happy for Mitch. I've seen some of the criticism he's gotten here and it's not justified.
"The Lakers have always had a lot of great players, and there's a lot of good fortune involved in being in the right position to sign free agents. But when you can get a player who's 27 years of age and has that size and ability to score, that's good work."
Gasol had his most productive game as a Laker on Friday, scoring 30 points in a 117-113 victory over the Magic at Orlando. His defensive flaws are no secret, but West chose to leave any disparaging remarks to others.
That's fine. It's not his team and it's not his place and he looks better remaining on the high road.
"Pau has a good basketball IQ," West said. "This is a very positive thing for the Lakers and I think fans will appreciate him."
The Gasol trade was the first of three major moves by Western Conference contenders. In quick succession the San Antonio Spurs signed Damon Stoudamire to replace the injured Tony Parker and the Phoenix Suns acquired O'Neal from Miami.
West praised San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich, saying the Spurs "play so well together. They have such camaraderie." The Suns, he speculated, "probably said, 'We want to win this year and we're probably not going to win if we don't do this.' " Adding O'Neal "changes the dynamics of it, for sure," West said.
But in his mind, there's still one clear favorite.
It's not the Suns.
Said West: "I still don't think they're as good as the Lakers."
Find me anyone connected to the NBA who would ever call Jerry West dishonest and he'd be the first.
All of the other ludicrous was just stupidity.
This ludicrous was because of a mole colluding for another team and against the team he was supposed to be supporting.
I find that funny to see Pop playing some mind games a la Phil Jackson with Lakers. Remember, the asterisk BS on the 99 le...
We will never know if there has been collusion or not but Grizzlies got a crappy package for Gasol. Either Grizzlies GM is horrible at negotiating or there have been collusion.
Oh well....damn, if West said he didn't collude that that must mean he didn't. I mean what has he got to gain by saying he didn't collude?
I can't think of a single reason why he would collude and then say he didn't...not a single reason.
Thanks LakerFan...in sea of bias, your objective voice was a shining beacon of light
In another news, Roger Clemens says he didn't use steroids.
Again - you guys are talking as fans. I've been around NBA personnel. I'm sure Kori can testify as well.
West's honesty is really beyond reproach.
now if a playoff team came up with the same offer for miller as to paus, memphis will not trade
thats just how stupid the trade was in the first place, unethical pratices
in european football, they can veto transfers, why cant the nba do that?
In case you didn't know, collusion is illegal and taints the sport.
If the league has guts enough they will investigate and disallow the trade as well as penalize L.A. severely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last edited by xmas1997; 02-09-2008 at 09:38 AM.
Sounds like someone is reproaching it now...
Tell me something...did it ever occur to you that Pop knows for a fact that the Grizzlies turned down better offers for Gasol?
It's good to see that Lakers fans and Spurs fans have something to talk about again. This palaver of "my coach has more integrity than your coach" and "your team tanked to be as good as my team" stuff has been absent from this board for way too long.
By the way, sometimes context is everything:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....a3d3fe36.html
And sometimes...the first post in this thread is everything:
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86700
He didn't say he was joking...
Timmy??? Thats Tim to you flaker fan.
I had to login to laugh about this comment
Smells like collusion to me.
get over it Pop. Scared of a bit of compe ion?
Pop fears nothing except losing his corkscrew.
laker fans/ defenders of the trade- if the grizz are so keen to shed salary, and indifferent to winning, why hasnt 2nd highest paid player miller been traded for expirings and picks (not necessarily to spurs, to anyone)? to me thats whats fishy about the trade. why keep miller and his large contract around if your intention is to sell, performance be damned?
If anything, whottt, I'd expect that you'd know by now that Pop's dry sense of humor isn't always obvious, particularly to those who aren't around him all of the time. I could see that Pop might say something that he intended to be a joke (and, frankly, the "I wish there was a trade committee" and "I would want to be elected to that committee" bits sound like Pop jokes more than Pop seriousness) but have that taken the wrong way.
I could also see that in going over the top, Pop made his point that he thought the trade was bogus.
I don't think it's impossible for one to be both pointed and sarcastic at exactly the same time -- and rarely does one trying to pull that off admit to making that effort.
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