Lakers: Magic: Kobe should retire if Jim Buss does not surround him with talent next year.

[CitizenDwayne]

I dont know for sure he will be a star. All i know he has talent and needs to be developed. When I say build around I am not saying he is Anthony Davis or will ever be that good. I'm just not in the sign Marc Gasol, deAndre Jordan or Love to max money to just to appease a whiny fan-base (or Kobe for that matter) camp. Randle is a piece but my guess his ceiling is a #2 ... but you need to find that out. We are so bad we will keep our pick this year and you build around him and Randle. I like Okafor, but Towns is starting to grow on me. A front court with either plus Randle is a good start, but Towns may be the better fit. We are so bereft of talent any two of the 3 is better than the Hill/Boozer/Sacre poo-poo platter.

Durant is not coming.
Neither Love (thank goodness)
We lucked out on not retaining Dwight and not signing Melo ...

So stop the pipe dreams and rebuild. Ignore Magic Dodgers aint winning chips either with his sign big free agent strategies ... and that's WITH the best pitcher in baseball.

Towns is gonna be something special. Okafor probably has the more advanced post game at this point, but Towns is really maturing at a phenomenal rate. People forget that the platoon system is bound to hinder individual stats.

In my opinion, you can't really go wrong with either Okafor or Towns. It'll just be a shame if the Lakers' poor management s up the growth of their young players in order to appease Kobe or the dumber members of their fanbase.

In terms of their relevance, I'm not sure. They're pretty much the Knicks at this point. Always talked about due to their huge market, but treated as a laughing stock by most knowledgeable fans of the league.

[MultiTroll]

In terms of their relevance, I'm not sure. They're pretty much the Knicks at this point. Always talked about due to their huge market, but treated as a laughing stock by most knowledgeable fans of the league.

Exactly. If they come back, or probably when they come back, it won't be due to any *rebuilding* or such.
It will be a bull Gasol for Kwame scam, Dereek Fisher out of Utah, Kream making Coors beer comercials while claiming to be Muslum and needing to be near the LA mosques. Oh they may make an occasional legit move like drafting Bynum. But the pieces will be put in place by marketing $$.

[Killakobe81]

Towns is gonna be something special. Okafor probably has the more advanced post game at this point, but Towns is really maturing at a phenomenal rate. People forget that the platoon system is bound to hinder individual stats.

In my opinion, you can't really go wrong with either Okafor or Towns. It'll just be a shame if the Lakers' poor management s up the growth of their young players in order to appease Kobe or the dumber members of their fanbase.

In terms of their relevance, I'm not sure. They're pretty much the Knicks at this point. Always talked about due to their huge market, but treated as a laughing stock by most knowledgeable fans of the league.

Nah. I get the comparison, but we still pull ratings (though they have dropped). We also get more article clicks and sell more merchandise. Knicks havent won in a loooong time. It's only been 5 years for us. A laker team with either of those plus Randle you can market locally and nationally I doubt we will be featured much nationally the next few years but I bet wit will be more than NYK. This will take time and I can accept it if I get to see young talent develop.

[ambchang]

Kobe will stay on if Lakers get FA
FA is known to shun LA because Kobe
So Kobe will threaten retirement
Does that mean the FA will then come to LA?
If so, does Kobe come back?
Will the FA leave then?
Catch 22.

[Mr Bones]

Yeah, it's a vicious circle. Laker fans want Kobe to get some help and to go out with dignity, but no one wants to play with a past-his-prime-but-still-alpha Kobe. They're bad this year, and it's a good bet that some or most of their 8 free agents leave next summer, following Dwight, Pau, and Jodie Meeks, which means they could very plausibly be worse next year.

[sook]

this er is demented now.

[mavsfan1000]

He should've ended after saying Kobe should retire.

[Jenks]

This is why Donald Sterling didn't want him at his games.