Clippers are 55/100 from the field. 100 FGs taken in 46 minutes of game action. wow

lakers almost down 50

Worst regular season loss in franchise history.

I wonder why Simplebay hasn't posted here in God knows how long

The local ESPN affiliate here is the Lakers' flagship. And they were really talking up this game today. There's a guy that comes on during the breaks from Cowherd and talks the Lakers with Michael Thompson. Really gets old in a season like this.

But tomorrow should be hilarious.

This season was a lost cause from the start. It's all about ping pong balls at this point.

This must be a very conflicting season for Laker fans.

They don't know whether to buy Heat or Clippers jerseys.

I'm real shocked simplebay is absent. What a ****ing ***got

Lakers played strong D tonight and kept it under 140.

Then we screw up and beat OKC. This win is going to haunt us come lotto time.

I don't know how much Simple is a troll as he is a typical Lakers fan - thump his chest when they are good; forget basketball exists when they suck

^

He's a troll.

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Then we screw up and beat OKC. This win is going to haunt us come lotto time.

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It was always going to be hard to get under some of those teams from the east. Should have traded Pau though.

The Lakers front office has been absolutely torched by the LA media for not trading Pau. He was worth at least a late 1st round pick and D'Antoni refuses to utilize him. I know he is a defensive liability at this point, but that hasn't seemed to matter to D'Antoni in the past (not that he will be the coach next season). Hopefully everyone stays patient and we rebuild this thing right. With the right moves and some luck we're 3 seasons away from contending again. Damn, Stern nixing the that CP3 trade really screwed us.

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Damn, Stern nixing the that CP3 trade really screwed us.

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So did hiring Mike Brown then Mike D'Antoni then paying 30 million to a 35-year old with 45,000 minutes, 1,200 games, and coming off of a serious injury. Plus 10 million to a 40 year old point guard. That has to be the worst value back court ever. No defense even when they do play, and in 2013-2014 they have combined for 159 points and 16 games played. The Lakers are paying them 247,000 per point or 2.5 million per game in 2013-2014.

By contrast, the league-leading San Antonio Spurs pay their starting back court 16mm per year, which averages out to 158,000 dollars per game up to this point in the season... 2/3 of what LA is paying per point. The Spurs entire starting lineup makes less than Bryant and Nash.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 3/11/2014 10:57a).]

I never liked Nash, even in his prime. He's just not my kind of PG.

I do stand by the decision to pay Kobe. He is a legend and a hero to the people of Los Angeles. We're not some ****hole like Boston and we take care of our own. It's important to send that message to future stars. Besides that, who were the Lakers going to give that money to? Luol Deng? Carmello? The Lakers have cap room to sign Love after next season and then make a run at Durant or Westbrook when Kobe comes off the books the following year. We need a good draft pick this year, and if we suck bad enough next year our pick is top 5 protected.

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I do stand by the decision to pay Kobe. He is a legend and a hero to the people of Los Angeles. We're not some ****hole like Boston and we take care of our own.

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That's fine, but you can't gripe about having a terrible team when you spend half the cap on a gift salary.

Although I don't understand the decision to stand by a player who is crippling your franchise to serve his ego. Duncan is still a major contributor to a championship contender and is at about the same level of career achievement (not trying to argue which is better) and he's fine with 10 million per.

I don't think anyone has ever entered a debate to see who the better teammate and person is between Duncan and Kobe.

This has potential

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Although I don't understand the decision to stand by a player who is crippling your franchise to serve his ego. Duncan is still a major contributor to a championship contender and is at about the same level of career achievement (not trying to argue which is better) and he's fine with 10 million per.

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I guess I just don't see how Kobe is crippling the franchise with his salary. Unless you think Lebron wanted to come to LA and now he can't due to Kobe's salary, there isn't really a FA available that I would give max money to. I also believe that it's pointless to add role players until you know who your stars are going to be.

As far as Kobe the person/teammate, I respect his work ethic and competitive drive, but I would have a very, very hard time getting along with him.

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I guess I just don't see how Kobe is crippling the franchise with his salary. Unless you think Lebron wanted to come to LA and now he can't due to Kobe's salary, there isn't really a FA available that I would give max money to. I also believe that it's pointless to add role players until you know who your stars are going to be.

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You don't need stars to be a decent team though. If the Chris Paul trade had gone through, Kobe and Paul would be eating up 50 million and whatever post they picked up would be earning what Nash gets now. It's always going to be hard to field a good team when you're paying one guy half again what anyone else in the league makes.

Kobe's contract is a lifetime achievement award. Everyone who had a say in it knew what it was. The Lakers can stand to be ****ty for two or three years until Kobe retires. He earned it.

i mean couldnt the lakers just pay him the 25M a year after he retired and give him the money as a trustee or something that wouldn't cripple the salary cap?

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Kobe's contract is a lifetime achievement award. Everyone who had a say in it knew what it was. The Lakers can stand to be ****ty for two or three years until Kobe retires. He earned it.

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Exactly. They are crappy because they gave a contract that forces them to be crappy. Don't blame it on Stern canceling a trade two years ago.

Although I don't really understand why they need to give him a lifetime achievement contract, he's been one of the highest paid players in the league for years. It's not like he's been taking lowball offers just to stay in LA.

Kobe's contract is not to blame for the suckery going down at Staples. He could've played for free and the team would've sucked because one, he's injured and not playing, two, there were no other superstars to sign and three, D'Antoni is so bad he would've led the Dream Team to bronze in Barcelona.

Even if they could've fielded a mediocre team with the extra money what's the point? Any season you don't win a title is a failure and it's better to suck for 2-3 years than get stuck in mediocrity for 10.

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there were no other superstars to sign

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No superstar to sign, huh?

The Kobe extension went down after Dwight signed with Houston. It didn't prevent the Lakers from signing Dwight.

I know, but y'all still could have signed him, which might have made things totally different with Kobe's new contract

From what I've heard in the local media, Kobe was a key barrier to Dwight resigning - "him or me" kind of stuff from Howard. I don't know if it's true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me. Now if CP3 was on the team...maybe it's a little tougher decision. I have zero doubt that Kobe would've taken less money in order to chase a sixth ring with CP3 and D12.

Hiring bad coaches was one of my original points as to why the Lakers are bad... but then I looked at the roster and realized it's basically Bryant/Nash and a bunch of scrubs. Pop could probably have salvaged a mediocre season, but D'Antoni?