Tucker I’ll never forget you said it wasn’t a mistake that he joined the lakers I don’t wanna hear that shit from man Fr I like ur content but damn come on tucker even lakers fan know this
Lakers have the oldest roster in the history of the NBA. Many of the players on the roster are way past their prime and are too slow to play defense and will not improve with age. Who among these old timers could improve beyond below average defenders: Ariza, Augustin, Bazemore, Ellington, Howard, Melo, LeBron, Westbrook? AD shot 18% from 3-pointers this season. As a team the Lakers were below average shooters: 20th in the NBA in 3pointer%, 20th in the NBA in rebounding, 23rd in the NBA in defensive rating and 29th in the NBA in free throw%. Lakers need younger, better shooters, rebounders, and defenders.
Damn, indeed, and to make it worse, it's been a whole year that this thought has been on the minds of Lakers fans. The Lakers will have a hard time fixing this mess of a roster especially because of that.
The fact that Anthony Davis and Westbrook are in the list of 75 Best players it's so dumb. Meanwhile Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili aren't there but they never missed the playoffs and won 4 rings. They could play for a team and win even being very old the three, AD has 28 years and can't play half of the time
I don't buy that rumor at all. Yeah it could've been a possibility but Lowry imo always wanted to go to Miami. He and Jimmy Butler are really good friends and Lowry is the godfather of jimmy Butler's daughter. Lowry wanted Miami and that's why the Heat and raps were negotiating hard for a Lowry- Herro swap at the deadline last year.
When the Westbrook trade happened, I think a lot of us were thinking, “There is no way this works.” Westbrook has had a remarkable career and can fill up a box score, but he is so ball dominant and inefficient. The Lakers were the only team willing to swallow that contract and now it is untradable. Westbrook is a Laker through the end of his contract and the Lakers are completely hamstrung. No draft picks, no payroll space. Actually the most valuable, tradeable asset they have is Lebron. I think they have to have a discussion about moving Lebron and starting a full rebuild. It is increasingly clear AD cannot give you a full season, but he is still worth something too.
They need to trade AD and LeBron burn it all down and start the rebuild. If they don't trade them both it will be 10 years before they can start the rebuild. They traded all their first round picks for next decade to get them and let's see what they can get in return. I agree that Westbrook is likely unmovable but I'd look around and see if anyone is willing to take him as well. If they stuck with Westbrook well just stat pad him for another average a triple double season to sell tickets and start rebuild with picks/young players you could get from AD and Lebron.
I could be a delusional lakers fans but I remember when they traded for Russ, I was mad as hell cause of the same reason. They had absolute no reason to panic. The team when healthy was a phenomenal team. Why trade for a player who clearly DID NOT fit, and had such a Terrible contract while giving away KCP and Kuzma who were positive on defense, the main component to their success
Every lakers fan is in denial and I don’t give a fuck. Every lakers fan was on cloud-9 clamoring about how good they will be. So tired of everyone flipping sides.
@@Drew-dj3yj LMAO who hurt you bro? How are you going to say everyone when you don’t know every Laker fan. I will admit that I didn’t think they would be THIS bad but many of us hated the Westbrook deal from the start, everyone preferred a Buddy deal
I understood why they made the deal. And I thought they would be much better than expected. I didn't think we would cruise to the title, but I thought we would start slow and eventually figure it out to get a 4th-6th seed and win at least a playoff series. But there were many better options to improve the roster which was really frustrating. Especially since they gave up the majority of their perimeter depth to get a guy who plays similar to LeBron without the IQ and height.
@@niganeo1251 if you watch football, i won"t say your versiom but its like PSG.Only stars, they have the location, the money and reasons for players to come but instead of building a philosophy of winning you go for the "ooh this will sell shirts and make headlines"
One thing you left out was that they had the possibility of trading for Kyle Lowry at the trade deadline, but they did not, because they sis not wanted to give up THT. How big of a mistake do you think this was?
What did the lakers think THT was gonna be. I`m not trying to say He`s bad or anything but they thought he was some upcoming star player when they could`ve got lowry or a 3rd star who is not westbrick.
@@SmoothCriminal12 idk, they probably wouldn’t have been in the playin if they got Lowry, a different seed changes the entirety of the playoffs for everyone.
There was never serious swap discussions between these 2 players ... raptors would definitely ask for more. Teams are constantly in the beginning phases of trade discussions, it means very little and the parameters always change with time. Masai does not get fleeced by pelinka lol.
SUCH a better team than what they have now. The off season choices made were terrible. Honestly any dude that has watched the NBA for a couple of years would have known this. IDK how they messed up this bad.
I could honestly write a book about the historic disappointment of this team. That's not even an exaggeration. A full 82 game season and the only thing they ever do is high pick and roll and drive and kick ball. That in itself is a recipe for disaster. Add 0% defensive effort on top of that and it's gonna take a monumental effort to remain a contender. They paid no mind to a scheme or system, and this is where that led them. You can boil this failure down to a few things but like I said you could literally write a multiple hundred page book about it. One of the biggest disappointments in the history of the league. The full 75 year history. It was very entertaining though, gotta give them that. Watching them willingly set themselves up to fail and then just keep trying the same things over and over all year.
Not to mention Malik Monk just casually referring to the Laker's team chemistry as some of the worst in league history, by basically stating that veterans and stars blame young players for mistakes made by those players AND the veterans themselves. This came from an article titled, "Why Malik Monk is too good for the Los Angeles Lakers".
thats the "lebron" system. sometimes it works if you have another ball handler who can mix things up (like with kyre), mostly it means westbrick (a terrible 3pt shooter) is sitting stationary in the corner waiting for an LBJ kickout. it's designed for LBJ to get his numbers. it works because LBJ is a good passer, with eyes in the back of his head, it doesn't work when it get stagnant and predictable.
One thing that I've seen from the Lakers' front office is that they are very good at building dynamic Duos, Shaq and Kobe, Kobe and Gasol, even Lebron and Davis for the 2020 season. That success does not carry over very often when trying to add a third star. The 04, 13, and 22 Lakers are proof of that, with the only exceptions being the Showtime Lakers and arguably the 72 squad as well. At this point they should probably just learn their lesson and stick to what they know.
@@demier-cn1ul let's be real outside of the Big 4 and Fisher & Fox they had no bench on that 04 team. There's a reason they lost in 5 in the Finals. It's not like GS in 2019 were injures costed them the Lakers had way bigger problems in 04 then just injures.
8:10 for me, the biggest issue with this statement is that Bron and AD will probably never be healthy like they used to. They're to injury prone right now, so you can't really say "what if they stay healthy" they probably will not, that's the reality. Kinda like a Roy, Oden and Aldridge situation.
The only reason lakers won in 2020 is because AD didn't have to play 82 games. LAKERS won't win until they tear it down and they won't do it so they will continue to suck . Trade AD right now and they may speed up the rebuild
Just blow it up at that point, Trade AD and LBJ, bench Russ the whole season, and start working on any young talent. (Basically do what the Rockets are doing)
Also something people forget is that Miami had injury issues in that finals and played most of it without bam and dragic I really wonder if la would even have that tittle if they played against full strength team in finals
Neither of those teams would have made the finals that year under regular conditions. They just happen to have veterans desperate for rings who really benefitted by extra rest ... and being one of the few motivated teams in the entire league. It almost like LeBron knew this may be his last chance, as well as butler. Older teams had a huge advantage that year for multiple reasons and it was no surprise to me when both got bounced in the first round the following year. Simply a time in bball history that is most easily forgotten.
Also don’t forget that Demar Derozen also wanted to play for the lakers… imagine Derozen wit the season he had along with AD and Lebron. Lakers fucked up fr.
What it boils down to is that basketball is a team sport. A great team will always beat a team with a couple of great players. You can have the greatest player in the history of the NBA, but they will not win without a great team. The Lakers have been toying with their roster so much in the last few years trying to chase a championship, when they should have just invested in the players that they had, and learned to play well together as a team. Injuries can hurt a team, yes, but a great team will continue to play well even without certain players on the floor.
Honestly shows how dumb the front office and Lakers fanbase is. I've seen Lakers fans constantly shit on Kuzma, Danny Green, & KCP. All of those guys while they had issues, were good players. All of them were reliable perimeter defenders and decent scorers, but they were role players, when AD & LeBron were injured, role players were forced to step up and it didn't work. I understand why they made the Westbrook trade, because they assumed Westbrook was good enough to just will the team to wins, but he wasn't. And, they completely ignored the fact that the fit between him, LeBron, & AD was just awful.
I called this when they signed Harrell and Schroeder. Lakers fans were bragging about copying the clippers style of 2 sixth men candidates, but I said that you cant play Harrell, AD, and lebron at the same time because Harrell cant shoot and isnt a great defender. Schroeder needs the ball and Lebron isnt a good off ball player. I said Drummond would make them worse for the same reasons. No one listened. 1st round out. They traded for russ and I said he and Lebron are both ball dominant bad off ball players and russ cant shoot, you cant play the big 3 together. No one listened. They missed the playoffs. It was all predictable
It's up to the lakers FO anyway....Jeanie Buss should hire you now and fire Rob Pelinka instead...since you could "predict" the outcomes of every Lakers' decisions.
They should not have done any tinkering in the 2020 or 2021 off-season. The 2020 Lakers had a good balanced roster, this current team is way too top-heavy and old.
“What made that team special?”…..the bubble. That team doesn’t win with out the 3 month break and being in the bubble. Which is proven by the fact that with the same core Lebron and AD, they’ve missed the playoffs twice and been voice in the 1st round. I think it’s becoming very obvious this Laker run has been a disaster.
LAL fans are the ones crying. They about to sell off MORE of there future for another 3 years of second round exits…. If not an outlier why hasn’t he been able to have any success without the 3 month break?
@@st.elmogeorge5403 Still got a ring tho? Nba still counts it still in the banners ? Doesn’t matter what some hater on the internet thinks with 0 basketball knowledge
I actually find this whole thing very interesting, and one of the most intriguing things from the bubble championship is actually Both Miami heat and the lakers, both had good playoffs in the bubble, both came into the next season and drastically slumped, but the heat ran it back the next season, without making huge sweeping roster moves and allowing their young players to develop, while the lakers did the inverse, where they could have done what the heat did, instead they changed almost the whole roster and traded away a majority of their young players. Also I called this lakers teams flopping and Westbrook not being a good fit at all.
There is only one reason I can think of why they traded those players after the bubble championship. They probably thought that going all out again for the whole season and not pacing themselves might be unsustainable. There were concerns early on (at least from the media) that they might end up gassed by the time playoff started in the 2019-20 season, considering that Lebron got injured a year before. The break mid season really helped them a lot to stay healthy especially with AD. The next 2 seasons showed the real status of both stars health wise. And that is why they probably thought they needed a third scorer to help lighten the load.
As a team the Lakers were below average shooters: 20th in the NBA in 3pointer%, 20th in the NBA in rebounding, 23rd in the NBA in defensive rating and 29th in the NBA in free throw%. Lakers need younger, better shooters, rebounders, and defenders. Lakers have the oldest roster in the history of the NBA. Many of the players on the roster are way past their prime and are too slow to play defense and will not improve with age. Who among these old timers could improve beyond below average defenders: Ariza, Augustin, Bazemore, Bradley, Ellington, Howard, Melo, LeBron, Westbrook?
Accdg to Magic, Demar Derozan wanted to be a Laker. They could’ve kept their core players plus Demar and Hield, but Lebron intervened and opted for Westbrook instead.
You left a big part of the story out. The other thing the Lakers did that was really really bad was basically giving up their future draft picks for the next 3 or 4 years. They've got nothing coming in and their chance of finding some young talent to fill out that roster is almost nil. I understand that they got the first championship out of bringing in Lebron and AD but that cost a lot of capital in the draft and then bringing in Russell Westbrook and a bunch of other moves they made cost them the rest of their draft picks. This team is so screwed. I can't say that I mind.
They were never a championship team tbh. That 2020 season was a micky mouse ring if I’ve ever seen one. Literally rewarded for playing such a short season. If they played the whole season I doubt they win it all.
Lebron and AD can’t play a full season. We know Lebron has connections in China and I think we really need to look at the possibility he released Covid
Getting rid of Caruso was catastrophic for the Lakers. That man doesn’t get enough credit for bringing things together. Getting Russell Westbrick was another idiotic move by the legendary Lakers
LOL, "This is the part of the video where Lakers fans defend the trade..." Laker's fans were worried from the start and were only left hoping the Front Office was smarter than we were.
Should've, Could've, Would've. Lakers won. Every team in the bubble were given the opportunity to compete and to win it all. Give them all the asterisks you want the NBA doesn't care how you feel.
You're 100% right. LeBron has missed more games in his 4 years with the Lakers than the previous 15 years of his career. He's still an incredible player, one of the best in the league and I believe he will maintain this level until he retires. But he's old now and his body takes more time to heal.
Here is the problem with the injury thing: 1st: Davis has always been (and probably always will be) injury prone. 2nd: James is actually really old. I know, we tend to ignore this, because he hides it on the fíeld, but it really shows in his durability. That happens after 1,600 NBA games... Expecting these two to play 33+ minutes for 82 games is just naive. They will miss 20 games each, at least. You got to plan for that.
I think that was the idea behind getting Westbrook, seeing how he could carry garbage sqauds to the playoffs. Granted, even at the time I thought it was a questionable move at best.
The Lakers bubble gum chip does not count. 3 months is not a full season. And it definitely not the hardest chip to win. No travel and no fan distraction.
4:40 I knew there future is f*cked up when they extended that random 45 overall dude. Whenever I play Lakers in My League, I always get rid of him and turn on trade overdrive just trade him right away.
Great insight. Everything went south when the Lakers decided to trade for Westbrook and sign him to that terrible contract. It's not just about lack of chemistry. He just simply was not a good fit. He has always been a guy that needs to be on the ball, and that will never happen while he's on the floor with Lebron. They had a chance to get DeRozan and Buddy Hield, and keep Caruso and KCP, and they threw it all away for Westbrook.
As a team the Lakers were below average shooters: 20th in the NBA in 3pointer%, 20th in the NBA in rebounding, 23rd in the NBA in defensive rating and 29th in the NBA in free throw%. Lakers need younger, better shooters, rebounders, and defenders. Lakers have the oldest roster in the history of the NBA. Many of the players on the roster are way past their prime and are too slow to play defense and will not improve with age. Who among these old timers could improve beyond below average defenders: Ariza, Augustin, Bazemore, Bradley, Ellington, Howard, Melo, LeBron, Westbrook?
“These last 2 seasons being shortened and condensed has not been kind to them”…..you mean a NORMAL NBA season hasn’t been kind to them?? you mean that the aging and oft injured star can ONLY win when there is a 3 month break….
@@jasonfire3434 All of them were traded before 22 so of course they didn't make the playoffs. Really? You think the AD trade was a success? Giving away picks, Ingram, Ball and Hart for a player who's not even playing 50% of the season
Been a laker fan since 95. Can't believe some would blame injuries. Davis has never played a full season IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER. Westbrick is the biggest mistake and that's LaBron's fault. 1 bubble chip don't mean sh!t
Don’t forget the defense they didn’t bother to value in the two headed dragon Dwight and McGee. Kuzma and Caruso were also key for our defense. Trez was key the next year when he was signed. The Trevor Ariza signing was garbage and wasted a roster spot.
On paper the moves of getting Marc Gasol, Harrell, and Dennis were better then McGee, Dwight, and Rondo. I didn't see anyone think those were bad moves at the time.
It's always more complicated than that, but at the bottom line, the 202 Lakers were contenders because every single player in the rotation was at least an above average defender, Lebron dominted the offense as the PG with shooters and a pick and roll big. They survived the 6-12 minutes (that's only 12-30 offensive posessions!) without James with a few Davis post ups, Kuzma isos or Rondo playmaking (or Rondo taking ). Ever since then, they were actively trying to take the ball out of Lebron's hand by bringing in offensive players, at the cost of defense and shooting (which means not only less LBJ playmaking, but making it less effective). Compromising 36 minutes of dominant team play to slightly improve the other 12 is just crazy.
This Lakers off season is similar to the moves the Rams made the year they lost to the Patriots in the Superbowl They just grabbed at talent and expected to have a championship handed to them. Sacrificing all of their depth, role players and chemistry
AD never asserted himself on a consistent basis. He attitude and approach will never be enough to be a true leader and someone who is hungry to win and be the best in the league. He does not work on his body and he does not want any of the smoke for the "Greek Freak" and they should be his driving force. Take some pride in yourself big man and go after Giannis, if you can.
LeBron ruins every team after he wins the title or on the way to winning one. He sacrifices the future for the present. He gets rid of young players, draft picks, and takes over the decision makers and becomes the player/GM and doesn’t think of defense just his friends and some streaky shooting. He wins a title and bounces and the team goes way down hill.
I’m a big fan of the Lakers but f*ck the organization for ruining the 2020 championship team. They let 90% of the players go. I’m miss this team so much. It hurt seeing the team break up after their championship. It’s sad how the 2022 Lakers went out and didn’t make playoffs. The 2020 team was amazing. They had great chemistry, energy, motivation, defense and so much more. I really enjoyed watching them. They played like a family. Wish we still had this team today. We would’ve been unstoppable. So many dawgs on that team🥲
Yeah they were actually playing at contending level at the start of the 20-21 season but then the injuries piled up. For some reason haters tended to say they were a low seed caliber team throughout that entire season anyway.
How they ruined a championship team: it’s really simple. They badly overreacted after LeBron lost in the first round of the playoffs for the first time in his career. If they truly thought they would’ve beat Phoenix with a healthy AD why didn’t they just run it back with the same squad?
Secret: the lakers were never a championship team, they were a big name roster team that was booty hole got lucky and was gifted by a pandemic, then they went right back to being what they truly are... an over rated team hyped by the mainstream talking heads because “Lebron! Lebron! Lebron! AD! AD! AD! Lebron! Lebron! Ohhhhh... Westbrook! Westbrook! Westbrook!” Basically “oooooo shiny!” But as a basketball team, it just happens to be a shiny azz piece of fools gold...
PRIZEPICKS LINK: prizepicks.com/welcome?invite_code=SPORTING
I think you shpuld have mentioned that the Suns didnt have CP3 against the Lakers in that 1st round series
Tucker I’ll never forget you said it wasn’t a mistake that he joined the lakers I don’t wanna hear that shit from man Fr I like ur content but damn come on tucker even lakers fan know this
Bro can you format your videos for watching full screen on the iPhone. Keep up the good work
Lakers have the oldest roster in the history of the NBA. Many of the players on the roster are way past their prime and are too slow to play defense and will not improve with age. Who among these old timers could improve beyond below average defenders: Ariza, Augustin, Bazemore, Ellington, Howard, Melo, LeBron, Westbrook?
AD shot 18% from 3-pointers this season. As a team the Lakers were below average shooters: 20th in the NBA in 3pointer%, 20th in the NBA in rebounding, 23rd in the NBA in defensive rating and 29th in the NBA in free throw%. Lakers need younger, better shooters, rebounders, and defenders.
It’s
Russ after accepting his $47,000,000 player option: “WE RUNNING IT BACK BABY!!!”
Russ been playing bad this season
Damn, indeed, and to make it worse, it's been a whole year that this thought has been on the minds of Lakers fans.
The Lakers will have a hard time fixing this mess of a roster especially because of that.
This guy has no shame smh
It's Russ fault 4 his play and LBJ 4 tryna b gm.
Yeah,run it back to the bottom of the west. Lakers suck,Lejoke socks big time. He should tetire.
The fact that Anthony Davis and Westbrook are in the list of 75 Best players it's so dumb. Meanwhile Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili aren't there but they never missed the playoffs and won 4 rings. They could play for a team and win even being very old the three, AD has 28 years and can't play half of the time
stop it
@@memphisbluu yeah stop those facts they hurt fanboys
Simple. They ain't AMERICANS
@@memphisbluu u can't handle the truth
@@ayoaye2276 I’m not a fan of either player
Don't forget the Lakers could've had Lowry for THT!
He would’ve just left in the off season
I don't buy that rumor at all. Yeah it could've been a possibility but Lowry imo always wanted to go to Miami. He and Jimmy Butler are really good friends and Lowry is the godfather of jimmy Butler's daughter. Lowry wanted Miami and that's why the Heat and raps were negotiating hard for a Lowry- Herro swap at the deadline last year.
@@bubba231 winning a chip can change plans. We can't know what didn't happen. but i don't think Lowry for Herro was ever on the table
@@mr.l4321 We'll never know but we don't know that
They could've had Lowry and DeRozan.
When the Westbrook trade happened, I think a lot of us were thinking, “There is no way this works.” Westbrook has had a remarkable career and can fill up a box score, but he is so ball dominant and inefficient. The Lakers were the only team willing to swallow that contract and now it is untradable. Westbrook is a Laker through the end of his contract and the Lakers are completely hamstrung. No draft picks, no payroll space. Actually the most valuable, tradeable asset they have is Lebron. I think they have to have a discussion about moving Lebron and starting a full rebuild. It is increasingly clear AD cannot give you a full season, but he is still worth something too.
They Need a knut
AD is a bum
They need to trade AD and LeBron burn it all down and start the rebuild. If they don't trade them both it will be 10 years before they can start the rebuild. They traded all their first round picks for next decade to get them and let's see what they can get in return. I agree that Westbrook is likely unmovable but I'd look around and see if anyone is willing to take him as well. If they stuck with Westbrook well just stat pad him for another average a triple double season to sell tickets and start rebuild with picks/young players you could get from AD and Lebron.
I could be a delusional lakers fans but I remember when they traded for Russ, I was mad as hell cause of the same reason. They had absolute no reason to panic. The team when healthy was a phenomenal team. Why trade for a player who clearly DID NOT fit, and had such a Terrible contract while giving away KCP and Kuzma who were positive on defense, the main component to their success
Every lakers fan is in denial and I don’t give a fuck. Every lakers fan was on cloud-9 clamoring about how good they will be. So tired of everyone flipping sides.
@@Drew-dj3yj LMAO who hurt you bro? How are you going to say everyone when you don’t know every Laker fan. I will admit that I didn’t think they would be THIS bad but many of us hated the Westbrook deal from the start, everyone preferred a Buddy deal
To sell jerseys. This is LA, baby. You think they have time for scrubs?
@@Drew-dj3yj Not the whole fan base tho.
I understood why they made the deal. And I thought they would be much better than expected. I didn't think we would cruise to the title, but I thought we would start slow and eventually figure it out to get a 4th-6th seed and win at least a playoff series. But there were many better options to improve the roster which was really frustrating. Especially since they gave up the majority of their perimeter depth to get a guy who plays similar to LeBron without the IQ and height.
All they had to do was surround ad and bron with shooters. Instead they trade for the worst volume shooter of all time 😂
@Mike Wicklund our front office is terrible only goes for big names. Hopefully they will learn from this, I doubt it tho
@@niganeo1251 if you watch football, i won"t say your versiom but its like PSG.Only stars, they have the location, the money and reasons for players to come but instead of building a philosophy of winning you go for the "ooh this will sell shirts and make headlines"
@@niganeo1251 says our and yet has a Lebron Cleveland pfp
@Mike Wicklund no one asked who your team is
Well they traded for a shooter didn’t they? A terrible shooter but a shooter nentheless lol
One thing you left out was that they had the possibility of trading for Kyle Lowry at the trade deadline, but they did not, because they sis not wanted to give up THT. How big of a mistake do you think this was?
In the short term, they still probably lose to Phoenix. In the long term, it was a massive mistake.
@@SmoothCriminal12 idk ab the long term
What did the lakers think THT was gonna be. I`m not trying to say He`s bad or anything but they thought he was some upcoming star player when they could`ve got lowry or a 3rd star who is not westbrick.
@@SmoothCriminal12 idk, they probably wouldn’t have been in the playin if they got Lowry, a different seed changes the entirety of the playoffs for everyone.
There was never serious swap discussions between these 2 players ... raptors would definitely ask for more. Teams are constantly in the beginning phases of trade discussions, it means very little and the parameters always change with time. Masai does not get fleeced by pelinka lol.
They could have had Buddy Hield, DeRozan and kept Caruso and KCP smh
The DeRozan thing is hilarious but I didn’t include it because him taking the MLE feels like a rumor more than anything. Who knows
Could’ve traded for Kyle Lowry too but they didn’t want to give up THT 😂😞
@@SportingLogically He would have taken it before the trade. Well the cap space that was left
Caruso and KCP are better than what they have now.
SUCH a better team than what they have now. The off season choices made were terrible. Honestly any dude that has watched the NBA for a couple of years would have known this. IDK how they messed up this bad.
I could honestly write a book about the historic disappointment of this team. That's not even an exaggeration. A full 82 game season and the only thing they ever do is high pick and roll and drive and kick ball. That in itself is a recipe for disaster. Add 0% defensive effort on top of that and it's gonna take a monumental effort to remain a contender. They paid no mind to a scheme or system, and this is where that led them. You can boil this failure down to a few things but like I said you could literally write a multiple hundred page book about it. One of the biggest disappointments in the history of the league. The full 75 year history. It was very entertaining though, gotta give them that. Watching them willingly set themselves up to fail and then just keep trying the same things over and over all year.
This team was always a question mark. Why is everybody acting like they were the 2011 “dream team” eagles.
Not to mention Malik Monk just casually referring to the Laker's team chemistry as some of the worst in league history, by basically stating that veterans and stars blame young players for mistakes made by those players AND the veterans themselves. This came from an article titled, "Why Malik Monk is too good for the Los Angeles Lakers".
thats the "lebron" system. sometimes it works if you have another ball handler who can mix things up (like with kyre), mostly it means westbrick (a terrible 3pt shooter) is sitting stationary in the corner waiting for an LBJ kickout. it's designed for LBJ to get his numbers. it works because LBJ is a good passer, with eyes in the back of his head, it doesn't work when it get stagnant and predictable.
@@arizona_anime_fan lol yes. Saw this comment and thought to myself the same things you wrote. He is the system and he requires specific parts to work
One thing that I've seen from the Lakers' front office is that they are very good at building dynamic Duos, Shaq and Kobe, Kobe and Gasol, even Lebron and Davis for the 2020 season. That success does not carry over very often when trying to add a third star. The 04, 13, and 22 Lakers are proof of that, with the only exceptions being the Showtime Lakers and arguably the 72 squad as well. At this point they should probably just learn their lesson and stick to what they know.
Lakers management are FAR too moronic to EVER steer away from the coveted “star player” image. Honestly makes me sick to cheer on this team sometimes.
don’t compare 04 to 13 and 22, at least we were still winning games and still made the finals
@@AwesomeAmity in 04 they lost because of Kobe and Karl Malone had a injury
@@demier-cn1ul let's be real outside of the Big 4 and Fisher & Fox they had no bench on that 04 team. There's a reason they lost in 5 in the Finals. It's not like GS in 2019 were injures costed them the Lakers had way bigger problems in 04 then just injures.
8:10 for me, the biggest issue with this statement is that Bron and AD will probably never be healthy like they used to. They're to injury prone right now, so you can't really say "what if they stay healthy" they probably will not, that's the reality. Kinda like a Roy, Oden and Aldridge situation.
The only reason lakers won in 2020 is because AD didn't have to play 82 games. LAKERS won't win until they tear it down and they won't do it so they will continue to suck . Trade AD right now and they may speed up the rebuild
Just blow it up at that point, Trade AD and LBJ, bench Russ the whole season, and start working on any young talent. (Basically do what the Rockets are doing)
@@jcplays3842 NO
NO
Also something people forget is that Miami had injury issues in that finals and played most of it without bam and dragic I really wonder if la would even have that tittle if they played against full strength team in finals
Neither of those teams would have made the finals that year under regular conditions. They just happen to have veterans desperate for rings who really benefitted by extra rest ... and being one of the few motivated teams in the entire league. It almost like LeBron knew this may be his last chance, as well as butler. Older teams had a huge advantage that year for multiple reasons and it was no surprise to me when both got bounced in the first round the following year.
Simply a time in bball history that is most easily forgotten.
You definitely be having great points in your videos. You’re my like favorite RUclips GM…
Also don’t forget that Demar Derozen also wanted to play for the lakers… imagine Derozen wit the season he had along with AD and Lebron. Lakers fucked up fr.
Biggest mistake: They added Russell Westbrook.
Nah
@@philliplamb2761 Westbrick*
@@kdra5506 I understand, be he isn't the problem 🤷
@@philliplamb2761 He is not the only problem but he is the biggest problem.
No, the problem was lebum James trading away our young bulls smh..
What it boils down to is that basketball is a team sport. A great team will always beat a team with a couple of great players. You can have the greatest player in the history of the NBA, but they will not win without a great team. The Lakers have been toying with their roster so much in the last few years trying to chase a championship, when they should have just invested in the players that they had, and learned to play well together as a team.
Injuries can hurt a team, yes, but a great team will continue to play well even without certain players on the floor.
Honestly shows how dumb the front office and Lakers fanbase is. I've seen Lakers fans constantly shit on Kuzma, Danny Green, & KCP. All of those guys while they had issues, were good players. All of them were reliable perimeter defenders and decent scorers, but they were role players, when AD & LeBron were injured, role players were forced to step up and it didn't work. I understand why they made the Westbrook trade, because they assumed Westbrook was good enough to just will the team to wins, but he wasn't. And, they completely ignored the fact that the fit between him, LeBron, & AD was just awful.
They stepped up why because when they went down we still at least made the playoffs that was the goal they completed it
Lakers downfall = whole league wins
Lol we can all agree the nba is better when the Knicks and lakers are terrible
I called this when they signed Harrell and Schroeder. Lakers fans were bragging about copying the clippers style of 2 sixth men candidates, but I said that you cant play Harrell, AD, and lebron at the same time because Harrell cant shoot and isnt a great defender. Schroeder needs the ball and Lebron isnt a good off ball player. I said Drummond would make them worse for the same reasons. No one listened. 1st round out. They traded for russ and I said he and Lebron are both ball dominant bad off ball players and russ cant shoot, you cant play the big 3 together. No one listened. They missed the playoffs. It was all predictable
It's up to the lakers FO anyway....Jeanie Buss should hire you now and fire Rob Pelinka instead...since you could "predict" the outcomes of every Lakers' decisions.
@@hwnight2985 nah. Now if the magic were to offer me a contract...
They should not have done any tinkering in the 2020 or 2021 off-season. The 2020 Lakers had a good balanced roster, this current team is way too top-heavy and old.
“What made that team special?”…..the bubble. That team doesn’t win with out the 3 month break and being in the bubble. Which is proven by the fact that with the same core Lebron and AD, they’ve missed the playoffs twice and been voice in the 1st round. I think it’s becoming very obvious this Laker run has been a disaster.
Go cry more, every team had that same break and LeBron was still 36 like please stop it lmao
LAL fans are the ones crying. They about to sell off MORE of there future for another 3 years of second round exits…. If not an outlier why hasn’t he been able to have any success without the 3 month break?
@@st.elmogeorge5403 Still got a ring tho? Nba still counts it still in the banners ? Doesn’t matter what some hater on the internet thinks with 0 basketball knowledge
they were pretty good in 21 before bron got injured
I hate the “healthy” argument. If you are not available that is part of the problem. It’s not luck if you are consistently hurt.
I actually find this whole thing very interesting, and one of the most intriguing things from the bubble championship is actually Both Miami heat and the lakers, both had good playoffs in the bubble, both came into the next season and drastically slumped, but the heat ran it back the next season, without making huge sweeping roster moves and allowing their young players to develop, while the lakers did the inverse, where they could have done what the heat did, instead they changed almost the whole roster and traded away a majority of their young players. Also I called this lakers teams flopping and Westbrook not being a good fit at all.
Just to throw It out there. They could've get Lowry at the trade deadline for THT from Toronto
It's hard to believe in retrospective now. Big face palm
High quality video! Good job, man
i love ur vids! ur perfectly unbisased in the way u cover everything and layout the cold hard facts. keep these vids coming man they're awesome!
You gotta remember that 2020 title was a Mickey Mouse year. Fake Championship.
There is only one reason I can think of why they traded those players after the bubble championship. They probably thought that going all out again for the whole season and not pacing themselves might be unsustainable. There were concerns early on (at least from the media) that they might end up gassed by the time playoff started in the 2019-20 season, considering that Lebron got injured a year before. The break mid season really helped them a lot to stay healthy especially with AD. The next 2 seasons showed the real status of both stars health wise. And that is why they probably thought they needed a third scorer to help lighten the load.
Bubble Championship means nothing.
The bubble done popped in LA!
So are people going to call that title win, its official title - 'Mickey Mouse Cup'
Thank you for a great season the Goat and Lakers. From title contenders to pretenders.
The definition of an NBA 2K team. You play as the Lakers where every player is healthy and chemistry doesn't matter and you're gonna be unbeatable
As a team the Lakers were below average shooters: 20th in the NBA in 3pointer%, 20th in the NBA in rebounding, 23rd in the NBA in defensive rating and 29th in the NBA in free throw%. Lakers need younger, better shooters, rebounders, and defenders.
Lakers have the oldest roster in the history of the NBA. Many of the players on the roster are way past their prime and are too slow to play defense and will not improve with age. Who among these old timers could improve beyond below average defenders: Ariza, Augustin, Bazemore, Bradley, Ellington, Howard, Melo, LeBron, Westbrook?
Accdg to Magic, Demar Derozan wanted to be a Laker. They could’ve kept their core players plus Demar and Hield, but Lebron intervened and opted for Westbrook instead.
You left a big part of the story out. The other thing the Lakers did that was really really bad was basically giving up their future draft picks for the next 3 or 4 years. They've got nothing coming in and their chance of finding some young talent to fill out that roster is almost nil. I understand that they got the first championship out of bringing in Lebron and AD but that cost a lot of capital in the draft and then bringing in Russell Westbrook and a bunch of other moves they made cost them the rest of their draft picks. This team is so screwed. I can't say that I mind.
only just started watching again after not watching much after 2020 ring but at least they found AR
They were never a championship team tbh. That 2020 season was a micky mouse ring if I’ve ever seen one. Literally rewarded for playing such a short season. If they played the whole season I doubt they win it all.
Lebron and AD can’t play a full season. We know Lebron has connections in China and I think we really need to look at the possibility he released Covid
This is going to become a Collapse video on SB one day isn’t it?
Losing Rondo Howard AND McGee was stupid. What was Bron thinking.
Rondo and Howard was there in 2022 brainiac
This was an extremely tough season to go through
Consistently, the most insightful and articulate NBA analysis going. Well done, as always.
Thank you!
The fact that the NBA even acknowledges that bubble tourney title as a legit championship is straight up BS...
Getting rid of Caruso was catastrophic for the Lakers. That man doesn’t get enough credit for bringing things together. Getting Russell Westbrick was another idiotic move by the legendary Lakers
It's almost like the Bubble was a HUGE asterisk. (and yes I'd say that for any team that won.)
Truth
They also could’ve gotten both Lowry and DeRozan. They wanted to play together in LA. Take less money etc. and they choose Russ
LOL, "This is the part of the video where Lakers fans defend the trade..." Laker's fans were worried from the start and were only left hoping the Front Office was smarter than we were.
I was shocked in the summer why everyone is proclaiming that Lakers retirement home has championship potential. It's not 2015 anymore
Trade AD before his glass body shatters completely and has no value.
The Lickers did not low-ball Caruso on an offer. They didn't even reply to his call.
Can't wait for secret base video about this team
Mickey Mouse bubble championship doesn’t count even Charles Barkley admits that.
Traded all they're defence for WB
That wasn’t even a championship. It’s crazy ppl still call it that.
I sure hope that Mickey Mouse ring was worth the team being absolute dogshit for the next few years lmao
sorry, but that bubble team should have an asterisk.
i can guarantee you that if that season was a FULL season, somebody else would have won.
Should've, Could've, Would've. Lakers won. Every team in the bubble were given the opportunity to compete and to win it all. Give them all the asterisks you want the NBA doesn't care how you feel.
Another problem with the "We weren't healthy" argument is the fact that AD and LeBron aren't ever really healthy at this point.
You're 100% right. LeBron has missed more games in his 4 years with the Lakers than the previous 15 years of his career.
He's still an incredible player, one of the best in the league and I believe he will maintain this level until he retires. But he's old now and his body takes more time to heal.
Here is the problem with the injury thing:
1st: Davis has always been (and probably always will be) injury prone.
2nd: James is actually really old. I know, we tend to ignore this, because he hides it on the fíeld, but it really shows in his durability. That happens after 1,600 NBA games...
Expecting these two to play 33+ minutes for 82 games is just naive. They will miss 20 games each, at least. You got to plan for that.
I think that was the idea behind getting Westbrook, seeing how he could carry garbage sqauds to the playoffs. Granted, even at the time I thought it was a questionable move at best.
they also didnt make the Lowry deal because of THT, a Lowry/Caruso duo would be wild on D lol
I forgot about the almost Lowry thing. Would’ve been a great fit
@@SportingLogically yeah he is a true playmaker like cp3 or rondo
LeExcuses... LeStatpad.. LeAirball...LeFLOP... LeChina... TRADE LeChoke Blames! ! 😂😂😂
The Lakers bubble gum chip does not count. 3 months is not a full season. And it definitely not the hardest chip to win. No travel and no fan distraction.
4:40 I knew there future is f*cked up when they extended that random 45 overall dude. Whenever I play Lakers in My League, I always get rid of him and turn on trade overdrive just trade him right away.
You forgot one key part of the lakers title run: Fouls
I have been saying this since the day they messed up their 2020 championship team. 😒
Once we get another 4 month stoppage of play, we’ll be back
Great insight. Everything went south when the Lakers decided to trade for Westbrook and sign him to that terrible contract. It's not just about lack of chemistry. He just simply was not a good fit. He has always been a guy that needs to be on the ball, and that will never happen while he's on the floor with Lebron. They had a chance to get DeRozan and Buddy Hield, and keep Caruso and KCP, and they threw it all away for Westbrook.
As a team the Lakers were below average shooters: 20th in the NBA in 3pointer%, 20th in the NBA in rebounding, 23rd in the NBA in defensive rating and 29th in the NBA in free throw%. Lakers need younger, better shooters, rebounders, and defenders.
Lakers have the oldest roster in the history of the NBA. Many of the players on the roster are way past their prime and are too slow to play defense and will not improve with age. Who among these old timers could improve beyond below average defenders: Ariza, Augustin, Bazemore, Bradley, Ellington, Howard, Melo, LeBron, Westbrook?
U mean like hart, Ingram,kuzma,ball, Alex??..u mean like them guys we had before letrash threw them there 🤷..
Just no 1 championship is not worth destorying their future and their pride as an franchise
6:08 no. He didn’t bring any star power bro brought reggie power
“These last 2 seasons being shortened and condensed has not been kind to them”…..you mean a NORMAL NBA season hasn’t been kind to them?? you mean that the aging and oft injured star can ONLY win when there is a 3 month break….
Lakers messed things up before the AD trade. They had Randle, DLo, Ingram, Kuz, Ball, etc
Dlo and Ingram could’ve been pretty good if they didn’t end that after one season
@@level5599 True, and keeping DLo means you don't have to go for Lonzo, which opens up players like Tatum, Isaac and Lauri
And those guys never even made the playoffs in LA. The AD trade was still a success.
@@jasonfire3434 All of them were traded before 22 so of course they didn't make the playoffs. Really? You think the AD trade was a success? Giving away picks, Ingram, Ball and Hart for a player who's not even playing 50% of the season
They shouldn't have made the trade. Just wait for one season and sign AD as a free agent.
Rondo wasn't mentioned once.
It all went downhill when Drummond put up a D.R. Performance of a lifetime.
Been a laker fan since 95. Can't believe some would blame injuries. Davis has never played a full season IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER. Westbrick is the biggest mistake and that's LaBron's fault. 1 bubble chip don't mean sh!t
Don’t forget the defense they didn’t bother to value in the two headed dragon Dwight and McGee. Kuzma and Caruso were also key for our defense. Trez was key the next year when he was signed. The Trevor Ariza signing was garbage and wasted a roster spot.
Ariza was a old wing and washed. He was passed around, DJ and bazemore were horrible additions as well
On paper the moves of getting Marc Gasol, Harrell, and Dennis were better then McGee, Dwight, and Rondo. I didn't see anyone think those were bad moves at the time.
TSO_Sage (if i remember right) was talking mad shit when those moves happened and he was right.
All those guys that got let go in 2020 got huge contracts for what they were worth besides Dwight.
Lebron should never be a GM. Even I was saying Russ is a terrible fit with Lebron and AD.
No you werent you liar
@@nonamewillbegiven6136 yes I was you hater
It's always more complicated than that, but at the bottom line, the 202 Lakers were contenders because every single player in the rotation was at least an above average defender, Lebron dominted the offense as the PG with shooters and a pick and roll big. They survived the 6-12 minutes (that's only 12-30 offensive posessions!) without James with a few Davis post ups, Kuzma isos or Rondo playmaking (or Rondo taking ).
Ever since then, they were actively trying to take the ball out of Lebron's hand by bringing in offensive players, at the cost of defense and shooting (which means not only less LBJ playmaking, but making it less effective). Compromising 36 minutes of dominant team play to slightly improve the other 12 is just crazy.
With a healthy AD they would of beaten the suns.
Lakers fans wanted Danny green and javale mcgee gone. WTF do they want ?
This Lakers off season is similar to the moves the Rams made the year they lost to the Patriots in the Superbowl
They just grabbed at talent and expected to have a championship handed to them. Sacrificing all of their depth, role players and chemistry
AD never asserted himself on a consistent basis. He attitude and approach will never be enough to be a true leader and someone who is hungry to win and be the best in the league. He does not work on his body and he does not want any of the smoke for the "Greek Freak" and they should be his driving force. Take some pride in yourself big man and go after Giannis, if you can.
LeBron ruins every team after he wins the title or on the way to winning one. He sacrifices the future for the present. He gets rid of young players, draft picks, and takes over the decision makers and becomes the player/GM and doesn’t think of defense just his friends and some streaky shooting. He wins a title and bounces and the team goes way down hill.
I’m a big fan of the Lakers but f*ck the organization for ruining the 2020 championship team. They let 90% of the players go. I’m miss this team so much. It hurt seeing the team break up after their championship. It’s sad how the 2022 Lakers went out and didn’t make playoffs. The 2020 team was amazing. They had great chemistry, energy, motivation, defense and so much more. I really enjoyed watching them. They played like a family. Wish we still had this team today. We would’ve been unstoppable. So many dawgs on that team🥲
Asterisk Season ✳️
Everything went down hill for the Lakers the moment they got rid of the next coming of Michael Jordan.......
Alex Caruso
What a horrible take
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.
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Michael Jordan barely kisses the sweaty big toe of The Goat Himself Caruso
the westbrook trade is honestly the worst trade of all time
I would have love to have seen Buddy on this team, and keeping Caruso maybe adding another player in there too. The Westbrook contract just hurts
lebron should keep hopping teams he seem to win atleast 1 championship for each team goes
Yeah they were actually playing at contending level at the start of the 20-21 season but then the injuries piled up. For some reason haters tended to say they were a low seed caliber team throughout that entire season anyway.
Thank goodness the Lakers won it in that weird bubble year. If any other team won it so many people would be placing an asterisk on that championship.
The precursor to all of this was letting Julius Randall go and signing rondo instead.
This pain's me as a Laker fan. I knew from day one we didn't need Russell Westbrick and Bumelo Anthony.
Its lebron he hates new players and wants a team of vets who dont work well together
Bubble gangstas can't win without the bubble
The bubble ’s ring seems far now...
How they ruined a championship team: it’s really simple. They badly overreacted after LeBron lost in the first round of the playoffs for the first time in his career. If they truly thought they would’ve beat Phoenix with a healthy AD why didn’t they just run it back with the same squad?
(Unpopular opinion) Let’s trade lebron and build around Westbrook
Agreed
Secret: the lakers were never a championship team, they were a big name roster team that was booty hole got lucky and was gifted by a pandemic, then they went right back to being what they truly are... an over rated team hyped by the mainstream talking heads because “Lebron! Lebron! Lebron! AD! AD! AD! Lebron! Lebron! Ohhhhh... Westbrook! Westbrook! Westbrook!” Basically “oooooo shiny!” But as a basketball team, it just happens to be a shiny azz piece of fools gold...
Well, let's be fair. Winning the Disney bubble is far from winning the NBA Finals, so you shouldn't consider the Lakers at regular championship level.
I maintain that both LA and Miami benefitted the most from the break and neither of them would’ve made the finals without the siesta.
They screwed up letting affordable McGee and Howard for Gasol and more expensive Montrezl