Murrays poster dunk over LeBubble was also an and 1. Get this bum outta Kobe's house and town.
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Enjoy what? A first round exit via a gentleman's sweep? Real GOAT SHIT!
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You don't give a F about the Lakers. You are only attached to Bron's nutz
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When Kobe Bryant was 37 he avg 17 ppg on 35% shooting.

Not even in the league when he was LeBrons age. To be fair.

The Lakers did not lose that series because of Lebron.
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Agreed. Inside is one of the best things on television. Period.

I've been watching Ernie since I got to college (and got cable for the first time) in 94-95.
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Hell of a good news/bad news scenario, ain't it?

James isn't likely to be this good again next year - just a reality of aging. Or stay this healthy.

Davis has the ability to be this good again next season but it's a coinflip if he gets to the finish line healthwise and effort-wise is always a crapshoot.

So when your plan is "Let those two cook and the role players do enough" and those two absolutely cooked, what more is there to do? You can move things in the margins with the role players but that 3rd guy isn't likely to be a massive improvement over Russell.

I guess your hope is that whoever it is plays to the regular season Russell level? Maybe you move for Trae Turner and hope that the performance you got from Russell in the regular season is the same thing that Turner gives you in the playoffs?

It's just not a roster that's really capable of being fundamentall transformed. They finally have 3 first rounders to trade away again come the end of the season so you know they'll give that a shot. But the bottom line is ultimately that you need a 3rd guy that can hang with MPJ (with the hopes that you can get roughly a draw from LBJ/Davis vs. Jokic/Murray - they did this time around).

Oh, and you fire the hell out of that mongoloid retard, Darvin Ham. God almighty is he bad at this. That's a Peter Principle guy through and through - seems like a very good assistant that's largely respected by the players...until he has to coach them. He lost the room quickly once he had to show real chops and they realized he didn't have them.

Still think they blew it firing Vogel. He's nothing special, but he's competent. He's a solid veteran coach in a league that has maybe 8-10 of those. A guy who, if nothing else, doesn't take anything off the table.

Could Budenholzer be that guy? I would think so. Maybe Stotts? Eh...less confident there.

They'll probably just promote Phil Handy because he's a LeBron guy. Which would suck awful because he was ON the staff this year and clearly wasn't out there moving mountains as a primary assistant.

Timing wasn't quite right to get Jordi Fernandez, unfortunately. He'd have been an exciting snag. Maybe we can get Budenholzer in here for a couple years and snipe Fernandez from the Nets for a post-LBJ era.
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I don't see any way for the Lakers to get good enough to beat Denver unless another star somehow falls into their lap. I still think LeBron will return to LA to finish his career (despite his non-committal response last night), but it looks like he may force them into drafting Bronny to sit on the bench before he does.

I was also quite impressed by Jordi Fernandez when he coached Canada at the World Cup last summer. He had those guys playing hard and organized and they ultimately ended up beating USA for the bronze for their best result in program history.
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Ernie is still as sharp as ever despite being almost 70 and Barkley is a comedic genius. It will be a huge loss if that show goes away.
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If you can get a 2nd player on par with Murray and see your top 3 as AD - StarX - LeBron then that's viable in comparison to Jokic, Murray, MPJ.

If you can do it while holding onto Reaves, you can go 4 deep with those 4 plus Gordon on the Nuggets side.

But like you said, not sure exactly how you do that. Trae Young seems to be the only real available option. And ultimately Russell can blow the whole damn thing apart by opting out. That's really the wild-card. If he opts out, all hell breaks lose for LA, IMO. Salary matches become nearly impossible and you don't open a cap spot in the process. It would be a disaster for them.

So you try to leverage some sort of a sign and trade if that's even viable under the current league rules (I've lost track of when/how these vested veterans can be dealt).

So ultimately that's the first hurdle to clear - figuring out what Russell is going to do. Because a lot of the off-season hinges on that decision.
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Yawn......it's never his fault right? He quit in game 1 and choked in games 2 and 3 passed at the end last night, as usual and walked off the court without congratulating anybody, AS USUAL!
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Not even a fan of the Lakers but man, you watch a series like that and it's such a shame that either Cleveland or Orlando is gonna advance. There are some teams that are absolutely brutal to watch in this playoffs. Is this the lowest scoring first round in history? It feels that way
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Oh wow. It's almost like seeding matters and you should probably try and avoid being perpetually stuck in the play in
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Counterpoint: They did not win that series because of Lebron.
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I'm not talking about LeBron being a huge baby, whiner and a diva. He's extremely unlikable but that doesn't mean he's bad at basketball or isn't the best of all time or at least 1A or 1B.
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No one is saying he's bad at basketball or not a Top 10 player of All Time, but to try and make the argument he's the greatest individual to ever touch a basketball on an NBA court based on only longevity and massive stat accumulation?

It's the same stupid argument people try and make for Tom Brady as the greatest, just because he played the longest and accumulated the most stats, although to Tom's credit, he AT LEAST managed to win the majority of his Super Bowl appearances.

Unlike the 'King' with his 4-6 record in the NBA Finals.
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