Lakers' Off-Season Struggles and Front Office Critique: A Deep Dive

[00:00:01] It's Monday, you know what time it is. Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air, I am your humble host, Vince, holding it down on the ones and twos, or a bunch of funge, and so Rhea, they will be riding, support

[00:00:29] in this podcast, getting the information in soap. They are bored, we are bored, and we are glad to have you here. Let's get into the socials and then get into the pod. First of foremost, ex, Twitter, whatever you like to call it, at Front Runner PC, and then

[00:00:50] hit the producers up at Rhea, underscore, funge, FR PC. And then they got a lot of stuff going on over there. I put some local much water today that might be a little controversial and we'll get into in a second, and just check it out.

[00:01:13] Also the YouTube page, things are starting to go back up, put something up over the weekend, really like what we are doing there. We are going to have more comprehensive things on the offseason and what your teams

[00:01:28] have done, so keep it locked on our YouTube channel at Front Runner Podcast Collective. And then the last thing is this, be a friend in telephoto. It's working, it's working well, I can't thank you guys enough, but we need to continue

[00:01:45] to download and continue to tell people about this podcast. So we can go on our more numbers and be able to do more cool stuff with you guys. So that is always the plan, and that is always the dream to be able to do it.

[00:02:01] So hopefully we can provide you with great entertainment and good information and also, kind of get you this whole hoop thing squared away. Without further ado, we're going to get into this podcast.

[00:02:20] And if you have not seen my Twitter today, oops, well definitely can't be on the thing. So there was something that popped up that was disturbing to me and I couldn't really understand why, but let's give you a little backstory of what's going on and we'll kind

[00:02:49] of go from there. So the Lakers are in the midst of the offseason. They're what we've heard is that they are struggling. They are struggling to under these new CBA rules, acquire talent that fits their needs

[00:03:10] because of the restrictive nature of all of that entails this new CBA. We live in a new A-Bring world, first A-Bring, second A-Bring. They have their challenges between them. Obviously the second A-Bring is more punitive, but here is what I want to say.

[00:03:37] And this is in a nutshell. I hope I can weave this in as well as I think I can. So I hope I can do this, so please pray for me. I'm going to take Lerix from Anthony David and India R.R.R. song. It's really the hook.

[00:03:58] And this I'm taking off my analytics hat right now and I'm going to put my fan hat on as a Laker fan. And I am speaking to the brain trust of the Lakers, so Gini, Kurt, Linda, Rob, whoever else has some influence in that situation.

[00:04:25] But before you guys kill me and before you guys get so mad, let me express this in a Lerix. Can't tell you nothing you ain't already heard, no matter what I say is nothing will words. Let me prove to you what I know is real.

[00:04:53] Let me express to you the way that I feel. And the reason why I chose that Lerix, that hook, shout out to Juano Alfeira songs actually. Shout out to Anthony David and featuring India I.R.R.R.R.

[00:05:11] The reason why I chose that song is because as a Laker fan, we get through some glorious times. Now yeah, all franchises have ups, downs will have you, ends out, things change will have you. They all do it.

[00:05:29] And I'm not sitting here saying we need to be champions. That's not what I'm saying. I am going to make this all land and I'm going to leave all this in because what I say probably isn't important.

[00:05:50] It is nothing but words, but as somebody who has watched this team for over 40 plus years, I need to be able to express the way that I feel. And how I feel right now is, I think it's actually kind of derelict to duty right

[00:06:13] now that you're more concentrated on an employee in the Laker organization that has a podcast who says something basically very, very benign for all due purposes. So what I'm talking about is there's a podcast called Laker's Film Room.

[00:06:39] Now it has changed a little bit in the last day or so. It used to have Mike Trudeau who is the Laker Sideline Reporter. It also had Peter Zaris, Ziaz and Darius Salado. They gave good information.

[00:07:01] They break down certain plays, how my actions post look or how they think the Laker is getting proven, whatever case they do, excellent work over at Laker Film Room. But Pete was an employee of the Lakers and he was called into the office as a relates

[00:07:25] to this comment that I spoke about on my podcast in regards to Dan Hurley and his interests or their interests in Dan Hurley to be the Lakers new head coach. I called it a smoke screen, I think they just needed a little heat off of JJ before they

[00:07:49] hired them. My stance still stays there. But I find it interesting that the Laker organization took it upon themselves to say it wasn't like it was skating. Said it, he called it a saga. One possibility I see is saga on Shaline Village Drive in Long Beach.

[00:08:14] Siri also likes saga, put on series to slow trying to hunt. Anyways, I'm gonna keep that in. That's good content. So he called it a saga and they seem to have take real on bridge with the terminology of the verb, it's saga.

[00:08:39] Wasn't like, oh, the Laker organization's a clown show wasn't like the Laker organization, what are they doing? Why would they even do this? It wasn't college coaches have incredibly bad records coming into the NBA.

[00:08:59] I wouldn't understand why they would take somebody who is coaching a collective of kids and then put him in a position to coach LeBron James, who's entering his like 20-second year of playing in Vadebaski Walk. Nothing like that will set.

[00:09:18] It was basically just called a saga and basically if the Lakers would understand how their fan base feels about them, it was a saga. We had people calling into ESPN radio, 710 Lost Angeles. We had people doing Twitter spaces about it. But I'm in long Twitter spaces.

[00:09:45] Hugely hot debates in regards to Dan Hurley is this a good move. This is a huge swing. A lot of people were jazzed about it, a lot of people were hyped about it and then when it off the apart, oh, it's all we cheap.

[00:10:07] These were the things that were coming out of Twitter spaces. These were things that were coming out of talking heads and these were things that were coming out of podcasts. Now me, I told you where I stand.

[00:10:19] I think it was a huge smokescreen to take some pressure off of your guy who is now holding the job. So my stance stays the same. But there was a lot of talk out there, a lot of chatter. Well, how this is embarrassing.

[00:10:37] Why can't the Lakers, you know, this is the same offer that Kentucky gave Dan Hurley. Why are we here? Why are we doing the same thing Kentucky? We could offer more. We're very wealthy franchise.

[00:10:53] This is just some of the chatter, what you chose to take the word saga and turning into this delicious term and twist it and give my man Peter's eyes a ultimatum either and don't the pot work with us. And you know, congratulations to Pete and Darius.

[00:11:23] They chose to go a different direction. I applaud them. I applaud Peter's resolve because the one thing about doing this podcast and we talk about it all the time. We want to give you a robust podcast. We want to give you all facets of the NBA.

[00:11:47] And this one, this is the facet that I have been particularly interested in. This is a foreign office. So again, it's a question. I took my analytics hat off. It's a question as a fan. I see a 39 almost 40 year old LeBron James.

[00:12:13] I see Anthony Davis who are coming off in incredible years who were the healthiest they have been since they've been a Laker. I see steady improvement from Austin Reeves, a absolute coup for the developmental staff of the Los Angeles Lakers. But I also see things that disturb me.

[00:12:43] We talked about the Pete and Darius thing. Let's talk about this real quick. Because again, I need to be able to express the way that I feel. And I need to be allowed to let me prove to you. I know this to be real.

[00:13:11] We will continue to hammer these quotes home. But here's the thing, you punt it on the Ossies and so far. Punt it. Basically, you did a daughter to connect Felto you at 17. Now we can be among the fact that last year,

[00:13:38] no offense to Jayling Hood Chufino who I think could still be a really good pro. But Jaime Hawke has a junior was sitting there at 17. And can't whip more was sitting there at 17. Can't whip more and went three slides later to the Houston Rockets.

[00:13:57] This turned out to be a boom for them. Miami, you know the history there. He goes 18th to the Miami Heat. And he turns into a very valuable solid productive roclayer right off the bat. Fit right in.

[00:14:19] Jay Jay Reddick said it his press conference that the lakers are close. They're not there, but they're close. And we got a win on the margin. That was another thing that Jay Jay said.

[00:14:35] Rob Polica is told to study very hard to make trades in this climate of the new CBA. Well we go right up the road to another team that I have personally have had questions about their foreign office. And that is the Golden State Warriors.

[00:14:57] Kurt Laker might done leave a junior or face with in a sense the slow eroding of the dynasty that is the Golden State Warriors looked at straightened eye and said, okay we got to make a tough decision. They lay ended up leaving.

[00:15:22] They ended up getting the Anthony Milton Kyle Anderson and buddy Hill. And on this podcast we talked about if you look at Clay, buddy Hill takes the shooting part. Kyle Anderson takes the height part and some of the actually more connectivity than Clay Everhat.

[00:15:46] And then the Anthony Milton is a lockdown defender if he's healthy. So they replace Clay with three dudes winning on the margins is that type of situation winning on the margin means that you have to be a matchant of winning on the margins means

[00:16:05] that you have to be bold. Winning on the margins means that you have to be very particular and very meticulous about your mode of operation. Are you more worried about Peter Ziaz or are you more worried about making this franchise the way it needs to be?

[00:16:29] Because again, I talk about my fandom and being here in 1978. I talk about being excited about Magic Johnston joining the team in 1979. I remember Tate delay games and finding out about my favorite player Magic Johnson scoring

[00:16:51] 42 points in a game six finals and winning a championship when Korean couldn't play. And started my love affair with the Lakers. I remember that. I remember when Magic had to retire because of the HIV virus.

[00:17:10] I remember the Nick Van Exle era shot out to my guy Nick Van Exle. You brought me a lot of joy when Magic stepped away. We didn't win a lot, we didn't win big but thank you for coming in and not being afraid

[00:17:32] of taking on the challenge of being a Laker. I love you, love your heart, love your game, Nick the Quip. That's our guy. Now we go through all this and module here's the thing, Jerry West.

[00:17:46] And I told you I was going to weave other things into this and we talked about the margin and we talk about players and we talk about development and we talk about these things, right? Isaiah Hartnstein is one of the prime examples of finding your role,

[00:18:07] excelling at your role, finding a fit with inside of an organization, inside of a team frame, and then allowing your particular skills to blossom and manifest itself to a point where you get a three year contract and it's worth $87 million.

[00:18:32] Now the reason why I bring up Isaiah Hartnstein and his awesome contract in Kudos to Sam Presty and the signing of Isaiah Hartnstein to feel their big role, the reason why I bring this up

[00:18:51] is because Jerry West, everybody who has been with me since day one knows my affinity for Mr. West, everybody knows how much I love that man and I appreciate him for giving me some time

[00:19:12] from time to time. I appreciate it. When I want to read your comment, this is from Isaiah Hartnstein. Some way asked him a question about when he was with the clippers. He says,

[00:19:23] it was big. I think going there was also another Hart battle because I was going in there on a training camp deal. Jerry West had a lot of confidence in me. Tyloo was great. He really let me

[00:19:38] play my game and I learned a lot from Jay Laranega and who was in my day-to-day coach, helping me a lot building my confidence and learning the game and being able to pick the

[00:19:52] brain of the logo was instrumental in my development. You did that man wrong? Not when you asked to understand what you needed to do there. Phil couldn't have Jerry West there. I understood that.

[00:20:10] I understood the relationship dynamic that was going on. I understood it all, but you could it brought that man back as a consultant and you didn't. And then when that man died,

[00:20:22] you put out a blurb. That man brought you magic Johnson. That man brought you James. Where the man got you Michael Thompson. AC Green. That man got you the next iteration. He brought

[00:20:48] you Shaquille on you because Shaquille on you will tell you that's who brought him here. Jerry West, the great Jerry West as Shaquille on you call so shots out to the big Aristotle. Love you big

[00:21:06] Shaquille, my God. And then Jerry West made a very true trade. He traded very beloved bloody devots to the Charlotte Hornets with a 13th overall picture with they selected Kobe Bryant. So when you talk about the fabric of the lakers and the greatness of the lakers,

[00:21:33] you can't talk about the fabric of the lakers without Jerry West. My concern is all these little things on the margins because we just talked about the margins, you're more worried about perception and how people see you. I'm gonna let you know right now.

[00:21:58] I'm gonna let you know right now. I don't I don't have to say it. There are people who say for me. Bryant win horse. What's my God's name from Hupe? I want to

[00:22:16] make sure I give him the credit that he so rightly deserves. Michael Scotto from Hupe type. Howard Beck from formerly the athletic and now with the ringer. Has specified on many occasions on the directionless or rudely ship that is the lakers.

[00:22:44] So when I talk about when I said I was hyped about JJ ready being a coach of the lakers, I was thrilled about that. But I also said that everybody had the jump on board and be whatever that

[00:22:58] that North star is we need to be all on that same page pulling going in that right direction. That's what I said at the time. Ever since I said that it looks like it's been the exact opposite

[00:23:13] of that particular podcast that we did. And here we are. Here we are. And we talk about the margins and we talk about it's hard to make trades in this new crazy CBA world that we live in. Has anybody seen the master class that Philadelphia has put on

[00:23:42] in this offseason? Yes, they signed Paul George into cow space but how they how they staggered the contracts and how they actually got them in after that was amazing. What they did with Kelly Uvray, what they did with KJ Martin, what they did with oh, Kaleigh Martin

[00:24:04] from the heat everybody loves that signing we'll see I do have one buyer beware what Kaleigh Martin is this heat players after they leave the heat but I love the signing because I love

[00:24:21] the player and I love how hard he plays in the playoffs. But if you look at how they built their team and how meticulously they were about every signing and how it went and which order it went,

[00:24:34] it's a boom for them. Shout out to Delmorey and the plan that he said in October of last year when you have a plan and your resolute in the plan. Yes, sometimes if my backfire you might have an egg on your face, Daryl took a lot of arrows

[00:25:01] the whole year but he was resolute and what he wanted to do. And guess what? That team looks drastically different and they still got Joel and bead and Tyreys and Maxine on it. When the legors look pretty basically the same oh there's a couple more gray hairs in

[00:25:26] LeBron James beard. There is that. Oh by the way just as the little HRI AD's over in Abu Dhabi, absolutely killing it. Absolutely killing it. So I really hope that the JJ Reddick margin

[00:25:46] situations do work but I must say you did not cloak yourself and glory this offseason at all and I find it very disturbing that you spent more time on bead of Xires than

[00:26:13] what you plan to do with the roster that you currently have. It was a planting last year before the season started as we predicted here at Frontrunner Podcast Collective and as a fan,

[00:26:31] you know how how much it hurts my heart for me as an analyst to have to say that. Yeah, I knew it wasn't going to go me a great time and now what yeah we're still what a

[00:26:48] playoff team but we're struggling to get into the playoff into the playoff now. We're struggling to get into the playoff. Houston is coming New Orleans is coming. Memphis is going to be healthy. Okay yeah Denver took a step back, Clippers took a step back. I got you.

[00:27:08] Okay see did they take a step back? Nope. Didn't Minnesota take a step back? No. So tell me where the winds are coming from. Oh Dallas we didn't even talk about Dallas.

[00:27:25] Sacramento, Phoenix. So again in a stack west you'll hold by the way we talked about this on previous podcast. Your whole division made a trade or signed a free agent or made their

[00:27:40] team better in some sort of way after losing people or whatever like the Clippers had to scramble they're not better but they scramble to pick up pieces to try to you know to piece together

[00:27:56] a team and yet here we sit. Now I will say this on the on the legors we have is that we really have the real actual date is July 20th and the reason why I throw out July

[00:28:13] 20th is the actual date to get something done is because that some really ends on July 22nd but usually like your execs are going to be leaving town around the 19th or 20th. So if the

[00:28:27] legors really want to get something done they still have a couple days to do so. So this could remove mule but I will tell you this from what I've seen what I've heard what you're showing me

[00:28:42] I don't have a lot of confidence in your ability to get anything done. So when you went up there and you said hey we're going to be relying on development was that the soft sell to hey we're not

[00:28:56] going to do shit this off season you guys are going to pay exorbitment prices to go come see this team because look modern is awesome. A.D. is awesome. Often on the rise we hope that Max

[00:29:09] Christie gets some damn time this year and we'll see but I did say and I've said it time and time again. Rao Palinka has been doing a rebuild job under LeBron James knows so we go back to the lyrics

[00:29:34] of the Anthony David song and the indie art re-song so just let me prove to you what I know is real all the stuff that I said is factual it's all out there you can come get me you can not come

[00:29:56] get me you can you can you can explain it away or you cannot you could not say a word we do all this well at the end of the day to the lake of fans I can't tell you nothing you ain't already heard

[00:30:19] no matter what I'm saying is nothing but words we love this team we rule for this team but they're not they're not given us our luck right now you know it's clear so

[00:30:42] I'm all my uh soapbox at this point with this particular situation but I wanted to send my uh my thoughts and also my just you know my solidarity with the like a film room

[00:31:03] Pete and Darius who do a great job over there you guys continue to kick ass will continue to build up your podcast here and I'm always going to side with the person

[00:31:20] who's going to try to put out good content I'm always going to side with that person so those are the words that I have for you today and regards to the lake of this now let's get on

[00:31:36] to some stuff that actually means something in the world of basketball some of league has starting to uh take shape games we played today but let's give you a couple like real quick observations first

[00:31:53] of all reach effort is absolutely the truth the six foot I man you know what he six foot three to me I don't care what y'all say you say he's six one and a half all that stuff he

[00:32:07] probably is he 100% is but just do it shoot it just do with hit logo shots his dude was hitting snatch back and then he was he's he snatched back dribbles between his legs

[00:32:26] to a floater oh that was on brony by the way yeah boy yeah boy yeah boy yeah re-sharker is to me now I've always been kind of hard on jailing green I know everybody's real

[00:32:44] height about them because of like what he did you know last month of the season without parents hearing going out I get it I understand what you guys are coming from but let me tell you something

[00:32:59] if I have my way that roster would look a little different and I like read and I know it's couple games but it was me who I like okay let's have a re-shacker can't wait more

[00:33:20] on man Thompson back court wing situation and then we can have our guide jubbery from the junior in alchristian goon and then steal all the all the guys off the bench I personally

[00:33:38] and we're really big fan of a re-shacker I I loved him in college when we talked about his 52% 3. shooting we talked about the connectivity he can he can play with and he just sees

[00:33:50] the game in a different way and I thought that he'd be scrappy on defense it's summer league we're not gonna get too crazy but I think there are multiple skills that translate to the NBA

[00:34:04] and we saw it all display in his first two games of summer league so shots out to re-shacker putting in real work now also to another Houston rocket can't wait more this dude don't even need

[00:34:23] to play anymore summer league ever again okay can't wait more is the true that guy right there to me I said it on on Twitter and I said it in podcast I loved him coming out of the draft

[00:34:40] I thought he was I thought he was box office I couldn't believe he fell as far as he did there was speculation of some sort of injury that never was and he falls to Houston

[00:34:53] fantastic job by Raphael Stone in the crew down there and they got a real player and they were struggling to find minutes for him last year you'll imagine that remember they got Dylan Brooks they have Fred Van Vlee then you got the Jalen Greens of the world

[00:35:15] then you had on man Thompson you know you had a lot of people and then it was Jason on tape and some others and that Atari Eason forgot about Atari Eason can't ever forget about Atari Eason

[00:35:28] but cam struggle to get time well there is no way he needs to struggle for time any more matter of fact let's make him a starter now let's go ahead and make cam a starter because

[00:35:43] boys and girls go to your YouTube machine go put you some literal spree will highlight tapes all and tell me if you don't see some of the similarities in the trails game and in cam whip boys game just saying just saying

[00:36:11] couple of things from some of the league that we need to get to Rifeshae Rifeshae looks pretty good I think he will find his role now when we talked about the

[00:36:24] draft now we always said that we're gonna get a couple guys that just kind of jump out and I think there's gonna be a couple more that jump out as well but you look at Rifeshae and what he's

[00:36:40] able to do now the shot didn't fall in the game that I watched he has a shot it like his a stroke it is as well as he did over in France I think it will come the shot is nice

[00:36:55] the defensive ability is really good and I think that he does offer some playmaking ability on the second-site creator type of situation he didn't get to do it a lot in

[00:37:07] in France and we talked at Nazion about what it was he was playing with a really competitive team they said hey we need you to be a three-and-de-guy all these other things you can work in

[00:37:19] you can work in your individual workout but we are not going to really allow you to do any of this in the game so he did not really showcase any of those skills and now he's getting to start to use

[00:37:35] these things and it's kind of like writing a bite you know the the game will slow down for him Alex R look pretty good I did not I saw the one three corner he shot I didn't see the whole

[00:37:49] game I need to go back and watch it but Alex R and some of the highlights I saw I love that he moved really well I like to see it when yeah we saw it overseas I still want to see it

[00:38:06] like in game time I know that you say oh well it's some relief that's game time no I get to that's more of a glorified scrimmage you know they're running up with down the court

[00:38:19] so he's not having the thing I want some way to pressure him and I want to see what that looks like before I'm kind of like all in because the one thing I saw when he was in Australia

[00:38:31] is that anytime that he had to think about the game everything slowed down so all that fluidity and movement and explosion that you see when he says running up and down the court and getting

[00:38:45] you know he got as well got the ball in his hand it just vibes it works all great when it's like that but let me see it when the pressure's on um the Zach E.D. played well in the California

[00:39:00] classic now he's had like a somewhat of a minor flood injury that kept him out I don't know if this will continue or he'll could if he'll play at some point I think he will I think they

[00:39:13] want to get him a lot of reps and we'll have you and then what we're going to do is we're going to close up shop in a second but the last thing that I want to bring up

[00:39:27] is that it looks like the league is about to shut down in a second but keep in mind the 20th is the date that we want to continue to monitor so keep it locked here at frontrunner podcast

[00:39:42] collective to see what my going because we don't know if a trade will break it might so can we lock there with that being said I thank you for indulging me and what I needed to say

[00:39:58] about the lakeers we will hit a lot of the teams in the next podcast I'm only going to do something on Detroit and we'll see what else pops up in the meantime oh I do want to get to one other thing one other thing before we go

[00:40:20] Lori marketin that trade is still out there and I know we heard the outlandish demands of Danny age I wonder if they come down as we get closer and closer to his extension date

[00:40:38] which is August 6th so keep that in your back pocket so for these trades that we're here and that don't make any sense because the trade that I heard about the Gulf State Warriors made no sense whatsoever Danny wanted granted putzinski Jonathan Camingo Moses Moody

[00:41:01] in all the picks for Lori marketin that was never going to fly we knew that because my donelly johnny and lakeers love pubsinski so that's definitely not going to happen and if you think they're given up on Camingo you got another thing coming so

[00:41:23] I wanted to throw that in as a last second little bonus to what will be coming ahead on Wednesday so you guys keep it locked here and as always like we like to tell you thank you so much for

[00:41:36] tuning in to us and tell your friends tell your friends about us be a friend tell a friend about us front runner podcast collective so with that being said the best part of you is you

[00:41:49] make sure that you are keeping people around you surround yourself with people that are going to only brighten your light those who want to extinguish your light don't give them a second thought

[00:42:01] do good in this world and we will see you back on this feed on Wednesday you guys have a good one