It isn't cap space, it is no one wanting to go there to play with Kobe. Look how much they had to pay Nash. Also the Lakers don't have anything to offer in trade.
No, none wants to play with Kobe, in the end, the team has to get someone to play with him. If LA has a person like Duncan or Durant, Howard will be in LA instead of Houston.
I don't think it's %100 people don't want to play with Kobe so the Lakers have a crap team. I blame their management for this scenario. Nobody wants to play with Carmelo either, but they don't have the 2nd worst team in the league. They stacked their team with offensive players and undersized power forwards and this is what they get.
I think you could argue that they could've done a better job of picking players that fit together even if they were less experienced. Both Boozer and Hill are bigs who are horrible defenders that like to shoot jumpers from the same spots which screws up the spacing. I'm not sold on Randle but it would've been interesting to see him possibly replace Boozer as a starter.
It's not 100%, but Kobe is obviously the main reason people don't want to play in LA. Kobe is well past his prime, has a huge salary, thinks he's the undisputed #1 on the team (regardless of who his teammates are), and uses his teammates as scapegoats. Earlier in the season, Kobe would continually call for the ball, Lin would give it to him. Afterwards, Kobe criticized Lin for not running the offense properly. Seriously, why would a star or a promising young player want to play with Kobe? Carmelo may not be a good teammate, but he's nowhere near as bad as Kobe, and he is still good enough to carry a team.
Yeah, maybe not 100%, but Kobe is a different beast from most ***holes. Kobe couldn't get along with Shaquille or D12. Think about that. Kobe is in constant conflict with his co-stars. And he is the ultimate chucker on top of that.
With all this talk about Lin and Kobe, we forget about a guy like Boozer. I think overall, on a good team Boozer is still > T.Jones, Black, Capella, and Dorsey. Would have been better served as a Rocket PF.. and I think still has much to contribute.
The whole people don't wanna play with Kobe thing is overblown because of that dumb Abbott article. Biggest mistake of the offseason was not signing Isaiah Thomas who wanted to be a Laker. Now the kid is stealing Dragic and Bledsoe's shine one state away. Far as Kobe not passing the ball to Lin, Kobe hit 3 3's in a row against NO to put the Lakers back in the game. Lin's not doing stuff that. Lin takes over once every 10 games. Kobe takes over EVERY game. Meanwhile the guy who's getting ripped here in LA isn't Kobe or Lin. It's Nash, who's getting a $10M check but won't even go to games to support the team or give the young guys pointers. Instead he's posting golfing and hiking pictures on Instagram while ignoring Byron Scott's phone calls.
Not really, he's one of the worst teammates in the NBA. He ran Shaq out of town, he ran Dwight out of town. No star player would actually want to put up with his BS. The Lakers are dead till he retires.
Lakers will have a tough time getting any stars to come there anytime soon... In this day and age the stars are looking to team up and usually do it on a team one of them is already on... since the lakers have no stars (doubt anyone wants to join the lakers because they think teaming up with a broken Kobe will be a good idea)... they will probably have to grow their own... which could take some time..
A leap of faith in Los Angeles http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11873719/los-angeles-lakers-taking-leap-faith
If you take 30 shots in a game, of course you will get a run of shots going in. The question is what is his shooting percentage overall. When you have two (or three!) guys guarding you, odds are that passing the ball to just about anyone will result in a better shot. Even if you're Kobe.
Train wreck television. I love it! The fact that the LOF's are all choking on this just makes it that much sweeter.
I think it's funny that people speculate about Kobe demanding a trade. Nobody wants a crappy $24 mil player who's a cancer in the lockerroom.
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Xavier Henry plays 3 minutes & he was +10…Lol! Lin Only Fans in Lakersground will be having a field day with this game...
Anyone remember that Asian guy who did the YouTube videos on Jeremy Lin? Anyone know if he's still making those?