Bartholomew Hunt

I never said that we had a role in shipping them out. My point was that they were disliked as players for a reason. Our two year starter at PG could not even crack Riley's rotation, and he is pretty well regarded for getting a lot out of lesser players. I like Luke's game as a rotation player. I do not like that fact that he showed up out of shape after getting a contract. Now that he's getting his legs under him, the shots seem to be falling a bit more. Luke needs to advance to the 'average' status as a defender.

afobisme

oh, i misunderstood then..

but in this situation, comparing a GM to a player is different. imo, you can measure a player's worth much more than a GM. a lot of variable factors for GMs and all.

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Jamel Irief

What about Radmanovich? People wanted him cut after the snowboarding fiasco.

And Lamar? He is still a Laker?

The point was the flip-flopping of the extremes. Two seasons ago we had people starting threads about how Mihm is the second best player on the team, now he is the worst and needs to be murdered. Everyone loves Bynum now, but they loved him last year when he started the season averaging 12 and 8. It's when he started to play poorly and Mitch was a idiot for wasting Kobes prime to keep Drew.

What happened to all the people that wanted Mitch castrated for not making trades in the summer? Now he's not so bad? "Erratic" is a nice way to put it.

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My 10 Favorite NBA Players

1. Robert Horry (still active for now) 2. Shaquille O'Neal 3. Lamar Odom 4. Nene 5. Baron Davis 6. Andre Miller 7. Marcus Camby 8. Leandro Barbosa 9. Caron Butler 10. Manu Ginobilli

afobisme

im glad kobe hasn't been traded, but then again, if management decided to do it.. i would have been okay.

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CubanLaker

I never gave up on Radman. Im pretty sure if you look back through certain threads you would see me defending his shooting slump last year because of his injuries. Although i was pissed about his accident when it happened i still believed we had yet to see what Radman can do.

Although right now Mihm is trash is im giving him till after the Allstar break to get his legs under him. I refuse to believe that he has regressed this much.

Lamar....if hes not averaging 20-24 points i say trade his ***. Hes been given more than enough opportunities to shine and he just hasnt stepped up and right now hes our best trading chip.. Although i do believe he would be a great 3rd option on this team i also feel that with Bynums progression he can be that 3rd option as well, and we have to have a 2nd option before we can have 3rd. If we can keep him while still bringing in that number 2 scorer then by all means do it, but if getting that number 2 option means Lamar has to go bye bye, then so be it.

Mitch.. I still want him castrated.

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KennethTo

I wanted Vlad cut then and I still want him cut. He is not worth the money and there are better ways we could have filled the team's needs if he were cut.

Not cutting him was a bad GM move. Wanting him to be cut doesn't mean he is awful player, it just means it would have beneficial to the team to use the money elsewhere.

Same goes for thinking Walton was a horrible signing. Signing Pietrus would have helped the team a lot more for the same money.

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Bartholomew Hunt

I'm talking about the players that EVERYONE seems to be hate. The fanbase is divided on Odom and Radmanovic. There are probably more haters than supporters, but not to the point that Chucky and Smush faced. Yes, fans have flip flopped according to the production of their players and success of their team. Congrats, you just described every fanbase. Fans are fickle. Personally, I feel that Odom should be dealt as soon as he strings together a series of good games. I've said this before. Get his value nice and high, then pull the trigger.

afobisme

i agree ^

i didn't want us to trade him.. not until midway into last season when i realized that he's not going to get any better.

im ok with us having radman, but realistically i think he's only worth 4 million a year.

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Shaolin

I will never give Kupchak anything but the back of my hand.

Now, as far as players that were hated on:

Devean George...no one really hated on Devean, he was a nice kid. But he got penalized for being aggressive, and got called for fouls he didn't earn. At some point he became a liability.

Samaki Walker....the guy was garbage and a liability to the team whenever he came in.

Vlade Divac....a guy that big shouldn't ever become a flopper. That wasn't hate, that was disgust.

Atkins....wasn't a "Laker". He was some guy that the lakers got in a trade.

Walton....again, no real hate on Luke. Just disappointment.

That big slug of a euro who passed out after eating a snickers bar a few years ago....what was his name? Could shoot a little but that was all?

CDRacingZX6R

I love when you use words like "everyone". As if you are the only person out there who thinks rationally about Laker politics.

Two years ago = Mihm was our second most consistent player for a time. He was rebounding great. Scoring in the post at will. And swatting balls away while playing decent post defense.

He also rolled his ankle, missed a season, still isn't 100 percent, and may NEVER play that good again. Injuries, age, etc. It happens. Just like Shaq isn't the most dominant center in the NBA anymore.. It doesnt mean he wasn't the most 3 years ago. Am I flip flopping because he aged and doesn't play the same level of basketball he used to?

People normally hate players with good reason. I think the Lamar hate isn't always fair, but I don't hate him. As a personal I think he is really cool. I just think he will never reach the type of player this team needs. Does that mean I never thought he could before? I was sold on his abilities, but I've come to the conclusion he probably wont be that type of player now or ever. Just like I don't believe Kwame will ever live up to a 10/10 a night type player.

Realism, and disappointment don't always mean erratic or blind hate.

For the record I think you hate Kobe as much as anyone here has ever hated Brian Cook, or Luke Walton. Theres years worth of posts of Kobe bashing, even if he has played well, etc. But you also said you would be the first person on board if Kobe lead this team to a title, cause winning solves everything. Remember that? So your saying it's ok to flip flop if it's only because you hate Kobe Bryant. The hypocrisies is down right blatant at times.

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Jamel Irief

What would the Lakers do with the money they are spending on Vladi? They are still way over the cap.

Cutting him means we lose him and Buss has a fatter wallet. We can't just replace his contract with a simular one.

See the post I replied to above. You think cutting a good player so "you can use the money elsewhere" is rational? The NBA has a collective bargaining agreement with a salary cap. It's not like your house where you can sell your jewelry and use the money to buy a new car.

People get pissed and throw out stuff like "cut radmonvich!" when it doesn't really make sense.

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My 10 Favorite NBA Players

1. Robert Horry (still active for now) 2. Shaquille O'Neal 3. Lamar Odom 4. Nene 5. Baron Davis 6. Andre Miller 7. Marcus Camby 8. Leandro Barbosa 9. Caron Butler 10. Manu Ginobilli

CubanLaker

To my knowledge, Vlade's accident was a breach of contract. This allowed the Lakers the opportunity to void his contract, which means we would have had the full mid-level exception that we used to sign Vlade at our disposal to sign someone else. I may be wrong though.

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Jamel Irief