So is that it? Are we through?

[New Power House]

1. So should we as fans just get a refund on our season tickets?
2. Should we cancel our league pass?
3. Should we stop hoping for anything good to come out of this season?
4. Is Charles Barkley finally right that we are through as a team and now Kobe can come back down to planet earth and be at least remotely like him by feeling the sting of being irrelevent and washed up?
5. Should we just continue to denegrate and bad mouth our team for everything they are trying to do?
6. Should we just go ahead and bend over and take it from the Clippers with no grease?

HELL NO!!!!!!!

I don't know what can become of this aging but very talented future hall of fame team. I don't know what they are capable of if they all just bring it for 48 minutes a night every night. We haven't actually seen them do that. They haven't had their full day in court. They haven't actually all been on the same page at the same time. Let's give them a chance guys. I know it's easy to be negative and to think that we haven't a snowball's chance in hell of beating the likes of Miami or OKC. But every once in a while heart, grit, fierce determination, team work, and unselfishness can overcome anything. Keep the faith guys and may the force be with you.

Once you named Charles FAT and frustrated Bark man,you lost me! Lakers as bad as they are made the Clippers look like the regular Clippers this last game. They did not look as MAgic portrayed them. The new show time! They beat us,but they were scare! We lack chemistry,bench support,smart coaching and our number two punch guy is out of shape due to an operation and we were close to defeat them! Lakers need just either trade Gasol or fire DA.Then hire Phil and maybe make a small deal to bring a better more effective leader for the bench. Our enemies and haters just want to kill the image of the Lakers and Jimbaco is helping them with his stubbornness,but this might change soon!

[New Power House]

We're talking about the 2010 Finals. You're saying Kobe never had a bad game??

Just drop it! Stop defending the fragile minded Gasol! Gasol has no guts! It is a fact! The world can see it,except you and Crooner! Gasol was gone and he was spare by the commissioner! But the fact is that the Lakers wanted him out! Sooner or later he will be gone,because lakers need a pg to pair with Howard,while Kobe's era expires! Face reality and move on!

[New Power House]

Nothing's getting us closer to a title, short of firing yet another coach. That's not gonna happen, so go ahead and trade the players the coach doesn't want for the kind of players the coach does want.

At this point, I just respond to specific statements that need responding to, not to discourage a trade. Just to enlighten some people who seem to be swept up in Gasol-bashing to the point of complete ignorance.

So, as I pointed out, Gasol is not being paid for the kind of stats he's been posting lately. He is being paid for what he has done. He has a line of credit, so to speak. Just as all those other players I listed, who were notorious for laying eggs for long stretches of season, and even playoffs, because they did come through at critical times, as Gasol has.

This is call pure bull!! What a foolish comment of a desperate fan of a soft minded player that is not capable to adapt his game and prove to his doubters that he still capable to produce instead of continue to ride on his credit card!

[MickeyMgl]

I don't know anybody on this forum except you and crooner who will say pau was the 2010 NBA Finals MVP instead of Kobe.

By this simple statement, you look ignorant.

I said Gasol was "arguably the Lakers best player in the 2010 Finals". I did not state that he was definitively the MVP. Either Kobe or Pau were valid choices.

The result of a very quick and not too thorough search produced PROOF (a word so often misused, but here I am using it properly) that Bryant's MVP was not "undisputed". I don't even necessarily agree with all of the following opinions, but that the subject (of the Lakers' best player in the 2010 Finals) was in dispute is beyond dispute.

http://tinyurl.com/ako44lw
"Twenty-three offensive rebounds tells you how much this team fought to win this championship," said Gasol. (He received my Finals MVP vote because he was the best player on the court for the Lakers in the final six minutes, which is when the championship was won.)

http://tinyurl.com/a2xxpzs
"Pau Gasol: The Real Finals MVP"

There were many, many others, but I rest my case. [mic drop]

[popo85]

Bring back Del Harris!

[MickeyMgl]

This team has enough to win a title. Still. There are several issues that need to be fixed though that can be (the coach cannot be). It is unlikely that they all do though.

In my opinion the major problems are:

-PF defense
-Team defense and communication
-General Chemistry
-Pick and Roll Offense
-Howard playing to capabilities (injury? mental?)
-The team is thin at the wing position...another wing defender that can shoot the 3 well

Not disagreeing with you, but holy cow... pick and roll offense is supposed to be D'Antoni's STRENGTH! I agree that it won't happen, but if there was ever somebody tempting a team to make a SECOND midseason firing in the same season, it's Mike D'Antoni right now.

[MickeyMgl]

This is to good. Pau has an open line of credit. This has to be one of the greatest quotes I have read.

So basically Pau is a bad asset that the Lakers have to honor due to his prior achievements?

The Lakers don't have to do anything... but it is something they have done, repeatedly.

Plus, the keen observer (including opposing GMs) recognizes that he's not a bad asset. He is an asset being misused. What's the difference, though? Trading him has my blessing.

Sure, D'Antoni was hired to coach THIS group, and expressed in no uncertain terms that THIS group should be expected to win a championship. But clearly he has failed, and the only thing left to do is to compound the error of his hiring by trading away a strong asset (for which there is no shortage of interested parties who recognize this) at about 20 cents on the dollar.

The alternative is to do nothing, because realistically, D'Antoni is going nowhere for a while. Doing nothing is not a good alternative. So... trade Gasol.

[MickeyMgl]

This is call pure bull!! What a foolish comment of a desperate fan of a soft minded player that is not capable to adapt his game and prove to his doubters that he still capable to produce instead of continue to ride on his credit card!

It's a fact. Sorry to burst your bubble. Many beloved Lakers sucked for long stretches of the season. Deal with it.

[jsthornton7]

The team needs to have a players only meeting and resolve whatever is going on.

[MT2A]

sure...

[beliges]

The team needs to have a players only meeting and resolve whatever is going on.

Having a players only meeting wont get you a real coach or consistent players.

[jsthornton7]

Having a players only meeting wont get you a real coach or consistent players.

LOL

I wish the pretend coach would work on defense more. The players have been consistently awful on defense.

[Swift Game]

The Lakers don't have to do anything... but it is something they have done, repeatedly.

Plus, the keen observer (including opposing GMs) recognizes that he's not a bad asset. He is an asset being misused. What's the difference, though? Trading him has my blessing.

Sure, D'Antoni was hired to coach THIS group, and expressed in no uncertain terms that THIS group should be expected to win a championship. But clearly he has failed, and the only thing left to do is to compound the error of his hiring by trading away a strong asset (for which there is no shortage of interested parties who recognize this) at about 20 cents on the dollar.

The alternative is to do nothing, because realistically, D'Antoni is going nowhere for a while. Doing nothing is not a good alternative. So... trade Gasol.

Well shi t man why didn't you say so. Lets send Mitch a message that we have the green light to trade Pau.

This is complete bu ll s hit and you know it. No shortage of teams willing take Pau? They must be lining up to trade for his services. Get real man, his trade value has bottomed out and we would be lucky to have a team or two that would consider taking him on. He is injury prone now and had become a bad asset. And the notion of him playing out of position is ridiculous.

Pau has played like punk with no heart since Phil's Final year with the Lakers. He has had a few coaches that have not had success with him so your argument for Pau holds no weight.

To add to this, at this point it does not matter who they trade for because Dantoni was the wrong coach for the Job. This team has played so bad I cannot remember a worse Lakers team since 89 with this amount of talent on the team. I would be absolutely shocked if they even get 20 cents on the dollar at this point for Pau.

[mamba24]

Its an 82 game season! Theres no reason to even begin to worry about these games.


What worries me, if MDA's inability to realize who he is coaching.

We know we are old, and have limited amounts of full-effort energy so I agree with the whole trying to steal games in the 4th quarter, but this guy is playing kobe,nash,dwight crazy minutes.

It's gonna take a pretty big turn around just to make the playoffs, but stranger things have happened. They need to go something like 30-18 just to get 45 wins. That's the average for the 8th seed in the west over the last few years. The lakers 1st round pick is top 14 protected. As crazy as it sounds we are actually closer to that pick than the playoffs. It's been such a frustrating season

[Hellcrooner]

well shi t man why didn't you say so. Lets send mitch a message that we have the green light to trade pau.

This is complete bu ll s hit and you know it. No shortage of teams willing take pau? They must be lining up to trade for his services. Get real man, his trade value has bottomed out and we would be lucky to have a team or two that would consider taking him on. He is injury prone now and had become a bad asset. And the notion of him playing out of position is ridiculous.

Pau has played like punk with no heart since phil's final year with the lakers. He has had a few coaches that have not had success with him so your argument for pau holds no weight.

To add to this, at this point it does not matter who they trade for because dantoni was the wrong coach for the job. This team has played so bad i cannot remember a worse lakers team since 89 with this amount of talent on the team. I would be absolutely shocked if they even get 20 cents on the dollar at this point for pau.

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