Rob Pelinka Discussion: BBall Ops Pres + GM (AKA: Lucky Rob)

Doncic, Reaves and Kessler. They earn less than, for example than Bancero-Wagner-Bane Or Mitchell-Mobley-Allen. Or Davis-Young-Diabanza. As much as Hali-Siakam-Zubac or Towns-Anunobi-... no, not Brunson, and not even Bridges, but Hart.

 

yeah, people reaching to be mad.

 

Rob is smart, he will just blame Luka if this doesn't work like how Lebron/AD took the blame for Westbrook.

 

I think he won't be here by Christmas, but he should have never been given a chance at another offseason let alone one as important as this one.

 

He was really bad at his job this offseason.

I like the player selection, kudos for that. I like the lower AAV of Kessler. But I think that's it.

I really can't understand the overpay to Grimes, Mamu and even Sexton.
How can't you sell LA? Playing with Luka? Playing for a contender? STARTING for the freaking Lakers???

These are all things that should bring the price down. It's not like these were highly coveted FAs and we were in a bidding war. Can't you offer 2+1 with a TO? A lower value if you're giving 4 years with a freaking PO?
I can't get it. Collins signed for 17 a year, 3 years with 1 guaranteed!! He's better than Mamu. It's crazy.
Mamu and Grimes could absolutely be had around 10mil (if not lower!!) based on similar players contracts. That would automatically be around 8mil. That's another rotation player.

We literally gave the worse contracts of the offseason and went to the opposite side of the trend of unguaranteed future years every single team did. But for whatever reason we have no leverage to sell a team friendly contract to freaking Mamu that was on a vet min in Toronto.

Really really bad job negotiating and it affects severely the team construction. We lost Smart and potentially a high end 2nd rotation player due to his inability to negotiate better deals. That's the win on the margins we needed to bridge the gap with top contenders.

We also couldn't throw Ayton to Utah or something? It would automatically get us Smart, for example.

We're in a really bad spot if this doesn't work and it might not in very different ways. We're extremely thin for injuries and each of these signings bar Sexton may not work as expected to the too high expectations we are putting on them.

Rob offseason grade: D

 

That was a long rant lol needed to vent


Another thing I remembered is that the only explanation for this behavior is classic Rob stuff: catering the asks of the superstar.
He got Kessler as the A list center for Luka. Grimes played with Luka and Mamu is european from a country of around the same region as Luka, not sure if they have any connection.

I can see Luka providing these names and Rob got them whatever the price. And this is what is wrong, because the franchise is the one getting impacted and Rob keeps his job.

I'm very frustrated with his approach and negotiation, I'm not joining the Rob's hater club but I think after this, I do hope he's gone at some point soon

 

Phoenix waived Beal and have 20m yearly on their roster. That team is a play in yearly. How are they a good example?

Clippers sold off Harden, Zubac and Kawhi for picks and a mid team. We also can trade Luka, Reaves and Kessler in 3 years if this doesn’t work out for picks. Doesn’t make it a good situation.

Bucks completely screwed themselves, the best they got is Ware and some small picks. That’s a bad case scenario.

The wolves are an example of what a well run front office looks like. We aren’t anywhere near them execution wise.

 

It is when your first reaction to any of these news is to mention Rob's name. You don't even comment the player, the fit, whatever. Anything basketball related, you just go straight criticizing Rob.

And look, it's fine, you do you and your absolutely free to do it. When I'm not in the mood I continue scrolling, just explaining why I think it's hate.

On top of that, you also rarely present any alternatives or options. It's easy to criticize someone if you don't provide a counter or at least put yourself in the other person shoes and understand the challenges and limitations they may be facing.
And when you did, you said "let's dump Vando and use the picks on wtv" like that's possible. You can't dump Vando AND keep the picks, they either go together or it's not happening. So that told me all I needed to know.

But again, it's all good, use the forum as you want and vent, rant, hate, wtv you want.
Rob definitely deserves hate today

 

We didn't get better, but we will be different. Free Agency isn't over though..we have accumulated a lot of bodies, seems like some kind of out of the blue, consolidation trade is coming.

I just don't know who we are chasing, and what team might take our salary dumps, since we have no draft capital left. We might still be tinkering right up until opening night.

 

I get you, again, anyone uses this platform as they see fit.
On my side, it wasn't a very fun week around here with every other post being an insult or criticism to Rob. He's singled out in every little thing we do. Not only here but around social media. I understand he's the fall guy and who fans decided to hate altogether. It's always happening in sports, there's always someone singled out. I don't like that approach and don't see the added value. I do enjoy discussing basketball and the Lakers so it bothers me when it gets constant.

I did came a bit strong in my comment and didn't intended to. I'm frustrated today and am projecting on you, as you were one of the most vocals on this and commented my post. I do apologize for that.
I do like your other posts and get you have this ick with Rob. Abeer is one of my fav posters here and we could never discuss AD lol I certainly have a few pet peeves too that people hate, it's part of it.

Regarding the "empathy", wasn't the angle I was going for. Is more about complaining about reasonable things based on facts, context and understanding the mechanics of it. Like the doomsday about the 2nd we spent on Kennard is ludicrous for example. For me that's straight hate. It was a good move in February, it improved the team at the time, it literally impacted a series win and that's a good use of a second, period. Everyone liked the move 4 months ago. Hell, it gave us 3 less months of Gabe which was awesome. Then you get to the offseason and you can't take decisions based on the 2nds you used to get them. I like all of our signings more than Kennard so I'm fine with him leaving.

Then if we go back on that one, Gabe was also a solid signing. We got a solid POA PG we really needed at the time. A proven player in the playoffs and Finals. Great get for the MLE at the time. It didn't pan out, but it made sense and, again, everyone loved it at the time. Nobody, including Rob, has a crystal ball to know if it will work or not, so it's unreasonable for me to complain about things like this. It happens all the time this type of revisionism and is the kind of lack of context analysis that these type of criticisms have, in my view

 

Lakers Land Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Colin Sexton, And Sandro Mamukelashvili

 

lol, not all unpredictable. Let’s hire Stevens, though, right?

 

I’m really not understanding why we have to convince bench guys to come here and overpay them. It just makes no sense. Particularly with several guys using their opportunity here to resurrect their careers. There’s just no way none of these would agree to a team option outside of Kessler.

It’s another in a series of those moves on the margins that end up putting us in tough spots. People see those criticisms of Rob over the years as somehow nitpicking but those things matter. We again watch guys we gave up assets for walk for nothing and the pattern of one year or less player rentals continues. Well unless the guy sucks then we seem to struggle to get off the contract. We actually managed to buck that trend and use Gabe for Luke only to lose Luke.

As always, I hope for the best with this team and hope we can find a trade to bring in a wing. But criticisms of Rob are completely fair today.

 

No. It will be Austin’s fault for signing his deal.