'What The Fuck Are We Doing' - The Lakers Explaining How LeBron, Rich Paul And The Front Office Screwed Everything Up

[ESPN] - “We all had the same reaction that the basketball world did, like what the f— are we doing?” one Lakers coaching staff member told ESPN. “Not only are we not getting shooting, but we’re also getting every basket case left on the market.”

“We were all confused,” a front office staffer said. “All of it made no sense.”

“Guys know there’s no trust there,” one Lakers coaching staff member told ESPN before the season ended. “Guys know the new [administration] has completely bent over to the agent world and were overly sensitive to having these one-sided relationships with these guys where they kind of control our every move because we’re ‘big-game hunting.'”

Well, this was a not surprising yet surprising in depth read on just how fucked the Lakers were this last year. I think that first line sums up pretty well. What the fuck are we doing? That was everyone’s reactions when the Lakers started signing anyone and everyone to one year deals.

The best part? Everyone blames everyone. The front office blames Magic. Magic blames Pelinka. Then there are people sitting there blaming Rich Paul and LeBron. I mean LeBron did take over pretty much everything. There are stories about how Rich Paul was able to convince KCP to not get suspended or released despite having to spend 25 days in jail.

Even this story about the draft is a bit wild:

As the Lakers neared their 25th pick in the first round, staff members in the second war room expected — and, according to one basketball operations staffer present, were excited — that they would select Villanova power forward Omari Spellman, who was the highest-ranked remaining player on the Lakers’ draft board, according to multiple team staffers present. Instead, the Lakers took Wagner, the forward from Michigan. Sources said that inside the second war room, scouts and other staff members watched the pick on television and were shocked.

Perhaps some of this is why we saw pictures like this floating around this year:

It appears to be a solid strategy to have everyone hate everyone. That’s at least what it seems like out there in LA. You have people with zero trust and pretty much why they are going to blow the whole thing up.

Good thing they have LeBron locked up for a few more years. Things are just going swimmingly out there. I mean you have Rich Paul complaining to Adam goddamn Silver about Luke Walton:

In November, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Maverick Carter, LeBron’s longtime business partner, met for lunch. James’ agent, Rich Paul, was seated at a nearby table, and at one point, approached Silver to complain about Walton, multiple sources familiar with the interaction told ESPN. Paul said he didn’t believe Walton was the right coach for the Lakers. Silver shrugged off the remark and asked whom Paul thought would be the right coach. Paul suggested Tyronn Lue.

Everything just seems like a complete mess. Naturally this is all being released before free agency. Before guys like Kawhi and Kyrie and Durant make their decisions. Either way just a complete mess and I can’t sit back and laugh harder. I’ve hated the Lakers forever, so this is just hilarious now.