Tom Ziller (Spiteful) Article

pdxKingsFan

Hall of Famer
#2
The Lakers seem to have jettisoned their rebuild to cater to LeBron and who knows how many of the young kids will be around if they start trying to trade for win now pieces to cater to King James? All while GS and Houston are primed.

I mean let's not pat the Lakers on their back because this could blow up in their faces like the 2004 dream team or the Howard/Nash team.

If this team can win ~35 games and push that pick into the 10-14 range maybe we'll stop hearing about how bad that trade was. If you ask me it isn't even the worst Kings trade involving a pick this past decade, that would be the stupid Casspi/Hickson trade that tied us up for 6 friggin years.
 
#3
Totally accurate (with a snarky undertone) and illustrates why Vivek is a bad owner. The only thing I disagree with is that Vlade should be fired. I like him as a person, but he should never have been hired to begin with. The damage is done and we need stability.
 
#4
So the Lakers just signed a soon to be 34 year old to a 4 year contract. I am very happy for them. If you thought LeBron had a high usage rate last year with the Cavs you just wait to see how tired he will look half way through the season.

They are a one star team who if they get lucky and drag a few more players to join them in season 19-20 & 20-21 he will be a worn out declining star beginning his good bye tour.
 
#5
I don’t understand the point of the article. We all know the lakers can attract a superstar in free agency but the Kings can’t. Ok.

It’s like comparing a dining experience at a trendy/high quality food truck, to a Michelin rated restaurant. They are both aiming to make great food that satisfies a diner, but they are incomparable for all sorts of obvious reason.

So what alternative does sac have than the current path? You can quibble with the choices along the way, but not the overall plan. If anything, it’s surprising the Lakers took the time to build some homegrown talent.

I don’t know maybe I’m just grumpy, but I find the whole premise of the article dumb.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#6
I don’t understand the point of the article. We all know the lakers can attract a superstar in free agency but the Kings can’t. Ok.

It’s like comparing a dining experience at a trendy/high quality food truck, to a Michelin rated restaurant. They are both aiming to make great food that satisfies a diner, but they are incomparable for all sorts of obvious reason.

So what alternative does sac have than the current path? You can quibble with the choices along the way, but not the overall plan. If anything, it’s surprising the Lakers took the time to build some homegrown talent.

I don’t know maybe I’m just grumpy, but I find the whole premise of the article dumb.
It also remains to be seen just exactly what homegrown talent they'll ultimately end up with. Ingram is probably their most exciting longterm prospect but also shares a position with Lebron and Kuzma (in other words, their three best players all play the same position plus any added time they'll give to the Michael Beasley experience). The situation that applies to Ingram also applies to Kuzma. At the guard position, the Lakers remain devoted to Lonzo Ball, who is not an off the ball player at all and fits a roster built around Lebron James about as well as I, a chubby 6'1" dude who hasn't played competitive basketball in a decade, do. There is also a distinct chance that the Lakers give a huge chunk of his minutes to Rondo, which is, from a player development standpoint, not ideal (at least until the playoffs when the Rondo cocoon cracks open and the Playoff Rondo butterfly emerges). The same thing applies to Hart, who is another nice young PG, now pushed all the way to 3rd on the PG depth chart.

So yeah, mayyyyyyybe Tom should wait a bit before considering the Lakers rebuild a success.
 
#9
Well Tom if you wanted Kings fans to hate you any more than they already do write one article to contrast the hopeless nature of the Kings rebuild to the clearly successful nature of the Lakers rebuild while making your twitter picture a "Lakers 4 Life" picture. There is nothing particularly interesting or new in this article and I'm sorry I took the time to read it.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#10
Well Tom if you wanted Kings fans to hate you any more than they already do write one article to contrast the hopeless nature of the Kings rebuild to the clearly successful nature of the Lakers rebuild while making your twitter picture a "Lakers 4 Life" picture. There is nothing particularly interesting or new in this article and I'm sorry I took the time to read it.
Lucky for me, I quit reading anything with the name Ziller on it a long time ago.
 
#12
The Lakers had a young promising team that was starting to gel and take responsibility for the future of the franchise. Now the level of thier responsibility/ownership will be greatly reduced as they become secondary players. I know its Lebron but they Lakers shot their future in the foot.
There are a few Laker fans in my office, and I'm surprised at the level of grandeur that many take as in "challenging the Warriors now" or "3rd best in the league". It's possible, but I don't think they'll be even 4th best in the conference, let alone league. As a few have already noted, James health is larger worry point. All it takes is one injury to become chronic. Espn article was stating 54 wins, which i find on the high end of zeal. Thinking more like -10 from that. Luckily now the Lakers have dropped back to being neutral for me., so I don't really care whether they succeed. Espn has James starting at 4. Let's see how good Mcghee is with only being surrounded by one superstar rather than 3.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#13
There are a few Laker fans in my office, and I'm surprised at the level of grandeur that many take as in "challenging the Warriors now" or "3rd best in the league". It's possible, but I don't think they'll be even 4th best in the conference, let alone league. As a few have already noted, James health is larger worry point. All it takes is one injury to become chronic. Espn article was stating 54 wins, which i find on the high end of zeal. Thinking more like -10 from that. Luckily now the Lakers have dropped back to being neutral for me., so I don't really care whether they succeed. Espn has James starting at 4. Let's see how good Mcghee is with only being surrounded by one superstar rather than 3.
More than any injury concern, I'm not sure how Lebron wins surrounded by a poopton of bad crazy vets who are taking minutes from the good young players on their roster.

I mean,

Javale
Lebron
Kuzma
KCP
Rondo/Ball

is good enough to get to the playoffs but in the west, that's a first round exit rather than a finals appearance.
 
#14
More than any injury concern, I'm not sure how Lebron wins surrounded by a poopton of bad crazy vets who are taking minutes from the good young players on their roster.

I mean,

Javale
Lebron
Kuzma
KCP
Rondo/Ball

is good enough to get to the playoffs but in the west, that's a first round exit rather than a finals appearance.
And that's more or less what I envision....44 wins and 7th seed losing to the Pelicans in 5 or 6 games. :)
 
#15
Lebron will be 34 by the end of this year and has played a whole lot of minutes including several deep playoff runs. So it is not like the Lakers have that many years to cash in with Bron leading the charge. They have also drafted PG's DeAngelo Russell and Lonzo Ball with their #2 picks in 2015 and 2017. Russell did not pan out and Lonzo is still up in the air. They let their 2014 first round pick Randle walk for nothing. They have some nice young talent but lets not pretend they are contending with GSW, Houston, Boston or Philly.

The sins of the Lakers do not overshadow the Kings poor draft and trade showing of years past. But this article fails to recognize the turmoil of the Maloof years. While Laker Fan watched Kobe age, Kings Fans were battling to keep their team.But the new Kings ownership did get the new arena built. After faltering Vlade was brought in and has begun to right the ship. The Kings have a lot of nice young talent and a good young coach. Another thing the Kings have is a fresh start. Vlade and Vivek do deserve credit for providing this fresh start.
 
#16
The Lakers have always stacked the deck and thumped their chests. Golden State and LAL are the easiest team to dislike in the NBA by a wide margin. I have no problems with James now that he is less boastful but he plays for the Lakers for God's Sake.

I am third generation Washington Husky and will be driving through Oregon today. You can be sure I will be wearing a W on my head and being polite to all I meet. Champions are humble and they act like they are supposed to be there.
 
#17
Kings suck....what hard hitting journalism there by Tom Ziller.

I can't believe these guys get paid to do this stuff. At least offer some sort of behind the scenes information that the fans don't know about. This "article" has been written about a million times across other web sites and every NBA forum out there.
 
#18
Totally accurate (with a snarky undertone) and illustrates why Vivek is a bad owner. The only thing I disagree with is that Vlade should be fired. I like him as a person, but he should never have been hired to begin with. The damage is done and we need stability.
So firing Vlade will give us stability??
A new GM is going to want their own coach, either this year or next year. A new coach is going to want their own coaching staff. A new GM and his new coach are going to want the players that they want.
And you think firing Vlade gives us stability?
 
#19
So firing Vlade will give us stability??
A new GM is going to want their own coach, either this year or next year. A new coach is going to want their own coaching staff. A new GM and his new coach are going to want the players that they want.
And you think firing Vlade gives us stability?
I said I disagree with the author in regards to firing Vlade, because we need stability ;) The worst of his mistakes are most likely behind him and I'd rather have stability than prevent his (hopefully) minor future errors.
 

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#22
#23
What's spiteful about it?

Why do Kings fans get triggered every time they aren't told how great a team they have when they haven't broken the mighty 33 win plateau in 10 years?
Because we already know and we're trying to get out of the gutter! LBJ or KD will not be landing at sac airport breaking news.
 
#24
What's spiteful about it?

Why do Kings fans get triggered every time they aren't told how great a team they have when they haven't broken the mighty 33 win plateau in 10 years?
The article served no purpose. Did not provide any new information or answers/solutions to anything. All it does is irritate Kings fans and gets him a few extra clicks and comments from our fan base complaining.
 
#25
When someone says the Kings are rebuilding like the 7akers, I take it as an insult because of the pee-poor job the 7akers have done at rebuilding. That is a statement that reflects negatively of the 7akers, not the Kings. Jokes on you, writer whose name history will forget.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#27
Magic and the Lakers PR team is working hard to keep expectations low and persuade their fans to have patience in their multi-year plan to a championship. Apparently, they haven't check LBJ's birth certificate to see how old he is. By the time this multi-year process ends in their mythical championship he's going to be in the rocking chair. They know that, but they don't want fans clamoring for it because it put a lot of pressure to do something soon, which would essentially squander the seed corn of their young core. It doesn't matter what they do though. When the Lakers are five games over .500 and in the bottom tier of the playoff pack, fans won't be happy. And when LBJ gets question after question about why they aren't leading the division, he won't be happy. That leaves Ball and his father who will be wondering why it was the Lakers chose Ball at #2 pick in the draft. That drama is going to be very entertaining. For us. Not for Laker's fans.
 
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