Kobe vs Mitch Kuptchak vs Phil Jackson vs Shaquille O'Neal, who's fault was it for the downfall of the Lakers?

Answer 1

It's all of the managements fault. They do the deciding. Why blame Shaq? He got traded. Why blame Jackson? He was there to coach not take part with the decisions. What about Kobe? I think he took a li'l part of the blame. Ok I get his point that it wasn't his insistence that Shaq should go, but I think he should have insisted Shaq to stay. Although at a decline Shaq is still a potent threat to any team, If he made a stand like he is doing now (the famous"I want to be traded" scenario) I think Buss would have second thoughts on trading Shaq. So there.

Answer 2

It's Mitch's fault and Kobe's of a lesser degree. According to Phil Jackson, 3 years back when Kobe was a free agent, Kobe said he'll only stay with the Lakers if Shaq leaves. So then it's Mitch's fault for listening to Kobe. And Mitch made the first mistake of not trading Kobe for Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion as Phil Jackson had requested years ago, and then, if Mitch can trade Shaq to Miami, he could have very easily traded Kobe for D-Wade instead! What a moron to keep such an immature and insecure selfish sidekick over the captain and the superstar!

Answer 3

Free agency sucks (in terms of league and team continuity). Success eventually hurts teams with good records (like the Jazz of the Malone/Stockton era).

Inevitably, success and time will catch up with ALL franchises. There's no way to avoid that. What DID happen in the Lakers situation is that it did not get a chance to play out on the basketball court. There was ALWAYS a sense that the Lakers were nowhere near as friendly with one another as the "Showtime" Lakers. Magic's Lakers truly share a special bond. Today's players are generally "mercenaries" which is another reason the league sucks.

No one can question that Shaq and Kobe were in some sort of pissing match. It's easy to blame Kobe because EVERYONE ELSE BEFORE AND SINCE LOVES SHAQ (Damn, how hard is that to figure out).

Plus, it was STUPID. The REASON it was stupid is that it belies the rules of basketball.

BASKETBALL RULE:
"When a player justifies a double team every time he has the ball; YOU ROUTE YOUR OFFENSE THROUGH THAT PLAYER" PERIOD, POINT BLANK.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) the Lakers had that blessing/curse. You could make a case for running your offense through Kobe or Shaq. The issue is that you CAN ALWAYS run your offense through Shaq because absolutely no single sould this side of Jesus could contain him one on one for even one minute.

The Hawks had the same problem when they had Reggie Theus, Moses Malone and Dominique. Not enough balls to go around. Side note: Moses got a ring Reggie and Dominique don't...

I'M NOT ASKING YOU TO LIKE IT. Among other things, Kobe's shot selection HAS ALWAYS left a lot to be desired (IN MY OPINION) in an overall analysis. IN MY MIND that is one of the reasons why the Lakers are suffering now. HE'S TOO GOOD OF AN OFFENSIVE PLAYER TO FORCE HIS GAME AS MUCH AS HE DOES.

So, IN MY OPINION Kobe was unwilling to defer to Shaq and could not see the handwriting on the wall. I'm saying, Shaq's no fitness guru and would be taking a secondary role soon enough (like he is now).

Now, Kobe could be the "man" on a team with Shaq taking a secondary role with some hopes of title runs.

The Lakers management is one of the best teams in the league at making lemonade out of lemons. They need to get rid of Brian Williams no jumping butt. I've never seen a Black Man with a worse vertical jump IN MY LIFE.

Kwame Brown has MAD COW DISEASE! He should be playing in the European league.

Sasha is WORTHLESS. Great shot. Nice... He's the Happy Gilmore of the NBA. Kick Rocks, he belongs in Europe too.

The Walton kid is a good basketball player and obviously his Father's Son. Just don't look for him to light up the scoreboard or shut anyone down, HE CAN'T!

Aaron McKie: Old needs to go to the European League and help Euros learn to kick American butt.

The Lakers can only hope that Andrew Bynum can get as good as Greg Oden already is in a hurry. Chris Mihm getting healthy would be a big help. Maurice Evans is a good journeyman ballplayer, if he and Odom play good and hard the Lakers might actaully have some life.

Winning cures everything, but how will this Lakers team do it with no bench?

Answer 4

It's always the owner fault, he's the one that sign the check and give the final ok in all deal. Especially the lakers situation, when kobe went on the radio to say that, the lakers insider say it's Kobe is the reason Shaq not in lakers uniform anymore, Kobe say it's the lakers owner is the one okaying the deal to trade Shaq and Kobe himself has nothing to do with that trade that send Shaq to Miami, and even Oneals agree with Kobe saying it's the Lakers owner that pull the triger, and Kobe has nothing to do with it. So Ultimately it's alway the owner who have the final saying in anything, GM makes the deal but owner approve them.

Answer 5

to be honest none r to blame it come down to simple maths 40+ million on two player that leaves less than 20 million on 13 more players if u use 20 million that 1.5 average person this mean they wouldnt get any good FA they would suck and be in the same hole but after the oneal trade mitch **** the team up trade caron for k brown didnt want to trade thier young c that could turn out to be just like brown but also the owners they dotn want to spend money and that wat it all boils dwon to money untiel the owner want to spend money the laker will suck cause when west was gm they didnt get and keep young players kinda like the suns

Answer 6

I think there is some fault all around. I feel for Kupchak though. I think he is on a short leash from Buss. Buss wants a profit and going without a big salary as with Shaq makes him more money. There was a time when Buss was one of the wealthier owners but now he is competing with billionaires, he is out of his league.

Answer 7

Mitch for getting 4 stiffs for the most dominant player in the history of the NBA.

Answer 8

it aint nobodies fault buh maybe the GM but...

all teams sooner or later will have bad records and then become a winning team agin

(example portland)

Answer 9

all of theirs but shaq was the biggest

Answer 10

Kupchack no doubt!!....he hasnt made any major moves!!.....he passed on so many!!....garnett, baron davis, jermaine oneal, j-kidd, ron artest, god idk how many others!/.....i agree with kobe!!...ship him out of here!!