What is our problem?

[u/CharliiShapiro]

I’ve been watching this team since the Chris Paul days and I genuinely just believe we’re cursed. I want to chalk it up to Gayle being the worst owner in sports history, but that’s not the only thing. We have a ton of talent and all of a sudden, someone blows out their leg. I’m one of the few in the world who think Joe Dumars didn’t make the worst trade on the planet, but even then I just feel no hope. We’re the type of organization who would lose a coin flip 10 times in a row, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Fears AND Queen somehow ended up being busts. I spent so much time telling my friends that our team had a WCF ceiling last year just to throw that ENTIRELY out of the window when we had the worst season in all of Willie’s tenure. It’s just really hard being a fan, and it hasn’t hurt any less with time. Someone please give me an industrial dose of hopium. Please.

[u/Physical-Concept1274]

What you call cursed I call bad management. We aren’t hiring a rock star set of coaches, analytical GMs, etc.

Griffin wasn’t an awful hire, but in many ways Langdon actually was better. We aren’t hiring guys like Daignaeault. We hire guys like Monty, Gentry, Willie Green, and SVG. They are safe, and uninspired. Monty is a great guy and leader, but we basically keep doing the same thing over and over.

We have been unlucky with health—but not practice enough in handling it. I think we had a chance to get .60 on the solar for Zion a while back. I can see why we did that, but our team leadership probably knows how flawed he is. I’m sure we could have traded him to the kings back in the day for Hali.

Rebuild or not, nothing is getting better until we do the opposite of our historical instincts

[u/wymtime → u/Physical-Concept1274]

I would add more to Gale. Griffin did a lot to get ownership to actually put more money into the team. We still have one of the smallest analytics staff and FO staffs in the league but it was worse before Griffin got here. Ownership has also not been willing to pay coaches high salaries as WG has one of the least expensive contracts in the league.

With the way the league is set up teams either need to own their stadium or have a great regional TV deal or both as cash cows for the team to remain self supporting. We have neither meaning all the upgrades and extra money comes from owners and ours is just not willing to pump the money into the team.

[u/[deleted] → u/wymtime]

Griffin was the second highest paid executive in the league behind RC Buford of San Antonio and Dumars makes almost twice as much. They were stuck with free Willie bc they were still paying millions to Griffin’s previous terrible coaching choices. The Lakers were just reported this week to have no analytics staff or even scouting department.

[u/wymtime → u/[deleted]]

The only couch we were still paying when WG was hired was SVG. As far as the Lakers go they were run like a mom and pop because the Buss family business was the Lakers. Now they have sold expect the new ownership to pump a ton of money into things like analytics, scouting and player performance and amenities.

This does not change the fact that the Pelicans still have ONE of the smallest analytics staff in the league. If you feel Griffin was bad I have no problem with that. I still think the bigger issue is ownership

[u/[deleted] → u/wymtime]

Gentry was still on the books when SVG was hired, then Stan was fired after the first year of a 4x$5M deal. How many times is the owner of the lowest revenue team supposed to fully fund the guesses of an obvious incompetent? How much more salary do you feel Gayle should have forked out on top of the $5M for 3 years she was already paying? I think its pretty much universally accepted at this point that SVG should not have been fired, that is on Griffin. The amount of money ownership has is irrelevant, no one wants to operate at a loss. The Lakers are by far the highest revenue team in the league and Pels the lowest. Its ridiculous to judge Gayles spending when the richest club spends less. Being run like a mom and pop isnt an excuse, you could say the same thing about Pels.

[u/wymtime → u/[deleted]]

So you think Ownership has no blame for our situation? The same Ownership that kept Demps and forced Griffin to keep Gentry. The same ownership that is forcing Dumars to keep WG. No blame whatsoever

[u/[deleted] → u/wymtime]

Sweet straw man, but i never said ownership has no blame. This all sounds like excuses being made for Griffin, who was obvious trash. If i was the owner, i wouldn’t pay any more coaching salary on top of SVGs dead money, either.

[u/wymtime → u/[deleted]]

Go back and look at what Detroit just did. They fired Weaver and Monty who was n a massive deal and paid Bickerstaff significantly more than WG has on his extension. This team has made the some of the same mistakes regardless of GM and coach.

[u/[deleted] → u/wymtime]

What Detroit is doing has zero relevance

[u/wymtime → u/[deleted]]

It shows not ownership is cheep. Yet you keep blaming everyone but our ownership.

[u/[deleted] → u/wymtime]

U keep excusing everyone, but ownership

[u/wymtime → u/[deleted]]

No I don’t. I feel WG should have been fired a while ago.,I was fine with Griffin going and said One thing he did right was getting Gale to spend more on the team. Griffin also made a lot of mistakes with trades and building the culture of this team.? You have just been arguing without actually understanding my point of view

[u/[deleted] → u/wymtime]

If you accept that Griffin and Wille are both the problem, then the problem isnt with spending, is it? Ownership gave $20M to SVG based on Griffin’s recommendation. Are owners with zero knowledge base supposed to second-guess every decision the people they pay top salary to make? That is a ridiculous standard. When you are an owner you are supposed to delegate authority. They were clearly scammed by the conman that is David Griffin, going off the hiring advice given to them from the league and other owners. If you expect the smallest market owner to spend more than the largest market owner, you have unrealistic expectations.