Lakers News: NBA Twitter Chastises Rob Pelinka After L.A.'s Miserable Shooting Night
During a brutal 123-109 defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors in Chase Arena, your Los Angeles Lakers frequently looked outgunned, outworked, and just outclassed to kick off what could be a long 2022-23 season. L.A. struggled to hold onto the rock, turning over the ball a whopping 21 times. Though the team did look somewhat scrappier on defense, Los Angeles put on a woeful jump-shooting performance. L.A.'s depth looked particularly weak, as the club's three priciest players accounted for 77 of its total points.
Needless to say, NBA Twitter was not pleased with the performance, and (astutely) blamed the man most responsible: team vice president of basketball operations.
Brace yourself, these are pretty good.
Jasmine Watkins dropped an appropos "Great British Bake-Off" meme:
That would explain a lot of the team's signings this summer ($6.5 million for Lonnie Walker IV when you could've had him for the veteran's minimum?).
Former Boston Celtics center Kendrick Perkins, now an ESPN personality, got straight-up patriotic in his criticisms for some reason:
Some sports writers got into the game. Tony Jones of The Athletic was apoplectic at what might have been a severe dereliction of duty:
Sam Quinn of CBS Sports also dove into the fray:
After the bad vibes of last year's ill-fated 33-49 team, you'd expect Pelinka to address his roster's most critical needs in the offseason: trading Russell Westbrook's contract for useful role players, and/or looking to add above-average wing shooting (also defense). But perhaps that was too tough a puzzle to crack:
Daniel Daniel Oyefusi of The Miami Herald did not hold back, coming straight for Pelinka's insane contract extension:
Corey Johnson of Pro Publica similarly came after the team's reconstituted roster, which, to be fair, could be just as ineffective as last year's:
Seriously, how do you disassemble every single element of your championship roster aside from your two best players in just two years? I'm not even mad, that's amazing. Okay, I'm a little mad.
Why did this guy get a multi-year extension that could keep him in Los Angeles longer than LeBron James?
Imagine if Los Angeles had just kept critical role players like Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green (pre-ACL/LCL injuries), Alex Caruso, and JaVale McGee around this whole time, while upgrading the lead guard spot -- or just keeping LeBron James as the team's de facto point forward. Or, you know what, actually maybe you shouldn't imagine it. Best not to dwell on these things too much.
This current Lakers club needs to make a move, and fast, or else it's going straight into that play-in tournament bracket -- or worse.
