As a Warriors fan growing up, when I wanted to root for a real NBA team I cheered for the Lakers (they were on TV all the time). In fact, before we moved to the Bay Area in 1979 and I even knew who the Warriors were, my favorite player was Kareem because he wore glasses like I did.
If you choose to write off what I said as the musings of a biased Warriors fan that's your prerogative. If you want to pull the wool over your eyes like the rest of the sycophants go right ahead, I have plenty of real-life experience dealing with your ilk and the comeuppance will be that much sweeter.
The only thing I don't really like about the Lakers is their fans jumping on (and now, conveniently, off) the Golden State bandwagon. The Warriors don't have any real rivalries like other teams because they were so bad for so long. Even during the brief periods of success they stumbled into, the Warriors and Lakers were never good at the same time as far as I can remember. I know Sleepy Floyd set the playoff record for points in a quarter against them in the 80's, but all that did was prevent a Lakers sweep on their way to another championship. Their rivalries with the Calves, Rockets and Clippers are all recent inventions stemming from their clashes during the Steph era.
If you look back through the NBA threads I've been plenty critical of many teams, including my own. I've even praised the Clippers as a model franchise (they are admittedly harder to hate now that CP3 and Blake are gone). They'll be running circles around the Lakers as long as Jeanie Buss owns the team that's for sure.
Miss Buss is the main source of my beef, not the Lakers. I've complained here and elsewhere that she's been unfairly immune to criticism when it's clear that's where their dysfunction starts. She's taken some hits lately, but that's only because the disastrous results stemming from her decision-making have become glaringly obvious and undeniable even to the most die-hard fans.
I contend that their latest moves have only made things worse and we'll know the truth soon enough. Sure, LeBron and AD together is a devastating combo, but when the quality of the rest of the team renders them impotent and you have no means to improve until 2026, I have to question the means by which it was done. Anyone could have traded for AD, but only an exceptional moron would have given up what Pelinka did, a direct result of his desperation due to the situation he himself created. They were on the verge of lapping the Knicks for Most Moribund Franchise and they knew that Davis was the only thing that would call off the hounds, however briefly. And Griffin knew. And Voila.
They sure could've used a promising young talent like Ivica Zubac right about now, but unfortunately they traded him away for no reason and for no return. To the Clippers. The why is still one of the greatest mysteries this board has ever seen.
An extra $5MM in cap space sure would come in useful in these trying times; such a shame it's all dead money due to buying out Luol Deng.
Pelinka and Vogel will soon be gone and then they'll go after Jeanie. It's going to be ugly and some viewers may find it disturbing.