Diabate with a couple post moves. Liked the spin in the 3rd quarter.
1 Like
Yeah, this has gotten pretty crazy. It does raise an interesting question around what the criteria are for failing a physical. I could see a scenario where a team might legitimately have concerns about a playerās long term viability once they get the complete medical picture. But as many suspect, I could also see teams using that to get out of a deal if they just simply changed their mind about the trade. Itās all so subjective and really comes back to whatās a reasonable expectation. Iād imagine a lot of players have injuries that would make it unlikely they would be able to sustain a high level of play over the next 10 years. Most careers donāt last that long in general, irrespective of injury.
Will be interesting to see how this one plays out. And I assume this could mean that none of the involved players will be able to play until this is resolved? If so, that would certainly impact the Lakers more than us since theyāre in a playoff race and would be without a key rotation player for potentially several more games. Either way, Iām glad weāre at least looking into it. Iām all for sticking it to the Lakers any way we can.
Yeah, feels like weāre the Red October crew cheering on thinking Rameus is scuttling the ship. Just fighting the big purple and gold other team feels good.
This is about our good name and I like fighting for that.
1 Like
Hollywood had better never ever ever remake that movie. Ever
1 Like
I would not be surprised if this Hornets/Lakers debacle leads to some league wide changes in how trades are documented, processed, and the order of operations in which things occur. Because nobody asked, Iāll break down a few points:
-So we know that (according to the hornets, at least), the Lakers pursued mark. Did the hornets recent post say āaggressively pursuedā?
-We will also assume that both the front offices discussed markās health and the Hornets sent over all of the relevant medical documentation required to satisfy the Lakers. It would be mind boggling to believe that the Lakers didnāt ask about Markās health or that the Hornets withheld documentation asked for/required.
-Can we also agree that it would be insane to believe that the Hornets FO tried to ātrickā the LA Lakers? That would be public suicide and would become so hard for us to trade with other teams. For a FO trying to revive a franchise and its public perceptionā¦this is absolutely impossible to be true. Nor does it align with Petersonās history.
-The Lakers then gave up a decent amount of assets to acquire Mark. Without thoroughly combing through Markās medical history, they wouldnāt have traded for him in the first place. They must have had team doctors and athletic training personnel comb over his medical records to verify and ask follow up questions. Again, this would be insane to believe the Lakers didnāt have their medical people comb through Markās records with a fine tooth comb before the agreed upon deal.
2 Likes
Oh, good.
āThe Lakers changed their medical staff last offseason and hired Dr. Sims, who was the Senior Vice President, Head of Medical Operations for the NBA.ā
Good luck with that Peterson and co. Yikes.
2 Likes
Maybe the NBA was happy to get him a job because he was lacking in his then current role? 
In reality, they know the players better than us. They know what they are challenging here. If they feel itās specious, they owe it to themselves and Mark to clap back.
I saw Keith Smith say that too. And he also said some teams will not do a deal of any consequence like this close to the deadline. For the exact reason thatās playing out here. So for the future, itās probably wise that Jeff does the same thing. Not saying he did something wrong, just a word to the wise type thing.
1 Like
I know the Lakers have long developed friends in the media to spin their tales, but this is the dumbest quote to me. Why is getting a starter for the next decade a requirement for trades now?
You canāt even sign a free agent for longer than 4 years, there should be 0 expectation for any more. Other than a big sign and trade, you shouldnāt even expect that long, since theyāre likely partly through a contract already.
You can hope for a starter for a life of a contract, you can hope to resign them, but itās not guaranteed theyād want to stay. 5-10 years? Please, they traded for him in a win now, as in this year while LeBron is still viable move. Markās on a rookie contract, so itās their gamble to be able to keep him in the first place, and no guarantees they can even keep Luka past his contract.
They wanted him, didnāt like social media portraying them as getting fleeced, then backed out. Thereās another video saying that its not even the feet thatās the issue, along with the back, its something else theyāre concerned with, that thereās no actual injury. What, a misaligned hip? A vestigial tail? A sixth toe?
Doubt Silver will enforce anything more than a 2nd round pick in like 2035 or something. But restoring the integrity of our front office is more important. Pelinka is a clown like the Mavs GM.
2 Likes
Like I said, they were throwing a deep pass into triple coverage because they knew they had an offsides call.
I think awarding the Hornets a pick would at least say that CLT and Mark were damaged in some capacity. The Lakers still own this yearās 2nd, so I would settle for that. No way the trade gets un-rescinded. A small victory is still a victory.
3 Likes
This is exactly where I am. I donāt know that unrescinding is even a want. But some draft penalty should be.
1 Like
I for one, would love for them to reverse the trade. But thatāll never happen. My hope for all this is that they can uncover the truth about what happened and in part clear up Petersonās and the Hornets nameā¦which will also probably never happen. I worry that the damage is done in terms of public and league perception.
Instead of Knecht, an unprotected first, pick swap rightsā¦weāre stuck with an angry player, who is now worthless in the eyes of the league, and may not be inclined to extend his contract with us. Which means we could lose him for nothing in return since his trade value is completely slashed.
1 Like
From what I know of Mark - he is a tough smart kid. Im sure just like our organization feels like maybe he was done dirty. Im glad for both his sake & the new front office we are at least marking our territory w/ these next steps.
That being said - listening to Bobby Marks (ESPN) - on the radio today. Clearly stating over that the Hornets did nothing wrong here - itās just the Lakers saw something that gave them reserve in relation to the haul they were committed to giving up. The only question I had is - how is this not buyers remorse? But - itās clear in this case - āEh, itās the Lakers - they agreed to give up a lot - so no big deal because they want to be sure this works in a 4-5 years window.ā Feels like there isnāt going to be a way to break through with the media on this one. But the media machine was rolling on their side from the jump - remember the 1st statement released was āCharlotte failed to meetā¦ā so from the jump the media was spinning against us. As Hornets fans that should be where we have the issue.
Super frustrating situation - but I agree w/ the analogy of the defensive offsides. They took a free play at our expense and didnāt connect - but we still have the penalty. Highly doubt anything will happen to the Lakers re: punishment. But now I certainly feel like there should be. More likely we see some sort of tweak to being able to modify deals post deadline related to players health/physicals.
What our front office should aim for is to clear the name & clear Mark for now. Focus on saving grace there.
4 Likes
Agree 100% here.
As for the offsides, just to be clear, Iām not saying we committed a penalty. Just that they used this whole thing as a free play, knowing that with his medical, they could justify something if the wanted. And him not having adamantium for bones might have been the something.
1 Like
Yeah, I agree that this is a concern. So while I think challenging the Lakers is the right call, I do think we have to be careful about how we position this with Mark. He could read our doubling down on trying to force the trade through as, āwe really, really, really donāt want you and your fragile body around here anymore.ā We definitely have to make him feel like itās more about proving to the league he isnāt damaged goods and all this is about restoring his reputation and his value. Because the worst possible outcome is that Mark stays healthy and has a great year next year, but wants no part of resigning with us because of how we handled this situation.
Yeah thatās what Iām saying, this has devolved into a very messy situation. Going to have a lot of hang time and ramifications.
And I actually really like that the hornets FO is bringing up this lakers deal with the league. And also, I agree with the priority of that being transparency and clearing their name. And hopefully mark Williams as well. (And not really a matter of trying to get the deal to go through, which is a lost cause at this point)
It may not be the fast track action to repairing the relationship with mark Williams, but I think the bigger picture issues are more important to attend to.
And thatās even IF the relationship with mark Williams can be repaired. Because it may not, and thatās a very real possibility.