Yes...I think its a season of disinterest and it showed with their multiple losing streaks that went 5 games at the most. There was never a sense of urgency. And when a very capable Dallad Mavericks came, they got their a** whoopin.
I guess its better for them really. The roster will be re assessed and I do hope Fisher will retire. We'll be glad he can sit at the bench and do assistant duties. The roster is very much capable, a little tweak and have no reason to doubt that they will contend again.
Regarding the Laker bashing, I think it magnified when Kobe became the superstar that he is. An arrogant brash kid who was not hiding the fact that he wants to be the next MJ, it wasnt welcomed by NBA fans who considered MJ as the MAN. If Kobe wasnt a Laker Id probably hate him too!!
Couple this with the Lakers being the equivalent of MLB's NY Yankees. The huge market Franchise who gets all the breaks....in terms of viewership, freeagents and trades (Shag signing, and Gasol trade). Its easy to understand how the Lakers gets a legion of bashers and haters.
And when a debacle like the Dallas series come......they fall hard. And we fans gets embarrased too. I guess thats the way I like it.....at least we know the Franchise always contends, we win some.....we fall but fast to rebuild rather than be mired in mediocrity as some franchises are known for.
i couldnt even recall having seen the lakers in mediocrity, or i wasnt really paying much attention all seasons for the last 10 years, its seems to me the the era of cedric ceballos wasnt much of a strong team but just the same, the lakers command a strong following.
for the many times that kobe has been playing, he has been playing wiht much pride and always give it his best, i guess the age factor made him a louder mouth than other superstars but during every games, he puts his A game always.
The early exit gives them better oppurtinity to study their options. It was a bad season for Gasol but he is still relatively young so i guess he still has it, perhaps a new coach and PG can bring back the fire in him, bynum may have acted like an A hole but perhpas the tough experience could make him a better player next year.
What strikes me apart from the odom and gasol not being dominant lately is matt barnes, isnt it that this guy has reached star status when he was then playing for a team not known to be strong yet he and was it JRICH carried them beyond expectations,i just couldnt recall which team was that, after being traded, he was not the same man again. Something like a Steve Smith, who was a superstar when he was with ATL then but slowly faded away in the sunset when he got traded.
