Debating Lakers With Gerald Glassford of "LakersFastBreak" Interview

We debate whether the Lakers are actually ahead of schedule or simply trapped on a “two timelines” plan that can’t produce a real title contender right now. We weigh Luka Doncic’s true value, LeBron James’ on-court limits at 41, and how much of the roster’s mess belongs to Rob Pelinka versus outside influence.
• current Lakers level versus preseason expectations and a 50 win pace
• the “two timelines” approach and why fans demand a title now
• trade deadline reality with limited picks and thin assets
• why some Lakers fans push unrealistic mock trades
• Luka Doncic as a top three NBA player and shifting media narratives
• LeBron’s role, salary cap impact, and the strain on team building
• the case for doing nothing to open major cap space
• OKC’s rebuild model and what patient team building looks like
• Rob Pelinka accountability versus Klutch and star influence
• Westbrook trade, draft decisions, and roster holes
• where Pelinka deserves credit as a negotiator
please check out Lakers Fast Break, wherever you get your podcast and YouTube specifically, also pop culture cosmos and everything that Gerald Glasford is involved with

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Transcript

pening Thanks And Lakers Plug

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Conversation. Special thanks to Gerald again for taking the time to sit down with me and have this discussion. And again, I don't really care if you subscribe to my channel. I just do this for fun. But I really hope. If you're a diehard sports fan like I am, especially if you love the Lakers, please check out Lakers Fast Break. It's a great channel. They really do in-depth coverage. They're live after every single Lakers game. They do content daily throughout the course of the basketball season. And any sports fan would be lucky to get to be a part of their community, and they'll welcome you just as they've welcomed. Thank you guys so much and welcome as always. This is Stefan Piscano with the Stefan Piscano podcast. My guest today is Gerald Glassford. He is the founder and content creator for Lakers Fast Break and many other platforms on YouTube, which I want to explore. My listeners that aren't familiar with Lakers Fast Break and haven't heard your thoughts, where do you think we are? Uh in my humble opinion, I think we've either slightly exceeded expectations that we all had going into the season, or we're right at what we thought it would probably end up being right around a 50-win pace. But what's your thoughts on the status of the Lakers right now? Where would you like to see improvement and where are you most disappointed?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Well, uh to start off with, uh, we do a poll, and you can find this on the notes section of our channel where uh people write notes for their channel. You can find uh every one of the regular panelists that stop on by, whether it's Legend from I Got Next Sports Media, Laker Tom, Jamie Sweet, the Lakerhollocks, everybody except for Joe, who I don't like to participate in these things, you know, and I just like to shoot off my mouth, you know, and just say I'm right later on down the line. That's what he'll tell you. Um but and everybody else, I think it's over 14, 13, 14 different uh prognostications. Almost all of them had this fourth, had the Lakers fourth, fifth, or sixth for the season. I had the team in fifth place, I believe, in the Western Conference, and they're right exactly where I thought they would be. They're a flawed team. They could have, you know, they chose, and and again, I've said this on the show, and you've heard me say this on the show. Chris Paul, I'm not Chris Paul, uh Rich Paul. Oh, say Chris Paul. Rich Paul, the clutch CEO, the guy that LeBron leads on as his best friend and comrade, as far as the guy who helped set up the LeBron James clutch empire. You know, I don't agree with a lot of he says, or I don't agree with the timing of what he says. But the one thing he did say when LeBron picked up the option on his$52.6 million a year contract was that the Lakers were on two timelines. They want to be a competitive team now, but they also want to leave plenty of that beloved cab space open for the following summer or the following summer thereafter.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

As they should.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Well, there's a there's a problem with that with the Lakers fan base that is 17 titles in, that sees Boston right there in front of them with 18, and is very pissed about the fact that they've gotten ahead of the Lakers as far as I'm concerned. They want a title now. And if you wanted a title now, you needed to do more in the summer to get to that point. And we're seeing the effects of that.

wo Timelines And Title Pressure

SPEAKER_01 3:20

I'm shifting now from sucking up to you, Gerald, to loving debate, I'll call it. But this team, my opinion, and I think this season is a perfect, you could not have a more perfect example of it. This team is never going to win another championship with LeBron James on the team because he can't be on the team and not be a prominent top two option for it. And as long as he's a uh 35-minute, roughly per game player top two option on offense, we're not going to win a title like that. It's not possible. There's no one we can add, especially with his$52.6 million salary, that can put us over the top. The best we could hope for is if we get a good draw and get lucky, maybe losing in the conference finals, but that's where we're at anyway.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Well, I say to that is though, that back in June of last summer, when the decisions were still being made as far as how to build and shape this team, Rob Palenka did have the time and opportunity and the cap space to make decisions going forward that could help the team. He could also have made decisions based on on what assets that he had to trade to trade for players, maybe that could have helped this team a lot better. I know a lot of people at that time, like myself, had said, for instance, I'll use an example, um, you know, getting guys like Trey Murphy the third, uh, you know, a really hard look and seeing if that that's the type of player that could you could get at that time. Now he's played so well that that that ship has sailed. Uh Herb Jones, along with him as far as his teammate, that would have been an excellent type player we saw then as a defensive stalwart. That could have been an option. But again, you know, the lack of of uh interest in spending any excess money and getting three players. No, no, hold on, good value, good value players, and no one's gonna argue with that because they did get them, he did get them on good value deals. Yeah, but they're not players that are going to move the needle far enough in the direction of OKC, and that's that's where we're at now. I field questions all day long, literally all day long from around the world, from people who are just adamant on trying every mock trade on the universe, but they don't get the fact that Rob Palenka is on a certain timeline and it does not look like he's going to deviate that deviate from it. Now, I'm hoping I'm wrong, just for the satisfaction of those people who want Rob to do something before the trade line.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

But so you really think that's smart? You really uh hold on.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

At this point, no, at this point no, unless Giannis Atuntacumpo comes knocking through that door or New Orleans makes a bad deal and gives you uh gift wraps you Troy Murphy Jr. Troy Murphy the third and Herb Jones in a package deal and gift wraps them to you. Uh you know, they go stupid like they did when they gave up their 2016 uh 2026 unprotected draft pick to Atlanta. Yeah, you know, that those are the kind of you're hoping for that, but unless that you know Luka Doncic type deal comes walking through that door, uh I don't see uh making a big splash enough with whatever little trade assets we have left to it's not possible really close that gap uh right now to OKC.

rade Reality And Limited Assets

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah, well, and that's the thing, and that's and honestly, uh maybe this is how it's always been. This is an evolution for me being somewhat new and very new because I've really only been I didn't realize this live chat stuff with live streams existed until about a year ago. And so it's been kind of fun for me getting to engage with other Lakers fans and growing up originally in Alabama and then Oregon, my whole life I've been used to being and now living in the Bay Area in California. I've been a Laker fan kind of by myself, and I've always heard people talk about stupid Lakers fans were you know always demanding trades and all this. And I always like, what are you talking about? We're not like that. And to be honest with you, the last couple years, I think we are kind of like that because not just your stream. I go into the used to go into the Laker Nation stream a lot. I used to, and it's just idiotic stuff, and it's creates who they are.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

This is who we are around the world. You have to understand now. That's one thing I've learned uh and acquired in my years of doing this, is that you know it's not just an isolated part of the fan base, it's a actual, sometimes unrealistic uh look from the fan base because they want to win, but that's what happens when you get spoiled, Stephen. Uh Stefan, when you get spoiled, you get spoiled, Stefan. When you look at when you're given the gold ring 17 times, guess what you want more than anything? That number 18 to go on.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

When we do have good stuff following our laps, we going all the way back to Wilt Chamberlain and Shaq and Luca now, and you know, getting magic with the first pick, worthy with the first pick. I mean, we do have lucky stuff happen to us.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Oh, and it's incenses other fans when you rub that in their face like that. And I try to not uh do that as much, but yeah, there are people out there who are incensed at the Lakers, and you know what? I can't I can't say wrong, the Lakers have had a lot of luck. I mean, who knew when Rob would sit down with Nico Harrison for a dinner date that he would end up getting the opportunity to get Luka Donich? Now, to your credit, to your boy's credit, he did get the deal done and he got it done, you know, with that. And but those rare successes from him are a problem because his talent evaluation might have prevented from other championships being won. And I'll just leave it at that. But before he gets in your next question, I got one question for you. Okay, what do you got? What do you think? Well, the Lakers have Luka Doncic. Yeah, how do you value how much do you value Luka Doncic? How good of an individual player do you think he is?

akers Fandom And Entitlement

SPEAKER_01 9:18

I mean, I so and this is the thing, and before I uh you we've kind of already dipped our toe in the water, but before we really get into the polinka stuff, um, and I don't want this to be, I mean, I'm I I and I've it's occurred to me, I think I'm a pretty nice guy in real life, but it's occurred to me in some of my little silly videos and some of my podcasts that I come across more negative than I intend on LeBron James. Uh so I don't want this to be a bash fest, and and you really do cover him, I think, really fairly, because you you're not Lakers, that's why I couldn't watch Laker Nation anymore, is I felt like it was just a LeBron James promo, like it was just like an infomercial. I just couldn't take it. You're positive when it's positive and you're negative on the things they're negative. So I give you that respect and that credit for it, and I don't want to overly attack him, but the facts are the facts, and and this isn't even the polinka stuff I'm talking about, but it kind of gets into that. We were 11 and 4 this year when he was sitting out. We started the season 11 and 4. Okay. Braun, while that was happening, the LeBron supporters in the media were already teeing it up. Oh, wait till he gets back. All these haters are ready to say XYZ and all this stuff. His first few games back, I was on your stream and I in the chat, I said I love the way he's playing right now. Third option. He was averaging like 14 points a game, sharing the ball more often. Sharing the ball, and that was fine. But I knew it wasn't gonna last, and it hasn't. And now they're what are we 20? Are we 25 and 16 is off the top of my head, or are we 26?

SPEAKER_00 10:44

26, 26 and 16.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

20. So that means since he's been back, we are 15 and 15 and 12. Yes, yeah, yeah, you're right. Yeah, not impressive, not impressive.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

He he had to get his C legs under him before he started feeling uh what he feels. And he is frustrating, he is one of the most divisive players in the history of the NBA. There's no two questions about it. And if you're a LeBron hater, I can see why. If you're a LeBron lover and a LeBron supporter, I can see why. It is just it's so the thing I've never uh just I used to be a huge LeBron supporter, but that just the noise, all the stuff he brings with him and does that's so unnecessary and so detrimental to a team concept, it it's just so hard for me to grasp. And I know you see the GOAT uh canvas art behind me. That was actually graciously given to me by at Triptal Shop on Instagram and Twitter, because he is a huge LeBron supporter. And so I out of respect, I put that up for him. But you know, LeBron James is just so divisive. But the reason why I ask you on Luca is because if if you really value Luca, if you really value Luca as someone who is in his prime now, that is one of the best players on the planet, my question is to Rob why didn't you do more to build a team around that every single year?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Thank you for asking again, because that believe it or not, my whole LeBron thing I just did was a long-winded. You remember if you saw the Trump Joe Rogan interview and he said, I'm a weaver, I'm a weaver, Gerald. So I was weaving back to that. Yes, I think that Luca was universally regarded as a top, not top five, but top three player before the trade. And I'm actually, if I ever have time to do it, I'm working on a video that I've worked on for like six months that I'm probably never gonna put out if I do to get 25 views. But it it's got clips of Bill Simmons and uh Nick Wright and all these guys and gals and all these networks and platforms saying that he was a top two or a top three player before the trade. Then the trade happens, all of a sudden he's fat. He's a top 10 fringe player. He's this is what, and to your point about the noise with LeBron, this is what happens to people that are in LeBron's infrastructure. My defense of Palenka's too, it's not like I just love Rob Palenka. Tired of people in the infrastructure that need to be scapegoated so that LeBron James' failures as a player can be propped up. And that's what I think has happened to Luca. So, yes, I think he was and still is a top three player in the NBA. I think it's insane the way the league's gotten that we've got a guy that's almost averaging a 34-point triple double, and it's just kind of like, eh, you know, no big deal.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

That's where we're see our fan base on their the half the half the crowd loves them, half the crowd hates him.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

I know, but to me, and I think he proved that I'm so grateful we got the opportunity to see it for 15 games to start this season, how beautiful this team could be. And that's where I start to feel bad because I know this is going into that LeBron hate area, and I'm really not trying to do that, but it's just true. I mean, and it's okay. The guy's 41 years old, he had an incredible career.

uka’s Value And LeBron’s Shadow

SPEAKER_00 14:04

You know, sometimes he doesn't go and play defense or he he argues with the refs like Luca does, or or has his own agenda or you know, pads of stats. He is playing better than any 41-year-old who ever has played in the history of the NBA. But he is still 41 years old, still taking up 50. It's like a it's like a tit for tat. Conversely, yes, he's 41 years old and playing well as well as a 41-year-old can do, but he's taking up 52.6 million of the cap, and you're not getting your full value on that. Uh, and that's that's the that's just the bottom line. It's just you know, which LeBron are you gonna get? Are you gonna get old LeBron or are you gonna get you know spray LeBron? Because you will not get the LeBron James that you know and love for years every single game. It's just not physically possible, even for him.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

It's not. I mean, and and again, yeah, good credit to him that it's even possible ever. Like, that's amazing. I mean, it really is, but I'm just tired of it. Like, even if uh LeBron hating aside, it's exhausting to me to have kind of like what Mark said on your stream the other day. It's exhausting having this guy's aura and his to where it was so fun the first 15 games of this season, having these game winners and Lucas out for a couple games and Reeves Reeves averages 44 points a game and is hitting game winners and all this stuff in Minnesota. You're having Rui Hachimura was shooting 65 from the field, La Ravia had a few moments in the sun, Ayton was getting praised and talking about having a 20 million dollar. Then he comes back and they're slightly above 500, and and now it has to be somebody else's fault. So, in answer to your question, with what should be done, I would do exactly what I hope as a Lakers fan. I'm rooting, I guess I'm the only one, I'm rooting hard that we do nothing. That's the smart thing to do, and that was what I said going into this year, and they've slightly exceeded my expectations. Have this be a fun year where Lucas scores a bunch of points, wait for LeBron to get off of the team, get that 52 million in cap space. Plus, I think we've got total, you I think you know the exact numbers around 100 million in cap space this summer. Right now, we only have one first round pick we can trade. In the offseason, we'll have two. You educated me.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

We actually have three on draft day, right? Yes, draft day, you will actually have three because the Lakers could trade that 22 2026 pick as soon as they make the pick, which they've done previously uh on a few occasions this decade. And it's just the thing is though, uh, when you look at it though, and I I again uh I don't secretly want that to happen, but it just it looks like it's gonna happen where not enough is going to be done to move the needle far enough to okay. It's just a fact of life. It's just yeah, as much as you don't want it to happen, it looks like it's gonna happen. But the fact is, again, it's just a year of Lucas Prime that you could have gone back 10 years from now and say, you know what? Man, I wish they would have done more in advance of that season.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

I just genuinely don't think there's any other than what we both said, Giannis. There's no move that could be made. And I don't even know.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

No, no, yeah. I mean, not the Lakers with their expiring contracts, don't that's just not enticing enough. They only have, like you said, one first round pick and one second round pick and five pick swaps. And that's just not enough in today's NBA to get multiple players, which again, with this roster construction the way it is, uh Stefan, it's just not where it needs to be. There are serious holes that not just one player.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

We're running low on time here. So to set up the Rob Palenka stuff, so we've had some fun back and forth, and it's all love for you, you know, for my side, you know, it's all good. Same here. And and I know that uh as as Joe was teasing me about, I'm on a cliff or an island or whatever it is that I said, I'm I'm on an island, I'm on Rob Palenka Island.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Well, there's Vando Island for Vanderbilt Island, and then there's Rob Palenka Island, which you are the master and the ruler of right now.

o Nothing Plan And Cap Space

SPEAKER_01 18:06

But it's not like I started out a Rob Palenka fan, but this this constant hate that's directed at him, and I more saw it even on the Laker Nation stream, to where it we have to blame somebody for the fact that in LeBron's seven seasons with the Lakers, five of those seven seasons, we didn't win a playoff series, and we missed the play-in or the playoffs, I believe, two of those seven seasons. So that's a failure, and it had to be blamed on someone other than him on the court. So we have to blame the players around him. Now, all of a sudden, Anthony Davis, who was a universal top five player when he came to the Lakers, led this in scoring when we won the championship in Orlando. Uh, he's street clothes, which is true. I mean, he fell off a cliff with his uh health. But to me, on what we're talking about here, just to keep it congruent, we're talking about a gap year, and our gap year, and I understand we have high expectations as Lakers fans, but our gap year, we get to watch one of the best players in the league average 34, 8, and 9, win round 50 games, maybe win a playoff series. That's our gap year. And then next year we go into the offseason with all of these assets where we can really be a championship contender. We would be idiots to do anything other than that. And the perfect example of that, you brought up the Oklahoma City Thunder, who we all believe that unless they have a major injury, which nobody roots for that, nobody's really gonna realistically beat them. Look at what Sam Prestey did. Sam Prestey, he sat there in the cellar for four or five years.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Actually, less than that, it was actually only a season and a half. Uh, they actually had one real season of tanking. Uh, and due to Sam Preste's real, he tried remember because remember the bubble, they were a playoff team. Yeah, Chris Paul, yeah. Yeah, and and uh Dennis Schroeder, yeah, and the and the start of SGA. Uh so he had already made the initial trade with the Clippers by that time that set the franchise forward to where it is today. But he uh, you know, in the year that he tanked or year year plus that he tanked, he just maneuvered just so many different uh acquisitions and and just has now just he they are the best run franchise I've ever seen. I think I think without a doubt, because not only have you set yourself up for your present, you've set yourself up for a few future. You have talent, young talent, inexpensive talent, and you have a myriad of draft picks you can acquire talent with and still draft future talent for years to come. And it's just amazing to see. I've never seen a organization run by someone who has set this up so well as Sam Presley.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

We agree, and you'll never hear me put Rob Palenko or anyone else in Sam Presty's category. He is he's up there with Jerry West and Red Auerbach to me, as far as general managers go. So yeah, I agree. He's the best we got doing and he's one of the best of all time. But my point is he was allowed to do that. He was allowed to have the flexibility from ownership and from the fans and from the players to wait. And yeah, I mean, I guess you're right, they only had one or two seasons where they really bottomed out and fully tanked, but then the third season, they were about a what, a 41-win team off the top of my head. I can look it up, yeah.

KC’s Blueprint Versus Lakers Constraints

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Just it's growing because they're a young team, so you know, the with the growing pains, but you saw growth each and every year until finally they hit the top.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

So we so Rob would never have that opportunity because he's trying to so he's basically trying to do a miniature version of that and reset after having the clutch influence on the franchise, LeBron's influence on the franchise, Jeannie Bus, who she's if you want to blame somebody up top, I would blame her.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Yeah, but I see I can't support that because again, she has as that article. Reiterates that we talked about at the very beginning. She has given full support over the years to Rob. And actually, when it came to, you know, she brought in Magic and Rob at the same time as president and general manager. So he's been general manager all before he became president of basketball operations. He's been general manager throughout this whole thing. And she he has had, because of his Kobe ties, universal love from uh her. And it actually, if you read that article, it goes into the fact that she has more trust in guys like him, yeah, and the Rambi, aka Kurt and Linda Rambus, than she does for any of her own family members, which tells you how much leeway he's been given over the years.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Well, but but Jerry, you know this, and the article alluded to this. That was to me, that was my whole takeaway from the article, is that while yes, yes, I you're right, and that's what it said, and that's my perception of it as well, is that she does definitively trust Rob Palenka, but all of them were put at the behest of Rich Paul, aka LeBron James, and Clutch Sports.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Now let me ask you this that if you're a strong enough willed GM who feels like he has full backing and a relationship with the owner, like he does, and you have the lack of a better term, guts to go ahead and say no, you need to say no to Westbrook Trade. I drove 300 miles from California to do a specific show on the daily Westbrook trade to say how bad that trade was. And I'm spot on, and we're still paying for that trade. We all knew it was bad, yeah. I agree. And and but and you know what? Rob should have had the guts to say to LeBron no. So yeah, I can get the I blame Rob for that.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

What percentage blame you give him a hundred percent blame for that?

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Oh, I give him a hundred percent because the buck stops with Rob. I don't care about this little dinner dinner plans that he had that Lebron had with them, and that's all great, well good, that they had their little plan. I don't care if you have there are GMs in sports that just don't take any BS that say, you know what, it's my way or the highway that I'm running this this team and I'm running it my way. If Rob has that luxury of genie's backing and and could have put up a front if he wanted to, even on clutch. The the I Visa Zubas trade. You know, people say that was a magic stream. Yeah, that was the magic. Who was the general manager?

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Yeah, but brother, magic went on first take, and he said that was him.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

The general manager could have gone to the president and said, you know what? This is a stupid trade for Mike Muscala, and then we'll go on as far as his evaluation of talent. There's only one player that he has drafted that he kept in the 2020s that is actually a contributing player today, and that's Max Christie on the Dallas Mavericks. He is not able to go ahead with ever the scouting team, which was the buses, which of course they were unceremonacily dumped, but the Jalen Hood Shafino, the the other code, the Bronny, the Bronny James. It doesn't matter. The these are somebody should tell Rob, hey, Bronny James, I don't care if you're accommodating him or not, Bronny James is not an NBA level player, he averaged five points at UFC as coming off a heart attack.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Why do you even waste a draft pick on him? Well, you're right, but and give him a three-year plus an option guaranteed contract. I know you give a do the guy that you traded up twice in the draft to go get, not just once in the second round. You traded twice.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

And you gave a guy with bad knees another three-year guaranteed contract.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

You don't like a dude's game, though. I think he's got potential.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

He's got bad knees. It doesn't matter if I like his game or not. You haven't seen him for 10 minutes. He's been on the floor. You and I have been on the Lakers floor almost as much as he has. You're making my point though, because all the several players that are currently playing right now that are playing and contributing and that were picked after a do the roll, just making it even worse for the Lakers because all these players could be helping fix some of the Lakers' problems because they're a poor rebounding team, they're the worst bench in the league, they can't shoot, they can't offensive rebound, they can't play defense a lot of the times. They are a statistically really poor team, and a lot of that has to go directly on Rob for constructing this roster.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Well, let me ask it has to go. Let me ask you because this is interesting, and I didn't think it would go this way, but don't worry, but all is up between uh Stephanie. No, yeah, no, yeah, no, it really no that's not even what I mean. What what I'm saying is is I I didn't think you take because it sounds to me like we agree that all it means correct me if I'm wrong, because maybe I am, but all the moves you just named, except for maybe a do, all of those we agree came from Clutch's influence, LeBron's influence.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

You're just telling me it doesn't matter who brings the turn. He made the decision.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Let me give you the question though. The question is, I think if I'm hearing you right, which I think you just answered, is you're not disagreeing that that's where the influence came from. You're just telling me, which I could kind of get behind this if this is what you're saying, Rob should have said no. You're blaming him because he didn't put his foot down.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Or not all of these players, not all of these players are clutch related.

elinka Accountability And Clutch Influence

SPEAKER_01 27:41

That's because Jalen Hood Shafino's a clutch client, the huge client we gave to CP, or what's his name? Calwell Pope, clutch client.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

Was okay, was Alex Caruso over THD? THT a clutch client. Alex Caruso had more talent and it was a bigger imprint on this team, especially a championship winning team. But you cited because your talent evaluation, or you know what? The worst thing you do is have a preference to make bad decisions based off of a relationship you have with someone else. So if you're telling me that a lot of his decisions are based off of citing because it's to make clutch happy, that makes them even a worse GM.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Well, if that's your position, then I could understand that, and I really wouldn't have overall talent evaluation, is is just very suspect.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

I didn't say he was the worst GM in the league, and so I don't want anybody to quote me that.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Well, and I'm not saying he's the best either. My position is he's a top he's a to me, he's a top five to ten GM. And I think that he's well, can you and I'm I'm not even gonna put you on the spot because I had to look it up. But can you tell me five GMs that are better? Like most of us, even die hard fans, probably can't even name five GMs. Honestly, I couldn't until I looked it up.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

I could, I could right there, you know. I could I could name he's not even Wallmark. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

That's because I would give you, I would if you count Danny Ainge still, I don't know if it's him or his son, I would put Danny Ainge ahead of him. I would put Presty, I would put uh oh gosh, what's the uh what the Boston Celtics GM right there for? Yeah, that's the guy I was just thinking of. Uh whatever his name is Brad Stevens, Brad Stevens.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Yeah, we could talk about right now the the Detroit Pistons are looking pretty good, and a lot of that has to do to roster construction for the Detroit Pistons GM. Uh, you could talk about what Pat Riley, who's uh you count him as a GM.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

I mean, he's in his 80s now, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:31

I don't know how many he's been masterminding those moves from Miami for years. Do you still count him as a guy?

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Yeah, I would count him over if you count him, then I'd put him ahead of Rob. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Okay. I could also go with, like I said, Sam Preste, the San Antonio Spurs, they've been still doing a nice job all these years, and now they have themselves a top two team in the Western Conference.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Whoever the Rockets GM, I would probably put him ahead of, but it's it's it once you get to the room. No, I would not put the Timberwolves, no.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Tim Conley, who that Rudy Goldberg trade was one of the worst trades in the history of the guy who built the Minnesota team that went to the Western Conference Finals twice, and the team who built the foundation for what was to become a year or two later, an NBA championship team in Denver. That guy is not in your above Ropolica.

elinka’s Hits Misses And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Let me tell you, because I haven't really told you my full, I think I've kind of alluded to it, but just to go on record with you with this. My position with Rob is that he has been completely handcuffed for his entire GM experience with the Los Angeles Lakers because of the related. And what you need to remember that neither of us have mentioned yet, it's not just that Clutch controlled LeBron, they also had AD. And so he had to appease not only LeBron, but they used AD. I remember one season a few years ago, I felt like, and I think the article alludes to this too, they didn't want to give LeBron an extension, but they were held hostage because AD wouldn't sign unless LeBron had an extension and they were afraid of media backlash. So you're held hostage on what you can do. There's it's not a coincidence, and if you want to tell me, okay, he should have more backbone, you know that's exactly the word I was gonna use backbone. Well, I got it. I can't, that's a good argument if that's where you're going with it. But anybody that tells me that Rob Palenka woke up one morning and was like, you know what I want to do? I want to trade two first-round picks for Russell Westbrook, and everybody else is like, I don't know, man. He's like, No, I'm doing it. That's insane. That's batshit. Pardon my language. There's zero chance. Again, you don't believe that, dude.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Like you said, we prefaced this a little while back about the Lakers being a lucky organization at times. And I, you know what? The Lakers fans don't want to hear it, they don't want to hear that that we've had that kind of luck. But you know what? He and the Lakers organization have that kind of luck. If Luca drops in your lap, that's the kind of thing back in 2017, already tells the organization, which according to that article he did, that he's gonna go to the Lakers. That's like a pick-up the phone. They oh, you want to come to the Lakers? Here's the deal, though.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Sure. Okay, and I know you got like three or four minutes, so I'm gonna do this quick. But those two things, the three things I want to tell you where I got slowly converted, because I really didn't like Palenka when he first was involved, and I'm a magic magic's my was my favorite player before Kobe, so I love Magic, so I really didn't like how that went down either. But Magic tried to get the same deal done for AD and couldn't get it done. He steps down, Rob gets that deal done. That was impressive in hindsight for the same terms basically. Then getting off of Westbrook, everybody thought it was gonna take two first-round picks to get off of Westbrook. There was a little thing that I thought was brilliant that he did with that move that he got in, got off of the contract, brought in role players that got us to the Western Conference Finals that year. He gets zero credit for that. Zero.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Well, why did why did it happen in the first place?

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Because he because LeBron and A Lee Davis and Rich Popeyes.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

That again, if you have a backbone, you don't let that happen. Your your common sense will tell you you can tell LeBron, hey, Westbrook couldn't hit a broad side of the barn. Did you watch you were guarding him in the second round of the playoffs in the bubble when he couldn't hit a broad side of the barn? This is I mean, I agree. The trade made no sense. The trade itself makes no sense because the guy executing it just absolutely just oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

So you don't give any well, you said you don't give any blame to LeBron.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Last thing, and I would talk with you more about it, but I know you gotta go when he when he doesn't play defense, I'll give LeBron, and as you know, that happens that does quite frequently these days.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Well, I'll just say this, and this is the biggest thing. The Luca trade was so lopsided that all of us universally had the exact same reaction. I haven't asked you this, but I'm sure it was the same as mine.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Well, I give him credit for that. I get you know, it was put in his lap. He said, Here's Luca. What for me?

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Here's the deal, though. It wasn't just put in his lap because uh you know, so I'm in real estate, right? If somebody calls me and has a property that they want to sell me and they say, you know, I'm looking to get like 200,000 for it, and I know it's worth a million bucks, I still have to close that deal. I have to bring it up.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

No, I give him credit, and I give him credit for closing the deal because again, with only one first-round prop pick, and I said he is a below average GM in my eyes, and will and it's continued to be such, but he has shown on occasion, like you said, that he's a dealer. That he can get a deal done, but all the mistakes and all the resume, his resume has a long, long, longer line of red than it does black. And unfortunately, when you lose so much money as a business and you have a couple successes, it's like like what I say, okay, you went to college, uh, you but you got a couple of A's or A pluses, but most of your career was uh uh filled with D's and F's. Does that mean you were successful in college?

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Well, but what if you wrote a PhD paper that got you a Nobel Prize nomination or something? I don't know, because that's what that Luca trade was, and he whittled it down. It wasn't like it was a two-day thing, it went on for weeks, right? To where at first there was multiple first-round picks and there was other asses, and he whittled him down. That's some of the most beautiful negotiating I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

So then I could go back at you and say Alex Caruso e Vita Zubots because he was in the reason manager for that. You could say it's magic all you want, but again, as a as a GM, you got to have the backbone to say no on that. The Russell Westbrook trade, the draft choices this this decade. Uh, you know, a myriad of how many players are playing in the NBA right now that could have been filled out the Lakers roster. Jay Huff was leading up until Wembiyama playing enough games. Jay Huff was leading the league in block shots. He just got a 29-9 game the other week. He was there and available for the Lakers playing, and he just they let him go for nothing. Uh, Scotty Pippen Jr. uh was the only bright spot for Memphis in their first round playoffs against OKC last last year. He was right there on the Lakers roster. And there's there's a myriad of players that have had the opportunity for him to capitalize on and just didn't do it. All right, and players that he could have gotten that have have have uh succeeded in other areas that were available, they've been waived by other teams, they were free agents that he could have gotten.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

And I'm gonna give you the last word out of respect and gratitude because I know you gotta go.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

But don't worry, I think it's been a great conversation, I've enjoyed it thoroughly.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

So, likewise, Gerald. Well, well, thank you. And just in closing, guys, please check out Lakers Fast Break, wherever you get your podcast and YouTube specifically, also pop culture cosmos and everything that Gerald Glasford is involved with. And Gerald, thanks again for taking the time.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

I look forward to it. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to speak to me. And if you ever want to re-rehash this discussion, maybe after the trade deadline when when Rob pulls off another miraculous trade. I don't want him to do anything. I don't want him to do anything. Maybe he did maybe he will maybe another Luca will fall into his lap. So maybe maybe he'll be at dinner with another GM, uh, like John Horse of Milwaukee say do you guys want one Giannis? And he'll just like choke it as water, like he'll just well, that's what we need to do, just have him hang out in restaurants, I guess. Yeah, exactly, exactly indeed. But no, uh, it's great speaking to you, Stefan. I'm wishing you and the channel so much continued success going forward, and I'm just cannot thank you enough for being a part of what we do at the Lakers fast break.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Appreciate you, brother.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

I appreciate it.