Blame Mitch?

Shaq for Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant

He really hasn’t had moves that have been bad, besides the trading draft picks part, which probably was an order from the top due to Buss being concerned about finances. You can nitpick his moves, but it’s hard to find fault with most of them. For instance, Sasha had just finished coming off a career year that would have been totally worth $15 million/3 years if he continued that level of play.

Felton might have been worth the full midlevel, sure, but probably not at the level he produced at in Charlotte rather than the borderline All-Star play that typified his stay with the Knicks this year, all of which no one could have predicted. I would have preferred Ridnour over Blake largely due to the former’s shooting prowess, but it’s hard to find fault with a guy who looks like he’s become more comfortable in the offense. Passing on Felton (and Mike Miller, who was also available for the midlevel), also netted us both Blake and Barnes, which was more valuable than just one of the aforementioned and say Earl Watson.

Luke was a great player when he received the deal. Mitch had no idea that he would suffer a back injury. All the other deals are similar. They made sense at the time.

Same thing with Portland and their draft history. Most other teams would have picked the exact same player (Bowie over Jordan, Oden over Durant). You can’t blame them for not being able to predict the future.

He also had the opportunity the off season to sign Raymond Felton, who just the sort of quick explosive PG the Lakers have problems with.

Felton is anything BUT explosive!

kobe would have forced his way out too

If there’s a job that grades on a curve, it’s major-sports GM (looks up track records of other team’s GMs).

The Farmar-Vujacic era Taco Unit was given ample time to see what it’s made of. I’m still optimistic about the future of the current bench, which hasn’t even played together for a full season.

Those blemishes are, in my opinion, outweighed by the Gasol and Ariza trades, as well as the Artest signing. He’s overpayed his own players and has misfired on some draft picks, but which GM hasn’t?

sure he made a few gaffes along the way but he ultimately kept Kobe in LA and brought the team back to contention in a very short amount of time with great little moves in tandem with the Gasol trade.

Major blunders that keep him from getting an Excellent:
1. Not giving Horace Grant (00-01) a 1 or 2-year contract immediately after the 2001 championship. That was the year the Lakers dominated in the playoffs. And the only year of the 99-02 three-peat that the Lakers had an established starting power forward.
With Mitch making him wait, Grant then signed with Orlando for about the same amount the Lakers could have signed him for. What went on there?
2. Thinking that he could get away with making a real team out of Smush Parker (05-07), Luke Walton (03-present), Vladimir Radmanovic (06-09), and Kwame Brown (05-08) in the mid 2000s.
3. Giving Luke Walton a 6-year/$30M deal (07/08-12/13), when no other team was even making a move to pressure him to do so. I’ve never understood that contract in any way, shape, or form.
4. Trading Caron Butler (04-05) for Kwame Brown (Ouch!).

Major moves that make him Above Average:
1. Recovering from the Kwame Brown disaster by trading him for Pau Gasol (08-present).
All GMs make mistakes. The good ones manage to get out of the bad situation.
Whether it was luck, good timing, or shrewd bargaining, it was an excellent recovery.
2. Traded Vladimir Radmanovic for Shannon Brown (09), and re-signed him (09-11, 10-12) to a 2-year/$2+M contract. Good signing and value.
Shannon was high on the Laker’s board back in 2006, but Cleveland drafted Shannon immediately before the Lakers and Jordan Farmar (06-10) unexpectedly slid down to the Lakers 26th pick.
The Lakers were very familiar with Shannon. That trade wasn’t just about Radmanovic’s and Morrison’s contracts.
3. Trading Brian Cook (03-07) and Maurice Evans (06-07) for Trevor Ariza (07-09). Really good move.
4. Learned from the Luke Walton debacle and only gave Sasha Vujacic (04-07, 08-10) a 3-year/$15M deal. It was enough time for Sasha to prove himself, but not a ball-and-chain contract if he didn’t. And don’t forget those Game 7 free throws. Definitely worth his contract for those.
5. Signed Ron Artest (09-14) to a 5-year/$33M contract. See 2010 Finals. No further explanation needed.
6. Re-signed Lamar Odom (09-13) to a 4-year/$33M contract. No one can argue this one.

Bynum was the best pick at #10 in 2005, Jim Buss or no. The only “sure” pick that went after Bynum was Danny Granger. Nate Robinson, Jarrett Jack, and David Lee were not sure picks.
Brandon Bass, Monta Ellis, and Marcin Gortat were second round picks, which are always hit-or-miss.
Of those, only Lee and Gortat are bigs.
Signed Bynum to a 4-year/$58M in 2008. A good deal for both. Bynum gets big money, but the Lakers keep it to 4 years so in case of a major injury it won’t become the ball-and-chain type.

Toney Douglas (09) does look like a mistake, but the story is it was ordered from above to save money. Also, he might not have developed as quickly since he probably wouldn’t get as much playing time with the Lakers.

Felton got a 2-year/$15M contract, way over Blake’s and the MLE. So that’s not a valid criticism.

Sasha for Joe Smith just to save $4M ($8M w/tax) in the year you’re trying to 3-peat? Doesn’t seem good, so that’s a negative.
Seems like that’s a time Mitch could have gone after a defensive minded PG.

The Lakers have been to three straight Finals and won two straight titles because of moves Kupchak made. Give him his due.
But they also were a “lower seed playoff” team in the mid 2000s due to moves he made. He’s not perfect.

But overall, not too bad.

As for PGs, maybe Mitch can grab Deron Williams and raise his grade to Excellent!

But the bottom line is, this guy has put together a team that is back-to-back defending champions with a legitimate chance at a 3-peat. He’s made some bad moves, but many of those were in hindsight. If Luke and Sasha continued their level of play when they got their contracts, the contracts wouldn’t be that bad. Luke was actually a solid starter for a season.

But the guy has done so many good things to help make this a championship team. The resigning of Derek Fisher, the trade for Pau Gasol, trading for Ariza, getting Lamar Odom. Getting Shannon Brown, and then all his moves this year to improve the Lakers bench by bringing in Matt Barnes and Steve Blake. The signing of Ron Artest was a good move and it paid off huge already, with him being a big defensive contributer in the playoffs last year and scoring 20 points in Game 7. He’s made a LOT of good moves.

You can find mistakes made by any GM, in ANY sport. But if you look at the results, not many people are better than Mitch Kupchak.

Yet none of those GM’s have turned those mistakes into gold like Mitch has. Jerry West made huge mistakes also but he brought us Shaq which wiped out his previous bad decisions. Mitch brought us Gasol so he has more than made up for it. Give me Mitch any day of the year.

Ronny Turiaf
Luke Walton (sucks now, but a contributor at the time)
Sasha Vujacic
Jordan Farmar (didn’t fit, but a good player)
Javaris Crittenton
Marc Gasol
Toney Douglas
Devin Ebanks
Derrick Caracter

When the bench mob was at its peak in 2008 I remember quite a few commentators saying the Lakers had the deepest bench in the league.

Oh do I soooooo agree, sorry but I’ve hated his moves, I didn’t like the Blake pickup, Lakers had to work with what they had but they could of squeezed alittle more out in my opinion for others on the market, Kirk Hinrich in particular, well can’t get too mad now, we are left with the parts we have, the big man Gasol need to wake his wimp ass up and score 30 on them damn short ass Hornets, thats all I got to say about that.

Want more proof?