Laker Apologists

I get it. Most Laker fans don't like the Clippers. But let's not get the story twisted on how much better they would be if this or that.

Let's break it down:

1. Lakers trade Gasol and Odom for CP3.
Laker fans: This is a new era for the Lakers!
Reality: Wait, CP3 is an Alpha, Kobe is an Alpha, what happened to last Laker Alpha not named Kobe? And... do we forget that they lose Gasol too?

2. Stern blocks the trade.
Laker fans: Man, the NBA is out to get the Lakers.
Reality: Well, it could go either way but at the time, the NBA owned Charlotte, they had the right to make that decision and wanted a younger player and a draft pick for the Hornets.

3. CP3 gets traded to the Clippers for Eric Gordon.
Laker fans: See, they don't block that trade.
Reality: Was it one sided? Probably... but at least it was a younger player and Charlotte got a 1st round draft pick.

4. Lakers trade for Nash AND Dwight Howard.
Laker fans: This is the dream team, not a Big 3 but a Big FOUR!
Reality: So had the CP3 trade gone through, you would only have CP3, Kobe and Dwight... no Gasol.

5. Lakers fire Brown and hire Mike D'Antoni instead of Phil Jackson.
Laker fans: Run and gun is back!
Reality: Really? With this older team and and two bigs you really are going to go up tempo offense?

6. Lakers season with their Big Four is a bust.
Laker fans: This is the NBA's fault, if they didn't block the CP3 trade, we would have had CP3 instead of the non playing Nash and we would have a better record than the Clippers.
Reality: Who knows how well the team would have played with 2 Alpha players and no Gasol.

7. Kobe tears Achilles, Lakers don't advance past the 2nd round:
Laker fans: It's okay, Kobe will be back next season, Dwight will re-sign.
Reality: Maybe that up tempo offense wasn't so good for aging stars and bigs who like to be in the post.

8. Dwight does not sign with the Lakers, CP3 immediately signs with the Clippers as soon as the deadline passes.
Laker fans: See, if we had CP3, both he and Dwight would have signed with the Lakers.
Reality: Yeah right. Seeing how Kobe treated Dwight when trying to recruit him, not sure if that was going to happen.

9. Lakers have a dismal 13/14 season where Kobe and Nash barely play, they don't sell out the games for the first time in decades and they don't make it to the post season.
Laker fans: It's the NBA's fault for not letting the CP3 trade happen.
Reality: Back to that again?

10. Lakers only get the 7th pick in the draft, end up with Julius Randle.
Laker fans: Julius Randle is the next big thing.
Reality: So 14/15 is going to be another lottery year?

11. Donald Sterling loses ownership of the Clippers, Steve Ballmer spends $2b to buy the them
Laker fans: So what, he overpaid, the Clippers suck.
Reality: Clippers have had the better regular season record for the last 2 years that CP3 has been here and have been the Pacific Division champs in both those seasons.

Laker fans: That's because the NBA didn't let CP3 become a Laker.
Reality: I doubt CP3 would have stayed one.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the Lakers, but the Kobe era is done. The Lakers will be good again, but not for at least 2 or 3 years.

P.S. For those Laker fans complaining on why the NBA let the Love trade happen... the NBA doesn't own either the TWolves or the Cavs... it's NOT the same thing.