Shannon Sharpe has let his feelings known about how Rob Pelinka has handled LeBron James’ time at the Lakers and not maxiziming his championship window.
Sharpe went on a long rant, questioning every decision vice president of Basketball Operations and general manager Rob Pelinka has made.
“What I don’t understand for the life of me,” Nightcap. “Joe, you remember when they were in the bubble? What did somebody say? What’s y’all game plan for Russell Westbrook? Let him shoot. The next year, what did they do? They go sign a guy they said they would let shoot. Make it make sense.
“Now y’all done pissed me off. Let’s be all the way real. If Rob Pelinka was not Kobe Bryant’s agent, does he have that job? But y’all don’t want to talk about that. All you want to talk about is, well, LeBron James got his son on the team. LeBron handpicked this. Let’s have a real conversation. I got time today.
“What about them picks? What about Jalen Hood-Schifino? He was your first-round pick a couple years ago. Where is he? You had defenders. You had JaVale McGee. You had Dwight Howard. You not paying them 30 million. You break it up just because.
“Then you go get what? You think, we’ll be better if we have Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo’s a phenomenal player. A phenomenal offensive player. But Carmelo was old and couldn’t defend. Russ has never been known as a defender, and he couldn’t shoot.
“LeBron wanted Tyronn Lue. The man won a championship and coached unbelievable. Nah, we gonna keep Luke Walton. Man, would you see what Luke did with the Golden State Warriors? I could have coached Golden State with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond, and Klay Thompson. Who the hell couldn’t coach them to a championship? How you look with the Lakers? How you look with the Sacramento Kings? Okay, so that’s what you wanted to do
“But now you want to make all these things exactly how you want them. I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen. Luka is one of my favorite players. You’re not winning with a backcourt that’s defensively challenged. Name a time you won a championship like that. Think about it. What did they say when they played Luka Doncic? We want Luka to guard.
“So we gonna put him in the pick and roll. As great as he is offensively, what happened in clutch situations? What happened with Austin Reaves last night? Every time they wanted a basket, whoever Austin or Luka was guarding, bring him to me. I need to see him. Y’all watch the game.
“It’s going to be very interesting. You better get some guys that can defend whether LeBron is there or not. I’m ready for LeBron to leave. I really am. All they do is blame him. The last championship they won before LeBron got there was 2010. The next one was 2020 in the pandemic.
“Once Kobe retired, and Kobe was hurt his last couple years shooting under 40 percent, nobody was even talking about the Lakers until LeBron went there. And you didn’t have to recruit him. He went on his own. I want him to leave, and I want to see how many championships y’all win. Think about the Miami Heat. The Heat had one championship, and what did they sell you before they won more? Heat culture.
“You mean to tell me a team with 17 championships ain’t got no culture? Who they develop? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wasn’t there originally. Shaq, you didn’t draft Shaq. Magic says, I’m up out of here. The next year you lose Ty Lue, and then you go get Frank Vogel. Guess who his backcourt was? Two of the smartest people to ever play in the NBA, LeBron James and Rajon Rondo.
“I just want to know what y’all gonna do. I’m anxious to see because I’m a Luka fan and I’m an Austin Reaves fan. Austin Reaves’ story should be a documentary. For a guy to come out as an undrafted free agent and average seven points, nine points, 13 points, then 19 points, 23 points, it should be studied. It shows what you can do when you put your mind to it and put the work in. Sometimes you’ve got to go to the right situation.
“He spoke in glowing terms about how LeBron took him under his wing. He didn’t have to. But I’m gonna be watching. I’m gonna need to see some championships, Los Angeles Lakers fans. I need to see some championships in the next five years.”
READ MORE: Inside LeBron James’ Frustration With Rob Pelinka & The Lakers