<\/p>\n
Shannon Sharpe has let his feelings known about how Rob Pelinka has handled LeBron James\u2019 time at the Lakers and not maxiziming his championship window.<\/p>\n
Sharpe went on a long rant, questioning every decision vice president of Basketball Operations and general manager Rob Pelinka has made.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I don\u2019t understand for the life of me,\u201d Nightcap.<\/a> \u201cJoe, you remember when they were in the bubble? What did somebody say? What\u2019s y\u2019all 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.<\/p>\n \u201cNow y\u2019all done pissed me off. Let\u2019s be all the way real. If Rob Pelinka was not Kobe Bryant\u2019s agent, does he have that job? But y\u2019all don\u2019t 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\u2019s have a real conversation. I got time today.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThen you go get what? You think, we\u2019ll be better if we have Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo\u2019s a phenomenal player. A phenomenal offensive player. But Carmelo was old and couldn\u2019t defend. Russ has never been known as a defender, and he couldn\u2019t shoot.<\/p>\n \u201cLeBron 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\u2019t coach them to a championship? How you look with the Lakers? How you look with the Sacramento Kings? Okay, so that\u2019s what you wanted to do<\/p>\n \u201cBut now you want to make all these things exactly how you want them. I\u2019m going to tell you what\u2019s going to happen. Luka is one of my favorite players. You\u2019re not winning with a backcourt that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSo 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\u2019all watch the game.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be very interesting. You better get some guys that can defend whether LeBron is there or not. I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce 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\u2019t have to recruit him. He went on his own. I want him to leave, and I want to see how many championships y\u2019all win. Think about the Miami Heat. The Heat had one championship, and what did they sell you before they won more? Heat culture.<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean to tell me a team with 17 championships ain\u2019t got no culture? Who they develop? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wasn\u2019t there originally. Shaq, you didn\u2019t draft Shaq. Magic says, I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to know what y\u2019all gonna do. I\u2019m anxious to see because I\u2019m a Luka fan and I\u2019m an Austin Reaves fan. Austin Reaves\u2019 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\u2019ve got to go to the right situation.<\/p>\n \u201cHe spoke in glowing terms about how LeBron took him under his wing. He didn\u2019t have to. But I\u2019m gonna be watching. I\u2019m gonna need to see some championships, Los Angeles Lakers fans. I need to see some championships in the next five years.\u201d<\/p>\n