How the Dan Hurley failure proved Lakers are the Cowboys | The Herd

I was talking to, let's just say, an NBA insider of note and he made a very interesting point to me about the league. He said, listen, we got a salary cap, we got CBA things. It's hard to make trades in this league. You're only as good in the NBA, he said as your have to's. And I thought that's pretty interesting, your half, what does that mean? And So what it means is let's say this is your half to, hey, we got, we have to get Jalen Brunson. A really good #2 that's a great half to that's a great one. You got the real team. You got the core. You got Jalen Brunson, but you have to get him if you want to win a title. A really good #2 that's doable. Here's another good one. We got to get Wimby some help on the perimeter. You got Wemby, you got Popovich, good ownership. That's a pretty good half to hey, we have to sign Eric Spolstra to an extension. We have to get Luca some defensive help again. There's no perfect team, although Boston may be close. Those are half twos, right? Everybody's got them in the NBA. Those are good half twos. Currently today, these are the Lakers have twos. We have to sign 39 year old LeBron James, 40, in December to a three-year Max contract 'cause he's our only elite playmaker and if Brawny's available, we'll have to draft him. That's the current state of the Lakers. That's it. You have to sign a 40 year old, still really good 40 year old player to a Max Steel for three years and you're gonna have to draft Brawny if he's available. And now you have to settle for probably since Dan Hurley ghosted you. You have to settle for probably your second, third or fourth choice as a head coach. Those are the Lakers realities. They also have one of the poorest ownership groups, the second largest front office in Los Angeles, pretty light on draft capital. And since AD arrived, they're in the cross your fingers business with AD and his health. Those are the realities of the Lakers. OK, It's a little bit like the Dallas Cowboys. The expectations are high, reality is low and the roster's always a little bit overvalued. I mean, before these playoffs started, I can't tell you how many people said, I think this this team's got a shot to got to the Western Conference finals. They they, they got well, they matched up pretty well with Denver, but we had told you if they play Denver early, they're going to lose in four or five games and the coach is going to get fired potentially. And it happened. So if you, I've said this before, if LeBron takes a night off next year with the current roster or AD takes a night off, that happens regularly. Austin Reeves is your second best player and he would not start for the Dallas Mavericks in their backcourt today or the Boston Celtics in their backcourt. He would not start for them for the two finals teams in the backcourt. That would be the Lakers second best player. So Dan Hurley in a sport, college basketball that's in transition making half the money said no thank you. So when you look around the NBA, just ask yourselves, this is the ultimate truth serum, as the NBA insider told me. What are your half to's? Hey, we have to get Ant Edwards, a second guy that's physically and emotionally 22 points a night. That's a pretty good half to. I had to. I got my coach, I got Ant. I got a defensive center, I got Mike Conley. What are your half to's? That's what Dan Hurley turned down.