It’s been four long years since the Los Angeles Lakers have played in the NBA postseason. They got swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round, a result that will easily be forgotten in the famous franchise’s rich history. Yet, it’s actually a highlight of the period, as the Lakers only sunk deeper and deeper to the darks of the NBA cellar.
Over the course of four seasons, the Los Angeles Lakers have won 91 total games, a mere 27.7 percent of the available. They changed 3 coaches and much of the front office, but were unable to get even to 30 wins in either of the seasons. The last roster to get to the playoffs featured Steve Nash, Antawn Jamison and Chris Duhon. The only player retained from that squad is Metta World Peace. Magic Johnson is now the team’s general manager, Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov are the most paid players and the Lakers are about to pick second for the third consecutive time in this year’s NBA Draft.
The Los Angeles Lakers road to failure
So many things have gone bad for the purple-and-gold over the years, but most of the demise can be summed with one main cause. The Lakers are not a basketball franchise anymore, not even a genuine sports business. They turned into a Hollywood-like entertainment party, where the bright lights and red carpets mean so much more than any of the fundamentals that make a successful NBA team.
They failed to realize that the “Lakers exceptionalism” is dead and that their team is mortal in an ongoing episode of collective blindness that made them believing that the issues will sort themselves out and that California sun and hanged banners will attract the stars that will turn things around in no time. Meanwhile, the most of the NBA kept advancing to the 21st century, forgetting the Showtime and meaning business. Serious business. One that requires a professional approach and hard work. One that calls for experts from various fields, relies on science and sports medicine. One that carefully evaluates players habits, teamwork and character, and not act by popularity ranks. Somehow, all these things have gone unnoticed by the Lakers powers, to a point where they are almost a subject of ridicule.
This needs to change, but before it does, the Los Angeles Lakers have to understand how they got there.
Kobe tribute season
It didn’t start there, but the Los Angeles Lakers 2015/16 season is a perfect example of what’s wrong with this organization. It’s always a classy thing to honor their stars and former players, but falling hostage to one man’s ego is the new level of tribute, one that crosses the borders of intelligent behavior. Yes, Kobe Bryant was a great player and one of the icons of the Los Angeles Lakers. Nobody should ever doubt that. But when he announced his end-of-the-season retirement before the season even started, somebody within the organization should have prevented that the season turns to a Lakers flying across the States just to let him say goodbye to each arena and each city. And that was exactly what happened.
Instead of nurturing the new generation, the Lakers willingly let one man hinder their development by hijacking an entire season. It was all about Kobe, and the young players were shushed and pushed to the corner. Meanwhile, another all time great was playing his last season. Tim Duncan also retired after the season, quietly leaving his Spurs legacy behind him. The organization honored him immediately and let him stay within the team inner circles, whether to practice with the team, be present at the coaches meetings or just hang out with his former teammates. No circus. No camera. No Hollywood.
Losing foundation
When the great Jerry Buss died in 2013, leaving an equal vote to each of his 6 children, the Lakers were already marked as a franchise that doesn’t operate well. Jeanie and Jim Buss had been pulling the moves for a few seasons already, and at least one of them haven’t had what a late Mr. Buss had. After head coach Phil Jackson retired in 2011, Jim Buss overlooked long time assistant Shaw to sign Brown without consulting his star player Bryant.
When the offseason also included the NBA player lockout, he let go of nearly two dozen employees with a combined 100 years of experience from the basketball operations staff. The Los Angeles Lakers now need to develop their training staff and analytics team, having lost key staffers in both departments. At the same time, top-tier teams grew strong in those areas, so the Lakers will have some catching up to do.
The good thing is that as of February 2017, Jeanie Buss relieved her brother Jim and GM Mitch Kupchak of their duties, holding them accountable for their promise that the Lakers would be competitive by now. Former Laker Magic Johnson was installed as the new general manager. He remained close to the organization and was critical of Jim Buss moves, but is inexperienced in decision making and had hyped over players such as Jimmer Fredette, Brandon Knight and Jahlil Okafor in past, bringing out questions about his ability to judge a players potential.
Wrong acquisitions
Every team makes mistakes drafting players and signs mediocre players to large contracts, but rarely do they do all that at the same time like the Los Angeles Lakers recently did. They gambled on Dwight Howard and he walked on them after one season. They swung for the fences in the free agency and when players like Aldridge got disgusted by their amateur pitch and signed elsewhere, the Lakers panicked and splashed cash on whomever wanted to come, burying themselves in bad contracts to players that are hardly a part of the rotation.
They went after the flashy Russell, misjudging his unprofessional demeanor and the rest of the youngsters had troublesome characters such as Nick Young, Jordan Hill or World Peace to look up to as veteran leaders. They’ve amassed some young talent during the period of high lottery picks and are set to pick second in the next draft again, but very few of the players on their roster is the substance over the looks.
The Lonzo Ball dilemma
As soon as the new college sensation Lonzo Ball declared that he’ll be leaving UCLA to go pro, the campaign for pairing him with the Lakers started. Strong statements such as that he won’t work out for any team other than the Lakers got the mainstream media acknowledging the pairing as a done deal. The Lakers haven’t guaranteed anything, but haven’t fought it either, and if the last decade or so showed us anything, it’s that they are susceptible to media pressure. If you’d give me an even odds on whether they indeed pick Ball, I’d bet it.
Lonzo Ball is the best player in the class, and by a wide margin. Fultz is set to be picked first and will probably be a solid NBA player given good health, but is not a generational talent as Ball. We are talking about triple-double threat with high basketball IQ and natural feel for the game. Unfortunately, all that talent is paired with questionable character and his father-orchestrated fanfare that smells trouble. Remember when UCLA got knocked out of the NCAA Tournament? Ball took about 4 minutes to say that it won’t matter to him as he’s off to the NBA. And then the overpriced, self-designed shoes and the ridiculous 2 billion asking price for a shoe deal. It’s exactly the opposite of what the Lakers currently need, but is most likely believed to be a perfect match by many inside their front office. Bring on the spotlight and let the entertainment start.
And when another 25-win season strikes back, let’s just count on Durant signing with us. We’ll show him the Walk of Fame.
