Are the Los Angeles Lakers desperate enough to save their sinking ship?
The Los Angeles Lakers have a long way to go after the disaster that this current season has been
With the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles struggling almost like lottery teams this season, it is safe to presume that the landscape of power is shifting in the NBA. But then again, the Lakers and the Knicks are the most valuable franchises of the NBA and also the most glamorous, and it is uncommon to see them lose so badly and at such a regular basis. Keeping the Knicks aside for now, the Lakers have not played this badly in the history of their franchise. The name “Los Angeles Lakers” makes people think of championship banners and rings, not blow-out losses and lottery picks.
Such has been the plight of the Lakers this season that their attendance numbers have been at a record low level. Even the court-side faithful like Jack Nicholson, who is normally omnipresent on his seat near the floor shouting and heckling opposition teams, has been missing games.
The trouble is nobody imagined it would or could go this bad. As recently as last year the Lakers’ starting five consisted of two first ballot Hall-of-Famers, the best big man and a top five player in Dwight Howard, and one of the most skilled passing big men in Pau Gasol. The team was being touted as a sure shot Western Conference champion and a pretty serious contender to Miami’s throne. But there has always been a problem with assumptions in the NBA. Remember when we all thought Miami would destroy Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Finals? The Lakers succumbed to the same level of expectations they had been dealing with over the years, only this time there was no Phil Jackson to put things into perspective.
Instead the Lakers had Mike Brown as a head-coach, whose only accomplishment was to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers – who had LeBron James as their franchise player – to excellent regular season records. In Brown’s defence, he never had a chance to actually install any of his schemes in the Lakers’ system. The only season he was at the helm was lockout-shortened with no training camp, and learning the ropes of an entirely different scheme can be tough on the fly. He was unceremoniously sacked a few games into the 2012 regular season.
The Lakers were pretty much at a crossroads then itself. They were a successful franchise because of the ownership and leadership of Dr. Jerry Buss. Dr. Buss was a pioneer and he was pivotal in getting the Lakers the personnel and the players they needed to build their champion image. When he passed away, the ownership passed to his children, and it would not be unkind to say that Jim Buss has not done a very good job of handling the franchise.
The problems that have dogged the Lakers for the past two years are not uncommon to the other franchises. NBA success is dependent on continuity. That is what makes the San Antonio Spurs so efficient and so successful. Roster changes are much more manageable than system changes, and being thrust into systems that are unfamiliar, without training camps, can be taxing for any team. Also, when Mike Brown was fired and Mike D’Antoni was brought in at the start of the season, he had no time to conduct any kind of training camp to install his system.
D’Antoni, fresh off his stint with the Knicks, was chosen over Phil Jackson for the Lakers’ coaching position. The way that situation was handled left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths. The Lakers management gave sound reasons for the coaching snub of Jackson. It was evident that with the arrival of Steve Nash in the fray it was possible to create a pseudo Phoenix Suns “Seven Seconds or Less” persona right here in Los Angeles. They said that the triangle offence did not really require a true point guard to function and as such they feared that Steve Nash would not be utilized. But in all this speculation we need to remember that a 40-year-old Steve Nash is not the same as a 30-year-old Steve Nash.
Mike D’Antoni runs a spaced out offence, with shooters sprayed all over the floor and the point guard calling the shots. His offence features a lot of pick and rolls, something that Dwight Howard thrived amidst when he was in Orlando, but Dwight was coming off a back injury and had lost almost 60% of his explosiveness and was not the pick and roll force he used to be. His constant complaints about lack of involvement and his friction with Kobe Bryant hastened his LA departure. Would this have been the case if it was Phil Jackson at the helm instead of D’Antoni? That is a debate that has been raging for a while now.
What is done is done. The Lakers season is lost and they have stumbled and bumbled to an abysmal 26-55 record in the already cut-throat Western Conference. The franchise player is injured and the other star player is a 40-year-old veteran who has tied up $9 million in cap space. The rebuilding options are few and far between. The Lakers are not used to rebuilding through the draft. For a team used to bullying its way through trades, placing faith on ping-pong balls sounds demeaning.
But that is what it has come to now. It has always been the norm for the Lakers to get whatever player they want. Every player wants to play for them, because of the rich history or because of the bright lights. But the current disarray of the franchise has spurned a lot of possible suitors. The Lakers have no trade assets with the exception of their current draft pick, which is predicted to be pretty high in one of the most loaded drafts in NBA history.
The Lakers’ patchwork roster of D-League players and trade rejects has valiantly tried to put up a fight but have been outclassed and outmatched most nights. The situation is similar to that of the Boston Celtics, whose rebuilding was pretty much on the cards with the departure of Pierce and Garnett. But the Celtics now are well-coached and along the right path to get better. The Lakers on the other hand are short-handed on both ends of the floor, especially on the defensive end. If a team scores more than 100 points in most of its games and is still blown out by the opposition, it calls for a reality check.
The Lakers have an ageing superstar who is hesitant about relinquishing control, and whose contract is clogging almost one-third of the cap space. Kobe Bryant may have been the franchise player for almost a decade now, and the Lakers are right in offering him a contract extension, but a $24 million two-year contract for a 35-year-old player coming off an Achilles’ heel injury is just bad business. It makes it difficult for the Lakers to offer max level contracts to impending free agents. Moreover, few star players fancy the idea of playing second fiddle to Bryant.
Steve Nash has been injured for almost two entire seasons now and although he does occasionally show flashes of brilliance like the days of old, it is evident that he is a liability going forward if the Lakers ever decide that the time is ripe for a full scale rebuild. There have been rumblings about using the stretch provision on Nash. Stretch provision is a clause which entails that a player’s salary can be stretched over three years instead of it being on the books for just one. Which means that the $9 million contract of Nash can be stretched over three years, with three million for each of the coming three seasons. But that would still create a problem as a $3 million clogging can still prevent the signing of a role player or a veteran through free agency.
The Lakers have found some nice pieces in Jodie Meeks Nick Young, Xavier Henry, Kendall Marshal and Ryan Kelly. Meeks especially has grown immensely as an NBA player and improved in every aspect – from decision-making to on-court leadership. But these pieces are best suited as role players and not as the starting five.
The Lakers need talent. They need their players to remain healthy and they need star power. That is what wins you championships. And most of all, they need continuity. They need some kind of a flow to build on, and that has not happened in two whole years.
It is clear to most of the fans that this is the one instance when the Lakers actually have to go the long way to get back in contention. It will be wise to take the draft seriously and make wise picks, since that is the best and the surest way of netting a franchise-altering superstar. A superstar Kobe Bryant can take under his wing and help in getting ready to face the scrutiny that so routinely surrounds anyone who dons the purple and gold.
The Lakers’ management recently offered a contract extension to Mitch Kupchak. That seems fair since Kupchak has presided over four championship teams in his tenure as the Lakers’ GM. But it is time for the Lakers to not let just their history be a calling card in wooing free agents, because evidently that is not working any more.
Whatever the Lakers decide to do, the timing of it would be critical. If they want to be competitive again, they would have to make smart trades and good draft picks. The sacking of D’Antoni should also get precedence since clearly his attempts have not worked. The organization needs a top-to-bottom tear down, and it is a matter of perspective whether the Lakers want to put the organization before the needs of a single player, a.k.a. Bryant.
Desperation can inspire everything that is good and everything that is bad. Desperation is what transformed Bryant into such a cold-blooded winner, and the Lakers need to be desperate if they want to right the rocking ship before it sinks to the bottom of the NBA ocean.