The Los Angeles Lakers Are Finally Like Everybody Else
For much, if not all, of their history, the Los Angeles Lakers have been NBA royalty. They've won far more than they've lost, with sharp coaching, revered stars and, above all else, Lady Luck permanently affixed on their shoulders.
But the last few years have been nothing but gloom. In 2016, as they enter a scary post-Kobe Bryant universe, the Lakers sit in a ruined valley and are aware that zero rescue helicopters are in flight to pull them out.
It took awhile, but the Lakers are finally just like everybody else. The sooner they recognize it, the better.
Last Sunday was Byron Scott’s final morning as head coach of a team he chaperoned into the NBA’s dankest cellar. The Lakers went 38-126 over the last two years with the 55-year-old in place, vomiting out a pair of the worst single-season records in franchise history.
A failure of this magnitude is never any one person’s fault; Scott does not deserve all the blame for their struggle. He did not choose his players or put the organization in an unprecedented situation (thanks to a front office that splurged on “win-now” guys to appease Bryant, instead of win-later investments that will sustain the franchise’s growth for years to come).
But he was the Lakers' face and voice every day. He held sacred bonds within the organization—in a past life, as a player, Scott helped lead Los Angeles to three championships—and at times it felt as if he’d live to coach another year.
Before the regular-season finale, Scott spoke like a man who’d be back on the sidelines in 2016-17.
“I think sometimes you can’t help but think about [roster overhaul]. When you have this type of season that we’ve had, obviously changes are going to be made,” Scott said. “So I thought about that a month ago. This roster will probably be totally different going into next year than it is this year…I don’t think anybody knows how different it’s going to be until we start training camp next year.”
Eleven days later, he was gone. Eleven days. As the Minnesota Timberwolves and Washington Wizards fired their respective head coaches and quickly replaced them with superior options, the Lakers sat still. Some will call it diligence. Others will call it arrogance.
This is a franchise so used to having others tell time with its clock. But Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks didn't do that, so the Lakers missed out on two candidates who could only help in the years ahead.
Their next hire is obviously critical—basketball intellect should be the first and only criterion—but it’s also beside the point. The Lakers are no longer in a position to behave as they have over the past 24 months.
They need to be realistic about the franchise life cycle—the fact that they’re at the bottom of a rebuild that could take a long time. Geographic advantages don’t exist in the new world. This summer, any players who choose them in free agency either (a) can’t find a better offer elsewhere or (b) don’t have winning immediately high on their list of priorities.
They can’t rush the rebuild like they have so many times before. Just being “the Lakers” doesn’t mean they can automatically find a replacement superstar when one retires. It doesn’t work like that.
Instead, Los Angeles must intelligently and carefully build from the ground up. For most teams, this challenge is like rock climbing. Every step is precise and crucial. One slip and you fall back down. There are no safety nets, and every draft pick, free-agent signing and trade comes with enormous risk.
Through their history, whenever the Lakers found themselves in a particularly unfortunate spot, they would just throw on a jetpack and rocket to the mountain’s summit.
Those days are over.
Ownership’s messy power struggle has, at best, paralyzed the organization. Regardless of whether the Lakers keep their first-round pick in this year’s draft or even acquire a megastar such as Kevin Durant, championship aspirations and consistent headway are impossible with unstable leadership at the top.
The Lakers must be patient and shrewd. They must look toward the future instead of celebrating the past.
Progress in a 30-organization league does not necessarily mean following the herd, but a heavy, serious investment in biometrics and analytics wouldn't hurt. That thought process trickles down to the court, where the Lakers can no longer reflect popular strategy from the late 1990s. They need ball movement, versatile wings with length and players with high basketball IQs.
In free agency, they need to hunt for value and swing for singles and doubles instead of home runs on every pitch. Superstars are in demand by every franchise, and all of them are more interested in winning than being famous (the latter typically can’t happen before the former).
That means it’s OK to enter next year under the salary cap or take the same aggressive route franchises such as Toronto and Portland made last summer (with Al-Farouq Aminu and DeMarre Carroll, respectively). Adding, say, DeMar DeRozan and Hassan Whiteside to the roster won’t bring the team closer to a title.
Los Angeles needs a foundation, just like everyone else, and there’s no way to do that in today’s NBA without long-term planning that extends beyond “Let’s woo all the best free agents on July 1, then see what happens!”
The Lakers are finally on a level playing field. The sooner they realize it, the better off they'll be.
There are no more jetpacks.
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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