Should LA Lakers Be Chasing Wins or the Future This Season?
The Los Angeles Lakers, as a franchise, are in a bit of precarious situation.
On one hand, the Lakers should be all-in on competing for the playoffs and giving Kobe Bryant the best possible chance at playoff success in the last few years of his career. He deserves as much.
On the other hand, the Lakers should be preparing for life after Kobe, and developing young players to better the future and make sure the franchise doesn't tailspin like it did last year after losing Bryant for nearly the whole season.
That isn't to say the two goals need to be mutually exclusive, but it puts new head coach Byron Scott in a somewhat difficult position. Should he siphon away minutes from rookie Julius Randle to play a veteran like Carlos Boozer? What's the primary objective?
Here's what Byron Scott told Mike Trudell at Lakers.com:
"I know it's going to be a tough road, but when I start training camp, the first thing I'm going to tell our guys is that our goal is to win the championship. I want them thinking that way from day one. People aren't picking us to make the playoffs, sure, but that's not how we're going to approach it. We have to change the mindset. I know it may take a year or two, and I think Kobe knows that, but he already has that championship mindset. It's not hard to convince him. Convincing everyone else is the biggest trick we have to do, but that's how we have to do it.
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As you can see, it's not a black and white situation. The Lakers can play for the future without tanking. They can try and compete by playing young players. It's a delicate balance, one that will require trust and patience from both Bryant and the rest of the front office.
One thing we know is certain: So long as Bryant is in a Lakers jersey, the Lakers are his team. Everything will run through him.
Here's J.M. Poulard for Bleacher Report on how Scott's hiring impacts that:
"It’s probably safe to say the Lakers were already going to revolve around Kobe Bryant’s talents, but the hiring of Scott transformed whatever assumptions anyone might have had into fact.
If Scott implements the Princeton Offense, there might not be a team in the league capable of even slowing down Kobe...
Bryant will get the lion’s share of the load, which will give him an opportunity to put up numbers and make impact plays. Kobe should have one of the most efficient seasons of his career because he’ll be operating a little more off the ball, where he is devastatingly efficient.
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Is it possible that Bryant has effectively rehabbed his Achilles and is in prime shape for one last run? Absolutely. There's no underestimating or writing off a player of his caliber. If he's the Kobe we know, the Lakers could sneak into the playoff picture.
While none of that seems likely, necessarily, you always have a puncher's chance with Bryant, even in a stacked Western Conference. That's part of the reason why the Lakers stayed somewhat in the middle this offseason. By re-signing players like Nick Young and Jordan Hill, the Lakers brought back established role players with clear-cut strengths and weaknesses.
Still, the Lakers didn't go out and blow all their future financial flexibility, either. Instead, they snatched up guys like Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer to fill roster spots for virtually nothing. This was some solid thrift shopping by Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, especially given the circumstances.
The presence of guys like Steve Nash, Carlos Boozer and even Bryant himself doesn't mean that the Lakers won't find minutes and teaching experiences for the younger players on the roster.
Here's what Carlos Boozer told Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles about Randle:
"'I think first you got to get in the league and see where you fit and find a niche for yourself,' Boozer said. 'I watched Randle a lot in college. He had a great, great college run. Great rebounder. Great scorer inside and polished. But sometimes you just have to be thrown in the fire and play. Ed Davis is extremely athletic. I played against him a few times throughout my career. And he's a good rim protector. So I'm excited to be playing with him too.
'But experience, sometimes you have to be out there. When you're playing in the league a long time, this is my 13th season, I have little tidbits about different players that we'll be competing against. I can help them with that. It will be fine. It will be a fun process.'
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What's important here is the attitude. If Bryant were surrounded by fresh faces without legitimate experience, perhaps there would be potential for everything to blow up. Having some veterans on the roster could level things out a bit and keep everyone a little more even-keeled.
Having veterans on the roster in important roles also gives Scott a chance to succeed, something you'd think the front office would want to do after signing him this offseason.
It's obviously difficult to remain patient, given the time ticking on Bryant's career and the anxiousness of fans for the Lakers to restore their image as one of the league's best teams.
Kupchak and the Lakers are doing this the right way, though. The balance is key, and depending on the results of the season about midway through, Scott can shift to what's more appropriate. If the Lakers are out of the race, then throw heavy minutes to guys like Randle and Jordan Clarkson.
Playing time doesn't always equate to successful development for young players anyhow, and so it's commendable that the Lakers would try and build a winning environment in the hopes that Bryant is recovered first and foremost.
Like most teams, the Lakers should start the season as eternal optimists and plan on being successful by trotting out the best lineup possible. If the season goes awry and it doesn't work out, that's when the shift in objective can take place.
It only makes sense for a team led by Kobe Bryant to take a shot at winning big this season, no matter how improbable it may seem.
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