Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Reasons Why a Lockout Would Be Devastating for LA
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as all NBA teams, can't afford to have a lockout for the 2011 NBA season.
More than half of the teams in the league are losing money. Owners and players will be getting together today for discussions as the current collective bargaining agreement ends, although nothing is expected to come from it.
Plan for the worst.
Boston and Los Angeles are a couple of teams that will be in major trouble if a lockout occurs in 2011.
Here are the five reasons why a lockout would seriously hurt the Lakers.
No 5: More Time for Realty TV
1 of 5Who knows what Ron Artest's name would be in 2012, as Metta World Peace was recently created.
What will Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian be up to with a whole year off?
I can't even imagine.
Los Angeles is a place for movies and television, but the Lakers got too enamoured with it recently. If Odom is even a Laker, he should consider dropping his show with Khloe.
Focusing on basketball should be his No. 1 priority for 2011 or 2012.
Who knows, maybe Steve Blake will get his own realty show.
Is there another Kardashian available?
No 4: Different Strategy
2 of 5Phil Jackson isn't running the show anymore. Mike Brown will put in his offense and the Lakers, especially Kobe Bryant, will need to commit to his style of play if they want to be successful.
This adjustment from one strategical standpoint to a completely different one will take time. This could be a matter of weeks, months or even a full season before the players play exactly how Brown needs them to.
This would be the worst case scenario: The season doesn't happen and it takes a few years for Brown and Bryant to fully get along.
This could put a major damper on Bryant and his search for another championship ring.
No 3: Team Chemistry
3 of 5Mike Brown is the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. We wouldn't know if Kobe Bryant and Brown could work well together until 2012. Chemistry takes weeks, months or even a full year before it is considered at a high level.
Team chemistry means everything in sports, especially basketball. Look at the NCAA and NBA this season, Connecticut rode chemistry and momentum to a national championship and Dallas was put together piece-by-piece, making them the most complete team in the NBA.
What if the 2011 season doesn't happen and their chemistry doesn't exist in 2012?
We are talking 2013 before the Lakers would be back in title contention. Kobe Bryant would be 35 years old in 2013.
No 2: Growing Pains
4 of 5When a team hires a new coach, bumps along the road will be encountered quite often. This will be a different system than the Lakers' are accustomed to.
How will they adjust?
Mike Brown is a defensive coach, can the Lakers buy in to his style of play? How will their offense adjust to a whole different strategy?
It is like when a new offensive coordinator joins a team, the quarterback may struggle on some occasions. It isn't until after year or two when they start to feel 100 percent comfortable with the new system.
A new system will take some time. If the season doesn't happen, growing pains will be in 2012. By that time, Kobe Bryant will be 34.
What if the Lakers don't live up to expectations in Mike Brown's first year?
Kobe would be 35 with over 1,250 games played.
No 1: Age Becomes an Issue
5 of 5I'm not one of those guys who thinks Kobe Bryant isn't the best player in the world, because I do believe he is. It isn't fair to say that just because the Lakers were bounced from the playoffs after winning two-straight NBA Championships, Kobe isn't deserving of being the best player in the NBA. At least allow him to come back for another season to prove that he is.
His game is still at an All-Star level, but I do believe that he has lost a step. He has played in 1,103 games in his 15-year career and his tread is getting thinner and thinner each season. He will turn 33 on August 23rd.
If there was a lockout in 2011, Bryant would be 34, Derek Fisher would be 38, Ron Artest would be 33, Pau Gasol would be 32 and Lamar Odom would be 33 years old for 2012. This core wouldn't just be past their prime, they could be on the downside of their careers.
The rest will help Bryant and the Lakers, but their collective age would be a major concern. No team wants to see a lockout, especially not the Los Angeles Lakers.
