This was quite a week for the Los Angeles Lakers and not in a good way. Perhaps the shitstorm that's going on in La La Land was right on queue for me to post our annual Season in Review post for the 2018-19 Lakers. What started as a season full of hope and optimism turned into a nightmare and it doesn't stop there with all the major turnover that is going on inside a franchise that was once the "gold standard" of the NBA. Let's recap a bit here.
When the Lakers brought in LeBron James, we were elated that the Lakers finally landed that superstar free agent they desperately coveted. They landed the NBA's biggest star and they were the talk of the league once again. To complement the acquisition of LeBron, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka added Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee, and Lance Stephenson, players all with playoff and championship saviness to help turn the Laker boys into men. With LeBron, the young core, and the one-year vets, the Lakers got off to a solid start. They played above .500 basketball, were #4 in the West, and they blew out the 2x defending champion Warriors in Oakland on Christmas Day. The game proved that the Lakers were back and they were back with a vengeance.
And simultaneously after that game, the Lakers were never the same again. The Lakers lose LeBron on a groin injury and he dozed off to the bright lights of Hollywood, caring more about Space Jam 2 and his collab with 2 Chainz rather than bringing the Lakers back to prominence (hence the load management). It also doesn't help that the Lakers Front Office pretty much put the entire team on notice for one Unibrow in New Orleans in Anthony Davis. Let's be honest, both sides made piss poor PR moves in this trade drama. But, it hurt the Lakers more because after that, nobody seemed to trust nobody. No NBA GM trusts Rob Pelinka. No player on the roster trust LeBron and his Klutch Sports agency because they failed in pulling the strings to get Anthony Davis to LA to play with LeBron. As a result for this consolation, the Lakers still managed to pull off some trades...by adding Reggie Bullock and Mike Muscala. **Excuse me while I take a step back and question reality.**
As LeBron went down with the groin injury, the injury bug spread to the Lakers' young core like a disease. Lonzo Ball never saw the court again with leg and ankle injuries. It's what happens when you wear those cheap, bootleg BBB sneakers. Brandon Ingram is currently fighting a career and life-threatening blood clot. Even with "playoff mode" activated, the burden was too much for LeBron to carry with a lot of postseason mileage and being in a competitive West instead of a weak East. The Lakers missed the playoffs yet again and Lou Williams and Patrick Beverly backed up their statements that the Clippers still have a stranglehold over LA given their more recent successes.
Now that I've rambled on the general summary of how this season went, let's boil down to the shitshow that has happened in these couple days after a disappointing 37-45 finish to the season. Magic Johnson stepped down as President of Basketball Operations hours before the Lakers' final game against Portland. Maybe LaVar Ball was right, he was just the face of the Lakers, not a true basketball executive. Magic has a big smile and charismatic charm that he had since he came into the league. Unfortunately, that charisma has lead the Lakers to pay some hefty fines for tampering since he could not shut up about other teams' star players. Magic may be a business man, but he doesn't have a sharp eye for talent nor does he have the patience and competency in trusting a process. Exhibit A) trading D'Angelo Russell because he needed a "leader," Exhibit B) Putting the young core on the trade block to field a two-man superteam. No matter what happens, Magic is a powerful figure in Laker land regardless. He just doesn't have the moxie to coach or build a team. At least there's some things that Larry Bird has edged Magic out in. Per Magic's words, "he's a free bird now." Good luck Rob Pelinka, you're gonna need it.
A day after, the Lakers fire their athletic trainer. When a team has this many injuries in a season, definitely there has to be an overhaul of professional trainers and physical therapists. The tragic thing is, he was probably a protege of Gary Vitti, the Lakers' longtime athletic trainer until 2016. With the amount of injuries this season, obviously the Lakers need some new trainers to better condition players and make them as injury-free as possible.
As the Purple and Gold Rome burns day-by-day, the most inevitable departure happened. Head Coach Luke Walton gets the axe after three seasons. Both he and the Lakers "mutually parted ways." Despite coaching the Warriors to a 24-0 start, Luke was still green by pretty much inheriting his own team after being a part of the Steve Kerr coaching tree. We can't ignore the deficiencies that hindered his development. His rotations were questionable at best. He throws players out there, hoping some things work out rather than survey the matchups out there and sub in and out player to exploit some advantages. His set plays off timeouts were subpar at best. But let's be honest here, Luke could not properly establish the culture and system he wanted to bring to the Lakers because of high roster turnover in all of his three years with the Lakers. He was brought in to develop the young core. His first year, he intended to build a system around D'Angelo Russell. D'Lo gets traded, now Luke has to adjust around Zo, B.I., Kuz, and Randle. Randle leaves. Lakers bring LeBron and a couple of vets in and now, he can't fully implement his system because the "LeBron system" doesn't work that way. Despite all that, Luke helped improve the Lakers year-to-year from 26 wins to 35 wins to a whopping 37 wins. Yup, Luke was definitely the "fall guy" for the Lakers because the front office kept plugging square pegs into round holes around the roster. It wouldn't take long for Luke to find a job. He's a hot candidate for young teams in need of a player development-oriented coach.
Just when we thought the Lakers were trending in the right direction. The organization is being exposed into what it currently is: a Purple and Gold Shitshow. They've done it. They've pretty much become the Oakland Raiders of the NBA: a dysfunctional franchise that is clinging on to the glory days of the past. You know I thought it was only Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak that was destroying the Lakers from within, boy does it get worse with Jeanie Buss running the show? Honestly, what is the late Dr. Jerry Buss thinking about in the afterlife now as he sees his kids destroy his proud empire? You know? It's probably like what the late Al Davis is going through right now seeing Mark Davis burn the Raiders to the ground. It's tough to root for two dysfunctional teams that is making losing a normal conformity year after year after year: coaching carousels, high roster turnover, delusions of grandeur in chasing superstar free agents in their prime, vice versa, chasing the big names in the twilight of their career, and accumulating all kinds of draft assets and then stunting and demoralizing the growth of those young prospects because the front office does not know what the hell they're doing.
The team is in shambles. They're pretty much rebooting the rebuilding process again. But, the biggest hurdle right now is the 4-year, $134 million contact they offered to bring an aging LeBron James in. Hmmm... doesn't this remind me of Kobe's final years? Hasn't the organization learn a goddamn thing that you must choose either to win now or build for the long-term and that there's no in-between the two paths? Especially with the latter being the better option among the two because it equates to long-term success? Look at how San Antonio built their team. Look at how Golden State built their team. The Lakers can't even try to develop and mold their own draft assets even if their organization's life depended on it. We get it, the draft is a 50/50 hindsight. The #1 pick is nearly a guaranteed superstar and the Lakers haven't had the luxury of a #1 pick in these past few years. But, this doesn't excuse the fact that the Lakers have accumulated a lot of young talent these past years only to throw them away as they find success elsewhere because the Lakers are so desperate to win championships right away. This is why free agents stay as far away as possible and I bet they're not even going to consider playing with LeBron and the Lakers with the shitshow that is going on there. Free agents do not care about past success, the amount of championships won, and the fact that it's the Lakers and it's LA. They care more about the long-term outlook of the team. Hence why the Lakers are horrifyingly out of touch with today's NBA! They're trending on a parallel path that has plagued the Raiders in the NFL since their Super Bowl hangover in 2002. "We can pry Jerry West away from the Clippers." Easier said than done given the Lakers had their chance and blew it. They have a GM that nobody trusts. The next head coach is likely a puppet of LeBron. Free agents are monitoring this situation closely and it's more likely than not that the Lakers have no Plan B because no top free agent would want to come and play in LeBron's shadow.
Jeanie Buss, the ball is in your court. If you don't have a long-term plan to turn the Lakers around, then I'm afraid it might be time for a changing of the guard in ownership. For most of us fans that continue to preserve the "championship or bust" mentality, it's time to look in the mirror. Otherwise, the Lakers would continue to be in an endless loop of rebuilding and tearing back down and the cycle won't stop until they have a firm plan and identity in place for the long run. That's my rant/review for the year. We'll see what's in store for the offseason.
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