This title is what is on the minds of a lot of Laker fans after two below average seasons in Los Angeles. I want to quickly give an idea to all of you how unusual these past two seasons have been for the Lakers and their fans. The Lakers franchise has only missed the playoffs 7 times (counting this year) in NBA History (Founded 69 years ago). That number right there shows how much of a shock recent events have been to the Lakers, and that’s not even mentioning the fact that they have won 10 NBA championships since the 80’s more than any other franchise.
What has led to this sudden and unusual set of events in Los Angeles? Well it can be traced back to the summer before the 2012 season. For the first time since the new CBA agreement between the players association and owners the Lakers found their selves in a position of needing to change, because the current roster they had failed to get over the hump the last two seasons losing to the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder the Champions and Runner Ups respectively. This led the Lakers to acquire an aging Steve Nash from the Suns for a couple draft picks, and to without going into to much detail basically exchange Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard who was coming off a back injury and had one year left on his current contract. They started off the 2012 season shaky and eventually fired then Coach Mike Brown. They had the choice of hiring long time great Phil Jackson who had recently retired a few years back, but had won 5 championships with the Lakers. Though they went after Mike Dantoni who had coached Steve Nash in Phoenix and together they led one of the highest scoring offense the NBA had seen in recent history. At the time many fans thought this a was a mistake and there’s lots of factors that can be addressed especially the supposed power struggle between Jim and Jeanie Buss the children of the late Jerry Buss, who passed at the end of the 2012-13 season, but at the time his children were basically already running the team from a management point of view. This power struggle in my mind is sort of irrelevant especially when you look at the hard time Phil Jackson is having adjusting to the Analytical based NBA with the Knicks, so we will just skip over that side note. Though it is important to remember that the Lakers gave up a couple picks and acquired Dwight Howard with only one year left on his contract and no guarantee long term plan of staying in Los Angeles.
The 2012-13 season was anything but ideal for the Lakers with multiple injuries to their star players throughout the season. That year the starting 5 of Nash, Bryant, Artest, Gasol, and Howard had only played a little over 10 games together, though they were still in the playoff hunt near the end of the season due to Kobe Bryant logging an insane amount of minutes and putting the team on his back.
After the team rallied around the passing of Jerry Buss it seemed like they might all finally be staying healthy at the same time and building some chemistry they went on a quick win streak and seemed to have a real shot at one of the final two playoff spots, but then April 12th 2013 happened. Kobe Bryant ruptured his Achilles tendon, but somehow was able to go out and shoot and make two more clutch free throws on basically one leg before heading to the locker room.
After that day the Lakers season was over, yes they did end up beating the Rockets and acquiring the 7th seed in the playoffs but it all seemed like a futile effort. That offseason Dwight Howard left the Lakers and signed a long term deal in Houston, leaving the Lakers in an even worst position. Kobe Bryant was doing all he could to rehab his injury and come back and play at an elite level still, and Steve Nash was noticeably declining and his age and long history of back problems seemed to finally be catching up to him. The Lakers that off season didn’t acquire much at all except Nick Young who is a very good 6th man and shooter, but was definitely not going to save the team from what was shaping up to be a historically bad year in franchise history. In the draft they got a late round pick of Ryan Kelly out of Duke, who is nothing more than a role player off the bench.
The following year the Lakers went through a terrible season just like many had predicted and Kobe after rehabbing and fighting his way back reinjured himself again, though most wondered if the Lakers were overly cautious with him since they were basically playing for nothing that season. The Lakers planned to go big in the off season of 2013-2014, but planning and actually doing is very different. They had unlimited cap space to work with, but that did not last long. The Lakers would sign Kobe to a 45 million dollar 2 year contract, which he did deserve, but this hurt the chances of acquiring 2 big name free agents in the off-season. Though it doesn’t matter, because they were unable to even get one of the big name guys such as Lebron, Bosh, and Melo. In the draft that summer the Lakers selected Julius Randle with their first pick, and then later in the first round drafted Jordan Clarkson who they sent to the D-league to develop. Going into to this season Kobe Bryant himself had playoff aspirations with the acquisition of some promising young talent and new head coach and former Laker Byron Scott. Though when your top pick Julius Randle breaks his leg in the first game that doesn’t exactly lead to good things. Kobe Bryant would be over played again and tear his rotator cuff and be out for the season again. Though now Jordan Clarkson has been called up from the D-league and has shown that he has the talent to play at an NBA level and maybe higher, he has even hit multiple game winners already in his short career.
With a roster full of one year deals and team options it gives the Lakers flexibility and allows them to basically pick and choose based off performance who to keep for next season. Also it allows for quick cap space when needed in the offseason for free agents. If the Lakers are going to continue this rebuild and want it to be brief they need to keep capitalizing on draft day. Jordan Clarkson looks like the point guard of the future for the Lakers and they have been reluctant to let Julius Randle go in trades this season so they think highly of him and his potential after he comes back from injury. The Lakers also have very good role players like Jordan Hill and Jeremy Lin. Also having a great 6th man in Nick Young locked up on a cheap contract for the next 4 years doesn’t hurt either.
The immediate future right now for the Lakers is to keep their draft pick this year, which requires it to be in the top 5 or they give it away to the 76ers. The Draft Lottery will be a big day for the Lakers and it must work out for them. If they lose this pick they will miss out on the young talent they need, plus if they do acquire any type of free agent or if they just kept the same basic team and it stays healthy they would probably not have a chance at a top 5 pick for a while and would get stuck being a mediocre team that barely misses playoffs each year, but isn’t bad enough to get a good pick in the lottery. After the lottery it will be hard to really even think about the big name free agents such as Aldrige or Marc Gasol leaving their teams who they have been with for their entire careers. Though this is not a bad thing for the Lakers, just as long as they continue to be smart with the contracts they give out and keep most the players on short term deals it will leave them open and ready for when another free agent does pop up that wants a max deal and wants to play in LA. With Kobe’s large contract off the books after next year, and the development of a young point guard and power forward, plus whatever they draft if they keep their pick this coming draft along with the ability to have cap space available when the right free agent comes around is why Laker fans should hang in there. At the end of the day every great franchise and team has to rebuild eventually, that’s how the system is set up. Laker fans need to stray from being fair weather fans and stick with the Lakers for the long haul even if it means going through some rough years. I mean 16 championships is enough to hang your hat on at the end of the day while we wait for the next championship run by the Lakers. Honestly though it will happen eventually in my opinion we will be back to being a contender within the decade, trust me it’s not like we’re the Knicks.
The 5th Quarter 