3 Reasons Why the 2014-15 Lakers Were Destined to Fail

Dec 9, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center

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(24), forward

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(2) stand on the court during a time out in the fourth quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Staples Center. The Lakers won 98-95. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The 2014-15 Lakers are off to their worst start in franchise history and we have management to thank for making this possible.

Culture is built from the top-down and in sports, your product (team) is a reflection of the ownership.

Since Dr. Buss’ passing and his insistence on his (6) children to take over, the Lakers have been in a downward spiral with fans wondering if and when it is going to end.

This “master plan” was put into play in the early 2000’s.

Jerry West scoffed at the contract offered to him and left for Memphis (now in Golden State).   

Magic Johnson sold his shares in the team and became part-owner of the Dodgers and Sparks.

Phil Jackson “didn’t have a role” in L.A. so New York wisely picked him up. 

All this in favor of giving the reigns to son, Jim Buss. Let’s look at Jim’s body of work this past offseason.

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Home Run Theory: The Lakers plan was to get LeBron James and/or Carmelo Anthony to come to L.A. LeBron never took a meeting with the Lakers and Carmelo questioned why he would leave a similar situation in New York for a less-paying gig in L.A. When that didn’t work out, Plan B became our current roster.

Cart Before the Horse Theory: Part of the plan above was to let LeBron and/or Carmelo choose the coach once we sign them. That’s backwards thinking. Ownership should hire the coach and together they need to construct a roster based on the coach’s system. It took 2 months after the draft to hire Byron Scott, not because he wasn’t the frontrunner, but because of the following step.

Mismatch-Moneyball Theory: The current Lakers roster is a bunch of misfits picked up sheerly based on price. We have a ton of guards and power forwards, but only one true small forward (Wesley Johnson) and Center (Robert Sacre) – arguably our two worst players. It’s clear “expiring contracts” were the goal and the plan is to hit the reset button and try this again in the summer of 2015 & 2016. Byron was informed this team would be bad.

This doesn’t even include the hiring of Mike Brown (over Brian Shaw), trading for Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, then choosing Mike D’Antoni over Phil Jackson.

This Lakers roster is not a result of ONE poor decision, but a SERIES of bad ones over time.

The Lakers will eventually rebuild, but ownership is responsible for their current state.