Lakers Strike Out Again
For the second year in a row, the Lakers failed to land Dion Waiters. Waiters, an underachieving shooting guard, has yet to reach his potential, primarily because he has failed to embrace team values and relinquish selfishness. He was having a terrible year coming off the bench for the Cavaliers and his inability to suffer in silence made a difficult situation worse. The Cavaliers bench, with Waiters as its centerpiece, was one of the worst in the NBA.
Dec 31, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dion Waiters (3) shoots against Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton (22)during the third quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Milwaukee won 96-80. Mandatory Credit: Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports
In these kind of trade scenarios, the Lakers find themselves on the outside looking in. They don’t have assets anyone wants because they have a scarcity of talent. For Waiters, the Cavaliers received a perimeter defender in Iman Shumpert and a scorer in J.R. Smith. It was the best they could do. The Lakers didn’t have a defender to give up, nor did they have a scorer with a small contract. So, once again they were shut out of the process.
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On the surface, the Lakers appear conflicted. They want to rebuild yet they don’t want to rebuild. When they launched their strategy of one year deals and minimum contracts, they were setting into motion a plan to win fewer than 30 games in order to stockpile young talent in the draft. But young talent takes time to develop and some don’t develop at all. It’s not a one or two year plan but a five year plan.
One of the challenges that faces the Lakers is their own history. They have been successful for so long, this kind of losing is foreign to them. It is hard to endure game after game after game. Most nights the Lakers play hard and are competitive and are in close games. But their defense is deplorable; they just can’t stop the other team from scoring. If they can’t match baskets they really have no chance of winning. It’s hard to watch such mediocrity over a two year window.
Already, the Lakers have felt the blowback. Their ratings for local telecasts have dropped significantly from last year. Kobe’s star power cannot change the truth about what they are (as a team), and indirectly, what they have devolved into as an organization.
Turnarounds are not something the Lakers are used to. Their history has always been predicated on attracting that one dynamic player. But even then, when they had down years, like when the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol in 2008, they still had a roster of talent: Trevor Ariza, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom. The Lakers have never been this talent deprived. And that is what is hurting them.
Free agents want to come to a team with a roster of players who can both defend and score. They don’t want to have to start from scratch, to have to wait a few seasons for positive returns. Unlike fans, free agents don’t find rookies, regardless of their talent level, attractive.
It took Lebron James four years to get to the NBA Finals. Free agents don’t want to wait four years. Careers are short, injuries are random and players want to win now. But that is not how the Lakers are rebuilding. They are rebuilding through the draft and that takes time. That also means accepting where they are: on the outside looking in, unable to land moody players like Dion Waiters.