Lake Show Life
Fansided

Lakers: The Recipe for Success

By Ed Schrenzel

facebooktwitterreddit

An open letter to Lakers shot-callers Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss

Dear Mitch and Jim,

Tough season so far, gentlemen! And it sure doesn’t look like it’s gonna get any better. But hang in there, guys, brighter days might truly just be ahead.

You had to know this would be a trying year. Nobody could predict just what Kobe Bryant would look like in his latest comeback. And you were well aware that honoring his farewell season and, at the same time, developing your young talent wouldn’t be easy.

You’re obviously feeling pressure from fans and from yourselves. After all, you are in charge of the storied Lakers franchise. Everyone expects the team to contend nearly every year for the NBA championship.

But it’s not like you haven’t been trying. Certainly it’s not your fault that former commissioner David Stern vetoed your trade for Chris Paul a few years ago. What you gave New Orleans in return was arguably better than what they ended up receiving. 

More from Lake Show Life

Your deal for Dwight Howard was universally applauded. Maybe it didn’t work out, but you might not have missed out on much. He hasn’t been nearly the same player since returning from back surgery, and has trouble playing two consecutive games.

Most people also liked your trade for Steve Nash. You guys understandably went all in to try to win one last title for Jerry Buss. Nash was coming off a typically productive year. Who could predict that he’d suffer a freak nerve injury right at the start of the season and would never be physically able to contribute?

And Mitch, your draft picks from the last two years are coming up roses. Getting Jordan Clarkson with the No. 46 pick of the 2014 draft was grand larceny! Your two lottery picks, Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell, are both showing flashes of how good they might eventually be. And you saw value when nobody else did in Larry Nance Jr., who looks like a solid NBA rotation guy. Perhaps we’ll say the same thing about Anthony Brown one day, if he ever gets a chance to play.

However, you’ve taken big swings and ended up whiffing when it came to signing All-Star quality free agents the last 2 years. But guess what? That may have been a good thing! Does anybody really think that Carmelo Anthony would have turned this team around? Or that signing LaMarcus Aldridge would have made this team a playoff favorite?

Deep in your heart, you know that the NBA has changed. Championship contenders are seldom built these days through free agency, like the Lakers once did with Shaq; or even via trades, like they did long ago for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. Nowadays, the best teams erect their foundation through the draft, then wait for their youngsters to grow.

Think about the San Antonio Spurs. You know that they’ve maintained the longest-running stretch of NBA excellence by drafting David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and by trading for the draft rights to Kawhi Leonard.

Look at the defending champion Warriors, who drafted Stephen Curry in 2009, Klay Thompson two years later, then Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes. They only won 26 games in 2009-10, 36 the next year, and dropped to just 23 wins in 2011-12 before steadily climbing to 47, 51 and 67 over the last three years, respectively.

The always-competitive Oklahoma City Thunder team went through a similar process, getting Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in the 2007 and ’08 drafts, then James Harden and Serge Ibaka. They won just 20 games, then 23, before improving to 50 and becoming contenders.

Obviously neither Golden State nor OKC became exactly overnight successes. What’s the moral of their story for the Lakers? When it comes to young players, heed these three simple words of advice: STAY THE COURSE!

More from Lakers News

Yes, fans are clamoring for you to do something now, to try to win sooner than later. And neither of you have infinite patience. It’s natural to be strongly tempted to trade away some of the young kids for an established star. A sports talk host recently said on national radio that, according to his source, you’re willing to trade anybody but Randle. Come on guys; do you really think that’s the best move for the future?

Mitch, it’s probably in your DNA to try again to sign the biggest free agent possible. But of course you can’t offer any more money than other teams can. And most stars only change teams if it means moving to a contender where they might become the final piece of a title puzzle. The Lakers aren’t at that place, at least not yet. So your attempts will likely yield the same futile results.

On the other hand, you must be salivating at the opportunity to keep your draft pick this year. That only happens if it ends up in the top-3, but the way things are going, that possibility is looking pretty good. Think about the potential of a team with Randle, Russell, Clarkson and another young stud, perhaps even Ben Simmons! Now that’s beginning to sound like the nucleus of a contender.

But, gentlemen, it’s also necessary to mention a topic that has to be a sore spot with you. You two haven’t exactly had a stellar track record hiring a head coach. Mike Brown didn’t exactly set the world on fire. And putting Mike D’Antoni in charge didn’t result in an instant return to the glory days of Showtime.

Speaking of Showtime, Byron Scott was a valued contributor to those ‘80s title teams. Unfortunately, he hasn’t had nearly the same success as a coach in L.A. or anywhere else. He supposedly runs a Princeton offense, but do you see any semblance of offensive continuity on the court?

No team Scott has coached has ranked high defensively and the Lakers demonstrate exactly why. Players don’t know their roles, they don’t rotate properly, and as a result they give up far too many easy buckets. In short, the team on the floor simply does not resemble a well-coached one.

Admittedly, it hasn’t been an easy two seasons for Byron. Last year the team suffered an unprecedented slew of injuries. And this season the challenge of balancing Bryant’s farewell tour with developing the young guys would be daunting to any coach.

But Jim, remember at the onset of the season that you said this year should be measured less by the number of wins and more by the progress of young players? Scott seems oblivious to that. Yes, he’s a link to the wonderful Showtime era, and yes, he’s a likeable fellow. But you need to face the fact that Byron is simply not the right coach, the one who can help guide and restore this franchise to greatness.

The recipe for championship contention is a simple 3-step process:

  1. Hold on tight to both Randle and Russell, and re-sign free-agent Clarkson. In other words, with your young studs, just be patient and STAY THE COURSE!
  2. After the season ends, hire a new coach, somebody who can develop a young team and teach them how to grow together.
  3. Add a top 3 draft pick (hopefully).

Additionally, if you can also get a potentially better asset in return, go ahead and trade a secondary player (like Nick Young, Brandon Bass, Lou Williams, or Marcelo Huertas) at mid-season. Also you need to decide whether you want to re-sign Roy Hibbert as your center. And perhaps you can add a free agent or two for supporting roles in the off-season.

Just mix all those ingredients together properly, and next year’s team should show vast improvement. More importantly it should demonstrate even better potential for the future. And that’s when you might attract a premier free agent to provide icing on the cake.

Next: The Time Has Come to Play Anthony Brown

It seems like ages since the Lakers last raised a championship banner in Staples, but it was only five years ago. Regardless of what the critics might say and no matter how irritated the fans are, you’re on the right track. If you are patient with your young players and if you hire the right coach, two or three years from now you just might be in position to contend for title No. 17.

Good luck!

Home/Lakers News