Despite how it all seems, the Lakers did not willingly do this to themselves. Their self inflicted wound was not planned, nor was it done on purpose. Time was the culprit here. It takes a long time for demise. It has less to do with the characters and more to do with the script. The ebb and flow in sports is fickle, you have your turn. And then you don’t. That bit of truth is rarely translated. It has become fashionable to complain about the Lakers descent. It’s become a rough and tumble sport to rake Jim Buss over the coals for his incompetence.
The truth is unbecoming even if you erase what is happening this year. 19 years of draft picks and only one All-Star out the bunch. Mediocrity takes a long time to bake. For some organizations it takes years to pull the sorrow rug out from under their feet. So, yes, there is reckless amusement here as the Mark Cubans of the world exhibit sheer giddiness at what has happened to the once great Lakers.
Nov 18, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) drives against Los Angeles Lakers guard Jeremy Lin (17) in the third quarter of their game at Philips Arena. The Lakers won 114-109. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
There is a sense of entitlement too. The Lakers myth has always put its legacy against the width of time. The Lakers have always skipped their turn. Never awful, never miserable, something always happened to change their fate. But they never faced resistance like this, with so many charting their failure.
It must be pointed out that in spite of their record, the Lakers are still a shiny toy. Their is no whining on the yacht here. The Lakers are valued at north of a billion dollars which won’t change despite their record. They will still profit $100 million this year. They will still bring in the curious, either to see their demise or to cling to a fantasy of their glory years or to watch Kobe Bryant’s valiant effort to renew a promise that has long died or- and this the best part of all- to try to remember when they were not this god awful. The Lakers will still dominate Los Angeles until the Clippers can string together back to back Western Conference Finals appearances. And even that may not be enough to release the strangle hold the Lakers have over Los Angeles.
The Lakers win two games in a row and people think they are about to embark on a 10 game winning streak. There’s an underground chorus that resists any reference to what the truth really is: the Lakers are a team in need of mercy.
Perhaps it’s expected. It’s a rare kind of air that the Lakers have breathed that is now choking them in public. But physics has a law: what goes up must come down. To their discredit, it has taken the Lakers eighteen months to realize this. To understand that the oxygen of a bottom feeder is different. Welcome to hell.
The Memphis Grizzlies have the best record in the NBA. If they make it to the NBA Finals and find a way to win it for the first time in their history, their profit margin for their great success will be far less money than the Lakers will have made winning 25 games. Not much attention will be paid to the Grizzlies in the off season. But the rumor mill and media circus will circle the Lakers drain with $30 million dollars to spend. The Lakers have demonstrated their ability to rise from the ashes but they have never had to fight their way out of this sort of house fire.
Let’s recap: In 1976 Gail Goodrich signed as a free agent with the New Orleans Jazz. In those days, when free agents left their team, the spurned team received some sort of compensation for their departure. The Jazz sent the Lakers their first round pick in 1979. As a member of the Jazz, Gail Goodrich injured his Achilles. In the 1978-79 season, the Jazz had the worst record in the NBA. There was no lottery. The two teams with the worst record flipped for the #1 pick. The Lakers won the toss, selected Magic Johnson and had 30 years of good luck.
Everything seemed to work their way. They drafted James Worthy instead of Terry Cummings. They traded Norm Nixon for Byron Scott. They picked up Mychal Thompson at the trade deadline to secure size in the middle for two title teams. Even when they were bad things worked out. After not making the playoffs in 1993-94, they gave Phoenix their first round pick for scorer Cedric Ceballos. They later traded Ceballos back to Phoenix for Robert Horry. Their first time in the lottery, the Lakers drafted swingman Eddie Jones. Two years later they signed Shaq, traded for Kobe. Even the Kwame Brown trade, which everyone derides, helped the Lakers down the road. They turned Kwame into Pau Gasol.
It is better to be lucky than good. It is. But these days the Lakers are neither. They have left their top of the hill perch and have joined every team in the league that struggles. There are no easy fixes here for what used to be the most glamorous NBA franchise. Julius Randle and his broken leg is testament to that. In the Kobe Bryant era, the longest NBA Finals drought the Lakers have had is right now. Five years and counting.
The rest of the league is finally satisfied.