Who Will Lead The Los Angeles Lakers Resurrection?

The Los Angeles Lakers have the fourth worst record in the NBA, but don’t let that fool you. They are the worst team in the league.

The 76ers are only one win behind the Lakers and will catch them soon. The Timberwolves, to whom the Lakers lost at home earlier this season, are two wins back and will eventually pass the Lakers in the standings after the All Star break. The Knicks are awful, and three wins behind, but they recently whipped the Lakers. More importantly, the 76ers and Timberwolves have good young talent that portends better times ahead, and the Knicks have Carmelo Anthony still in his prime. In contrast, the Lakers have little or no reason to be optimistic about the foreseeable future.

For the last two seasons, the Laker roster has been comprised mostly of minimum-salaried players all waiting for the return of a healthy Kobe Bryant and the signing of a big time, franchise-altering free agent, neither of which occurred. As thoughts turn to what will happen this next off-season, many loyalists will fantasize about the team adding players such as Marc Gasol, Goran Dragic, and LaMarcus Aldridge, but why would any of them want to join a barren and rudderless Laker franchise? Nor will Bryant returning next season – and he will return – mean much in the won/lost column. The most important question facing Laker fans is this: Will the team ever return to a position of prominence and, if so, who is going to lead the resurrection?

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At one time, the Lakers were led by Jerry Buss as owner, Jerry West as General Manager, and Phil Jackson as head coach. Today, that mantle has been passed to Jim and Jeanie Buss, Mitch Kupchak, and Byron Scott. Perhaps this speaks for itself in explaining the Lakers’ plight, but let’s be fair to the current regime and examine the good, the bad, and the ugly.

If one were to build a case that Jim, Jeanie, and Mitch have done a good job, are mere victims of circumstances and bad luck, and are unfairly maligned, here is the argument:

1. They pulled off a miracle trade for Chris Paul, shocking everyone with the ink still wet on the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement. If Paul were on the Lakers, he would have attracted other big name free agents and the Lakers would be competing for a title every year.

2.They prevailed in the competition to wrestle Dwight Howard away from Orlando. Howard was, at the time, the best center in the NBA, a dominant force who would become the new face of the franchise upon Bryant’s retirement.

3.They traded for Steve Nash without having to part with a single player of their own. Nash was in the final stages of his career, but he was coming off a strong year and was famous for never having suffered a serious injury and for keeping himself in great shape. That season, the starting line was expected to be Bryant, Howard, Nash, Pau Gasol, and Metta World Peace. It was reasonable to assume this unit could compete for a title.

4.They had the courage to admit they made a mistake hiring Mike Brown, and they hired Mike D’Antoni who would be reunited with Nash which promised an exciting new brand of fast paced basketball.

D’Antoni was never accepted by the fans, however, and never got a fair break, because Phil Jackson walks on water and fans could never get over the fact that D’Antoni was chosen instead. However, one could argue that hiring Jackson would have been pure nostalgia, and as evidenced by USC’s penchant for coaches who will try to reenact the Pete Carroll days, it rarely works out. It worked when Jackson was re-hired the first time, but it was time to move on and stop living in the past. It took bold leadership and courage to make that choice.

5.The biggest reason the Lakers have been so bad the past two years is because of an unprecedented rash of injuries, which is just poor luck. Last season, the team was off to a solid start, had a winning record after 19 games, but then everyone was hurt to the point that in one game the Lakers almost had to forfeit because they could not put five players on the court. This season the Lakers lost Nash, Julius Randle, and Xavier Henry before the games had barely begun. Ryan Kelly was absent for a long time. Other players have played hurt and some have been forced to miss games. Bryant was in and out of the line-up, and now he is gone for the rest of the season.

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In short, Jim, Jeanie, and Kupchak could make all these points on their behalf, and any fair-minded person would realize there is some merit to the arguments. However, there is another side of the coin.

After Jackson walked away the last time, Jim Buss is said to have fired many popular, well respected, and long standing employees in an effort to put his stamp on the organization. Reading between the lines, this caused a lot of dissension and damaged the culture and morale within the organization. Although he insists his father was involved, Jim Buss is said to have lobbied for Brown who clearly was not the right coach to replace Jackson.

As for Nash, with a new and very strict salary cap, it was foolish to give a 38-year old player a three year guaranteed contract at more than $9,000,000 per year. Plus, the Lakers, whose roster was becoming alarmingly old, gave away four draft choices to get Nash.

With regard to Howard, history tells us that star players come to the Lakers, they do not leave. The Lakers could offer Howard a fifth year on a new contract that no other team could offer, and what athlete walks away from guaranteed millions especially when he could suffer a career-ending injury tomorrow? What really happened? If there had been strong leadership, someone who got involved to solve whatever problem existed before it passed to the point of no return, Howard might have stayed.

There were many other decisions that must be questioned: signing Bryant to a huge extension that would gobble up all the cap space before anyone knew if he would ever return to his old form (or at all, for that matter); the relentless pursuit of Anthony, an overrated player whose $25,000,000 per year salary would have crippled the Lakers for years to come; spending $9,000,000 on Jordan Hill, a good player but not worth anywhere near that amount, while allowing other younger and better free agents who expressed interest in coming to the Lakers to sign elsewhere for even less money; choosing to give a long-term contract to, of all people, Nick Young, a 29-year old reserve, a one-dimensional player whose shot is off more than it is on; and signing Scott, who after some initial success at the beginning of his coaching career, has had a poor track record everywhere he has coached.

What does all this mean? It demonstrates that in any business, when you are in charge, you are forced to make difficult decisions, and sometimes, despite what appears to be solid reasons for what is decided, it does not work out. Hindsight is always 20/20.

In the end, whether in politics, on the battlefield, or in business, it comes down to leadership. Success is determined by many factors beyond our control, but good leadership is good leadership. It means you have a clear vision, you inspire others, and you earn the loyalty and respect of those around you. On that score, Jerry Buss was a great leader. So were Jerry West and Jackson. Jim Buss, Jeanie Buss, and Kupchak, are not. Jim Buss has allowed himself to become the most despised man currently in all of Los Angeles, wrestling that mantle away from Frank McCourt and Donald Sterling. Jeanie has become a caricature of herself, always smiling and spouting positive thoughts but, over time, the act wears thin when what she is saying is so patently absurd that even a five year old knows she is just blowing smoke. Neither sibling is anyone’s idea of a good leader, and since they can’t be fired, if the Lakers are going to return to prominence, they have to look elsewhere for leadership.

The only option is to have a strong and charismatic General Manager, someone like Pat Riley. It may not be fair to make Kupchak the scapegoat, but replacing him is the only way to rid the team of the losing culture that has developed over the past few seasons, create a clean slate, and move forward. Kupchak is a stoic man. He rarely smiles. He rarely speaks, and when he does, it almost seems painful for him. I sat within a few feet of him at two Laker games this season and he seemed lost and all alone. No doubt he is a good man with many fine traits, but he is incapable of providing the inspired leadership and renewed confidence that the Lakers so badly need at this time.

Kupchak’s vision for the future is to talk about the past. Yes, we all know the Lakers won 16 titles, and yes, it is nice to live in Los Angeles, but top free agents are far more interested in what the team can offer right now. We are living in a new world dominated by social media and hip hop culture. 26-year old millionaire free agents need someone they can identify with or at least someone they can respect. Someone has to be able to convince the media that the Lakers are on the right course. Someone has to understand that rebuilding will take time and must be done with a carefully crafted plan, piece by piece, and not overnight. Someone must understand that unless your name is LeBron James, no player, no matter what you pay him, will make the team an overnight contender or even assure a quick return to the playoffs.

In short, it takes leadership, and on this team, that won’t come from the owners. It won’t come from the coach, either: Scott is also living in the past, and his poor head coaching record with four separate teams makes him a mere retread who is not going to instill confidence in anyone. Fair or not, strong and charismatic leadership will have to come from the General Manager. Unfortunately, Kupchak is no longer the man for the job.

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