Criticism of Lakers’ Free Agency Efforts Was Misplaced

The Lakers placed all their free agency hopes this offseason on LaMarcus Aldridge, much like they did last year in their pursuit of Carmelo Anthony. Neither was an ideal fit for the team given the rest of the roster, but both were stars and we know how the Lakers respect star-power. In both instances the team struck out, and while waiting to be told “no,” they missed an opportunity to improve the team by adding smaller free agency pieces – moves that would not have amounted to a home run but could have served as important building blocks to attract free agents next year which will include Kevin Durant.

As recently as last Tuesday the Lakers were feeling good and seemed to be emerging from a long dry spell. After good fortune allowed them to move up, they had a stellar draft. Experts praised their courage in selecting D’Angelo Russell instead of making the more conservative choice in Jahlil Okafor. They also felt good about Anthony Brown and Larry Nance, Jr. and what they can contribute. The moment the draft ended the team had the foresight to grab undrafted but much heralded Robert Upshaw for their summer league team. If he is mentally and physically healthy, Upshaw could prove to be a franchise altering addition. Many observers wrote that the front office was finally in tune with the modern NBA and was headed in a strong, positive direction. Combined with the return of Julius Randle and the rest of last season’s rookie class including Jordan Clarkson, Tarik Black, and Jabari Brown, the media was saying the Lakers are “back.”

Oh how things can change overnight. At 9:01 p.m. this past Tuesday, the moment free agency started, the Lakers met with Aldridge and his representatives. Overnight there were reported leaks from Aldridge’s camp that the presentation was a disaster and that Aldridge had already crossed the Lakers off his list. There was suggested that there was too much emphasis in the meeting on rehashing past glories and on business opportunities outside of basketball, when all Aldridge wanted to hear was how the team planned to win this next season. Immediately a hailstorm of criticism descended on the Lakers. It is one thing for the self-absorbed attention- seekers in the mainstream media, who follow the team casually from afar but pretend to know everything, to level these attacks. It got so bad, however, that even John Ireland, the Lakers’ own play-by-play announcer, mocked Mitch Kupchak on the radio and said it was time for him to go. Others pointed to Jim and Jeanne Buss as terrible owners, while some predictably blamed Kobe Bryant for reportedly telling Aldridge he could become Bryant’s new sidekick, his new Pau Gasol (which, based on subsequent reports, is not at all what Bryant said).

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Maybe it is time for Kupchak to go. Maybe Jim and Jeanne Buss will always lack the stature, maturity, and business sophistication of other NBA owners. Byron Scott may have an archaic, unworkable approach to the game. And maybe Bryant is hurting the team and should have retired. Over the past year, I, and many others, have raised and debated all these points. But here is the truth if anyone is interested in listening: None of this was the reason that Aldridge chose to play elsewhere. It was because the Lakers are coming off the worst season in franchise history and have a roster full of untested rookies and second year players. Stars, especially when they are about to turn 30 like Aldridge, want to be in a position to compete for a title right away. The Lakers could not present Aldridge with such an opportunity at this stage, and under those circumstances, what chance did they have competing with the San Antonio Spurs (a perennial contender) for his services?

Upon reflection, nearly all of the top players to whom the Lakers were linked in the past few months opted to stay with their current team for the kind of maximum money that no one else could match. Though as Laker fans we wanted to believe the rumors, they were phony from the beginning, a figment of someone’s imagination who wanted to create controversy, as evidenced by the fact that Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love, Goran Dragic, and Kris Middleton agreed to terms with their teams the moment free agency started. Draymond Green and Tobias Harris were not far behind, and Marc Gasol is expected to do the same. None of these players even met with another team. Thus, collectively and individually, Buss, Kupchak, Scott, and Bryant – no matter their strengths and weaknesses — had nothing to do with what any of these players opted to do.

The only highly coveted free agents who actually changed teams were Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan, and to a lesser extent, Greg Monroe. The Lakers had cap space to sign only one of these players so they had to make a choice and they decided on Aldridge, the best player available even if he is a power forward which just happens to be the position Randle plays. The problem was, they had to wait for him to decide before getting really serious about anyone else. While they were waiting for Aldridge, Monroe was offered a max deal by the Bucks which will allow him to play for an already solid team that could potentially contend in the Eastern Conference. Jordan chose to return to his home-state of Texas where there is no state income tax.

Of course, this raises the question of whether the “swing for the fence” game plan, which has failed two years in row, was wise. It is hard to criticize the franchise for dreaming big, but for the second straight year solid free agents who might have helped the team in smaller but important ways signed elsewhere because the Lakers could not commit money to anyone else until receiving an answer from Aldridge. It prevented the team from adding assets such as Tyson Chandler, Robin Lopez, DeMarre Carroll, and even Monroe, to compliment the roster of younger players. It even cost them the one free agent off last year’s team, fan favorite Ed Davis. Davis said repeatedly that he wanted to return, but when Portland stepped up and offered him a good deal, he could not afford to sit around waiting to see who the Lakers would sign and whether there would be any money left to offer him a contract. This same situation cost the team Jodie Meeks last offseason, an excellent outside shooter and hard-nosed defender who the team sorely missed last year.

The plain truth, however, is that we live in ugly times and the ugliest beast of all is the media. If someone has an opinion but it is not the popular opinion of the moment he/she is labeled an idiot for the whole world to hear and pretty soon everyone starts believing it. Everyone is an expert. Everyone has an anonymous source. In the rush to be “first” the truth takes a back seat to rumor and speculation. Pretty soon there is no truth, just the perception of the truth as shaped by the media.

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There are plenty of reasons to question the Lakers, their philosophy, and their leadership, but in this instance such factors had nothing to do with the events which transpired over the past few days. In our sensationalist, celebrity-obsessed society, it is wise to largely ignore what the media says – it is wrong as often as it is right. For Laker fans we should focus not on players we had no chance to get right now but on the players who are here. If we do, we might conclude these are very exciting times.

The Lakers’ summer league team, which begins play in less than a week, consists of Randle, Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Upshaw, Black, Jabari Brown, Anthony Brown, and Larry Nance, Jr. On paper that is an impressive and exciting line up. It will be very interesting indeed to see how this youth movement plays out and if the Lakers have the courage to stick with it instead of trading young players away for decent but expensive and short-sighted retreads like David Lee just to use up cap space.

The summer league intrigue is palpable: Is Russell as good as advertised? Can Randle return from injury and become the dominant player he was projected to be? Is it possible that in Upshaw the Lakers got another Okafor or Towns but for less money? Has Black developed a mid-range jumper to compliment his energy and inside game? Was Clarkson a fluke last year or is he as good as he played the second half of the season? Can the two Browns and Nance provide fire-power, hustle, and lock-down defense in key spurts off the bench? Is it conceivable that Brown, whose game is reported to be a bit reminiscent of Butler and Leonard, develop into the small forward the Lakers currently lack? These are the questions Laker fans should be focusing on, not the cheap, pretentious, divisive, and often misguided pontification of commentators who are so quick to bash people without knowing the facts, just for the sake of creating controversy and increasing ratings.