1. Establish a Culture to Build Upon
As if the past season wasn’t hard enough to deal with for Lakers fans, one of the last storylines in the regular season saw the team’s biggest young star in then-rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell being ran through the mud for videotaping Nick Young talking about cheating on his hip-hop artist girlfriend Iggy Azalea. That led to many stupid ethical debates, many distractions, and the Lakers looking like an even bigger joke than they did before.
What that situation and incident really brought to light, though, is just how desperately a culture change is needed with the Lakers. Now that Kobe is gone from the organization, they need guys to step up in the locker room and create a culture that breeds success—not a culture that breeds TMZ headlines and distractions.
If that means getting rid of guys like Nick Young that seemingly are always at the center of causing distractions for the team, so be it. While making a quick decision with Russell would be a mistake, if it’s a certainty that he’s never going to mature, then don’t hesitate to move on from him.
Next: Randle Wants to Become 'Great' This Offseason
The only thing that’s clear with the culture of the lakers right now is that this isn’t a locker room where the culture seems to be focused on success and being the best possible version of themselves. It’s something totally different—and that has to start changing this offseason and continue to do so moving beyond.