The Los Angeles Lakers are suffering through another disappointing, lottery-bound season. Let’s take a look at what the Lakers front office should do this off-season to improve the team going into next year.
The Los Angeles Lakers have begun turning their attention to the offseason. What can we expect from the organization in the coming months? Hopefully, these realistic options come to fruition.
5. Keep Luke Walton
99% of the time when a person manages to get a position of power the thing they fear most is losing that power. Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have clearly done an awful job this season running the Lakers. They’ve done so bad, in fact, now fans and members of the media have started calling for their heads.
Unfortunately, Magic and Pelinka are like most men who have gained influence over an organization. Instead of just saying they had a bad year and that they’ll do better in the future, they’re going to act irrationally out of fear of losing their front office positions.
Most people around the league believe their first illogical act will be to shift the blame away from themselves and hold Luke liable for the Lakers ineptitude this season. Of course after they “hold Luke liable” they’ll fire him and probably hire Tyronn Lue.
The way this season’s played out is not Luke’s fault and everybody around the NBA knows that. Luke is actually a top-tier coach. How do I know that? It’s simple, only a good coach can get young players to play top-10 defense and Luke had the Lakers playing very good defense before the trade deadline debacle killed the spirit of the team.
Every player works hard on offense because every player loves to score; that’s how you get a max-extension or a huge contract offer in the NBA. Very few young players’ take pride on the less glamorous side of the ball, but Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart all work very hard on defense, which tires out their legs and makes it harder for them to excel on the fun side of the court.
Luke has found a way to motivate his young core to go 100% on both sides of the ball, which is rare in this league.
Furthermore, good teams with a strong culture don’t continuously fire their head coaches.
- Rick Carlisle hasn’t made the playoffs in four years, but he’s a good coach, so he keeps his job.
- Once LeBron left Miami, Eric Spoelstra’s struggled just to get the Heat into the playoffs, but he’s a good coach, so he keeps his job.
- This is Terry Stotts 7th year as the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and he’s never come close to sniffing the Western Conference Finals, but he’s a good coach, so he keeps his job.
The Lakers need to start to build a positive culture like the best teams in the NBA, and one of the finest ways to do that is to keep Luke as the head coach, not just because he’s well liked and he’s a good teacher, but also, because the best and most professional basketball organizations in the NBA hang on to their head coaches.