Los Angeles Lakers: How one writer would run the Lakers
By Ronald Agers
I call Joe Dumars and play Mary J. Blige’s Reminisce song!
I would beg Jerry West first, second and third to the point I get accused of stalking! But, I don’t think he would take the job.
His son works for the Lakers and I would promote him immediately to be placed in the circle of people that will have a hand in the decision making. That way Jerry West can groom his son like a paid GM mentorship program.
If that does not work (Ballmer got DEEEP pockets folks), I need a people guy that can keep things together on the roster. ESPECIALLY with LeBron James and his drama that rivals the soap opera “Days of Our Lives”.
Joe Dumars took six Detroit Pistons teams to the Eastern Conference Finals and two NBA Finals appearances with an NBA title.
At one time, Joe Dumars was compared to the great Jerry West.
"[Stephen A. Smith and Steve Smith] agree, next to Jerry West, there hasn’t been a basketball figure as successful from the playing side to the executive side as Dumars — and he leaves behind an indelible mark on a segment of fans that won’t think of successful basketball in Detroit without him coming to mind."
Everybody makes mistakes, Darko Milicic will always be a stain on the resume.
Joe Dumars’ explanation at the time.
"I could give a dissertation on that. After I drafted Darko, from that point on, the amount of background we do on every single player that you see us draft is ridiculous. We do as much or more background than any other team in the NBA because of that. The background on (Milicic) was about 20 percent of what we do now. I look back on it now and realize you didn’t know half of the stuff you needed to know."
But, we have to realize that at the time, the plan was to develop him for the future while Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace Tayshaun Prince and Elden Campbell (yes, he was on that team too) held down the fort in the championship years. Was it wrong? Yep! They could have had Carmelo Anthony.
Another bad choice was trading Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. That was a cap move. Was it wrong? Sure, but the man can build teams and he is one of the only former players that made the successful transition from player to an executive.
David Griffin would have been my first choice. But the New Orleans Pelicans snapped him up quickly to orchestrate the exodus of Anthony Davis. This does not guarantee the Lakers getting him in a trade, but who really knows after this week.
This hurts the Lakers bad. It shows that the leading GM’s are not looking at the Lakers as a premium destination. It shows no matter how much history that David Griffin has with LeBron James and Ty Lue, he took a small market job almost immediately. After dealing with the dysfunction of Dan Gilbert and the similar business model the Lakers have at this point.