LeBron James’ biggest battle: A franchise he possibly can’t control
By Ronald Agers
Believe it or not, yes, there is some hope, but it is going to have to come from New York
No, not the New York Knicks, but the NBA offices in the city of New York. Adam Silver may have to come in and make changes on how the team is run on a daily basis. Here’s the good news. You have already seen his handy work in these NBA playoffs alone.
The Philadelphia 76ers are in the second round of the playoffs playing the Toronto Raptors. Remember when “The Process” was a laughingstock instead of Joel Embiid‘s catchphrase? The NBA orchestrated Sam Hinkie’s ouster with Jerry Colangelo being a special adviser and soon replaced Hinkie with Bryan Colangelo.
Together, they built the team to the playoff quality you see currently. Sure Colangelo got “burned” with his Twitter burner accounts, but the foundation was set by the Colangelos. Elton Brand sent the franchise into the stratosphere.
How about those Brooklyn Nets?
I know this story well. The ownership group and the franchise was a mess due to the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce trade with Boston. When Mikhail Prokhorov wanted to buy a commanding percentage of the team, some changes were recommended by the NBA offices.
The Nets then fired head coach Lionel Hollins and reassigned general manager, Billy King. They were replaced with two men with San Antonio Spurs ties; head coach Kenny Atkinson and general manager Sean Marks.
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This is where I see this situation going. This is why I believe the business at hand is going so slowly. The Lakers are stalling while the playoffs are going on. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. For LeBron James and Lakers fans, pray that I am right because the reputation of the Lakers is getting worse by the day.