Los Angeles Lakers: 3 rules the front office must follow this offseason
The Los Angeles Lakers front office needs some direction this offseason. These are three rules they should follow heading into the summer.
The Los Angeles Lakers finished the year on the outside of the playoffs looking in. The biggest reason why the Purple and Gold struggled during the 2018-2019 season and missed the postseason for the 6th year in a row was because of the moves that Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson made in the last offseason.
Last summer after LeBron James signed with the Lakers, Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson came up with a plan to bring the Lakers back from the dead and help LA become a championship contender once again. Their idea was to surround LeBron with playmakers that could help James run the offense, thus ensuring that LeBron’s aging body didn’t get killed and buried in an early basketball grave.
The “playmakers” that the Lakers front office brought in were Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, and Michael Beasley. For good measure, they also re-signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a lucrative one-year, $12 million contract.
Unfortunately, Magic and Pelinka’s strategy backfired worse than a 1989 Pinto trying to accelerate past 60 mph, because in order to create a good offense, a team needs to have more than just distributors. Good offensive teams stockpile elite outside shooters, who can score in bunches.
Rondo, Beasley, Stephenson, and KCP are not good outside shooters.
- Rajon Rondo has a career 31.5 3P%
- Michael Beasley has a career 34.9 3P%
- Lance Stephenson has a career 31.5 3P%
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has a career 34.5 3P%
The Lakers ended the 2018-2019 season as the 2nd worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA, which directly led to their awful offensive rating of 107.8, good for 24th in the league.
If Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka follow my three rules this offseason, the Lakers will be much more successful next year.