The Storm Is Coming...

It was all good just a week ago... Dwight Howard with Jim Buss when he joined the team last summer

How long has it been? Really think about it. How long has it been since the Los Angeles Lakers have truly looked lost? As in, there is no real, clear vision of what the future holds for the team. Now, I'm always a "glass half-full" guy when it comes to my Lakers because I was so in denial last season that I wrote this. And this. Being only 26 years old, I’ve only really known the Lakers one way: winners. I "kinda" remember the early 90’s Lakers teams middling their way through seasons right before and after Magic Johnson retired. (LA even managed to get to the NBA Finals in 1991 acting as a "sacrificial lamb" for Michael Jordan as he started his road to becoming the greatest player of all time. It's the reason why my first memories of Mike aren’t too fond.)

At least back then the team had nice young and exciting pieces like Nick Van Exel, Cedric Ceballos and Eddie Jones. (Right now, the team is a basic who's who of old overpaid All-Stars and second rounders that should be on the bench... in the D-League!) Even with the young talent those teams had, it was the trust in the front office that truly comforted Lakers fans. We had the best front office. We had the Lakers front office and the trust in them to make all the right basketball decisions. Dr. Jerry Buss and Jerry West had proven over the years that they could make all the right moves to make the team championship contenders again and again. It wasn’t long after those middle of the road seasons that LA acquired Shaquille O’Neal in free agency and made a draft day trade for a high schooler named Kobe Bryant. They were smart enough not to waste their (Kobe and Shaq’s that is) talents with the wrong coach, so they quickly hired Phil Jackson and the rest is history. Hell, they were even smart enough to hire Phil again after his second retirement, but if you’re wondering what happened the third time around I can tell you that it’s all about the new ownership.

Glory days of Shaq and Kobe.

Once Dr. Buss stepped away from the day-to-day operation of the Lakers, things seem to have gotten worse and worse each season. Lately, the basketball decisions in LA are about as smart as they would be if you were having Stevie Wonder fix a Japanese car from the future. It’s just a job you need sight for and Jim Buss doesn’t have the sight to run a basketball team. If he did, the following three things would have never happened.

 

I still don't know why Phil isn't back yet.

One, he would have rehired the greatest coach in the history of the sport when he was asking to come back. That’s like being a movie producer and having Martin Scorsese interested in taking over your picture, but you decide to hire M. Night Shyamalan instead. The two best players on the team (One that had one you five titles (Kobe) and one (Dwight) that was an impending free agent no less.) wanted you to hire Phil Jackson. The fans wanted you to hire Phil Jackson. Phil Jackson wanted you to hire Phil Jackson! It seemed like the Lakers were headed for a breakaway slam-dunk to "win the game" when they quickly fired Mike Brown but they instead pulled up for a half-court Hail Mary three pointer… at the opposite basket… when they hired Mike D’Antoni over Jackson. Buss let his ego get in the way of making the correct basketball decision.  (But hey, if the one dude I was “suppose” to hire was treated like a son by my father and I'm talking treated like a “the son I wish I had” son and if same said dude was boning my sister, I’d be little anxious about hiring dude too. Talk about awkward Thanksgivings.)

Two, “Lil” Buss should have traded Dwight Howard on the trade deadline. This is the new NBA, so if a superstar player doesn’t want to sign an extension and wants to hit the market then trade them ASAP. (Cut to: Cleveland fans kicking the screen.) The money you can get paid is set in stone. The days of "playing the field" so you can "drive up" the price are over. (At least for the “max level” guys. The lower and middle of the road guys can still get teams to bid and overpay them. Cut to: Gerald Wallace laughing and counting money.) The team that you’re heading into free agency with always has an edge nowadays because they can pay you more than any team you’d look to go to. So, with that in mind, why EVER let Dwight hit free agency?

Three, he should have never let this happen:

Yeah, I saw that yesterday morning on my way to breakfast. (Needless to say it ruined my whole morning.) LA didn’t put up “Stay KB8” banners when Kobe Bryant was a free agent. And if they did, he had at least won titles in LA for God’s sake. They didn’t do it with Shaq and he was coming off one of his best seasons and NOT back surgery. Dwight Howard had one “okay” season and he gets a billboard all over the building and all throughout the city?! Dwight Howard?! The Lakers don’t beg players to come here. Players want to be Lakers. Players want to play in LA. But with the flux in front office leadership, players aren’t so hot on LA anymore. And that’s the problem.

Unlike most Lakers fans, I’m not mad at Dwight Howard. Shocking, I know. You see, I think he actually made the right basketball decision and I’m a total supporter of players making the best decision for themselves. I’m mad at the Lakers for not doing with Dwight what Orlando had the good sense to do; trade him. Grant it, you were never going to get equal value back, because much like the one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind, Howard is the “king” of the big men in the new small ball NBA. I’m also not one of those fans that’s going to say, “dude can’t ball". Howard did comeback way sooner from surgery than he was suppose to and even with a bad back and nagging shoulder issue he still managed to lead the league in rebounds. I lived in Orlando for 3 years and I know firsthand what he can do when he's focused, happy and healthy. (Before you get upset and say "I would've rather had Andrew Bynum", google what Philly got out of him this season…. I’ll wait… oh yeah that’s right, HE NEVER PLAYED!)

Look, even with Howard LA barely made the playoffs and much of the heavy lifting was done by Kobe before he was ran into the ground by D’Antoni, injured. Without Kobe, and with Dwight still being misused under D’Antoni, who’s to say LA wouldn’t have been even worse off. To play devil's advocate farther, you could make a real argument that, A) Howard peaked 3 or 4 seasons ago, B) he would never be able to handle the pressure of playing for a team with yearly title or bust expectations and C) he could possibly never recover that athleticism that made him such a dominant force. (Although that is the only reason I wanted him back. To see how he performs with a full off season’s rest and recovery from his surgery.)  So if you’re a fan of the team, relax but get ready. Must you forget the Lakers won titles BEFORE Howard, they won a title OVER Howard and they WILL win again. LA has a long list of problems and trust me, I get pretty far down that list before I get to “Dwight Howard”. The question isn't if LA will win again it's “when” but that could be a long time from now. With that said, Laker Nation I leave you with these immortal words from Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman.

When It All Falls Down

RIP Dr. Buss

I was once told that it’s the hard times that let’s us see the true nature of people. Sometimes, we need things to go as far south as possible before we can pull ourselves out of the ashes and for the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers, things just went really far south. Like Antarctic south. Legendary team owner, Jerry Buss, passed away on Monday adding another black cloud on an already abysmal Laker season.

It comes as no real surprise that the Lakers have been a total dumpster fire since Dr. Buss passed the day-to-day operations of the team over to his son, Jim Buss. (A guy that’s about as accomplished professionally as I am. No really, look him up.) It’s long been rumored that even the people close to the Lakers organization were worried what would happen to the team once Dr. Buss passed away because no one had any real confidence in Jim Buss. This season has all of their worst nightmares coming to life.  

Jimmy has some big shoes to fill as Dr. Buss was, arguably, the greatest owner in the history of sports. The level of excellence that the Lakers enjoyed under Dr. Buss will likely never be matched, by his son or anyone for that matter. Since buying the team in 1979, the Lakers have won ten NBA championships, sixteen Western Conference titles, and eighteen division crowns. Hell, under Buss’leadership they only missed the playoffs twice! (People REALLY want to talk about the Clippers taking over LA?! Excuse me while I literally laugh my ass off.)

Kobe Bryant delivers an emotional speech before Lakers vs. Celtics

Originally, I wanted to wait until the Laker’s played their first home game after Dr. Buss’ passing to gather my thoughts on them. My first instinct; see the team’s energy and fight after such a huge psychological blow and then judge them. I’ve come to realize that wasn’t such a good idea. With all the emotion in the Staples Center on Wednesday, the 97-98 Chicago Bulls (Greatest Team Ever, 72-10.) with five Michael Jordans couldn't beat the Lakers. No one was beating the Lakers on that night. How they perform from here-on-out is really going to tell us a lot about the Lakers. I say things are going to go one of the following ways for LA. One) The Lakers rally, they make the playoffs and make some real noise. Two A) The Lakers continue to play the same lackluster basketball, make the playoffs and get rolled in the first round to OKC or San Antonio. Two B), they play the same and miss the playoffs. Three) The Lakers totally implode and get even worse.  In my opinion, all of those scenarios are completely and equally "up-in-the-air" and nothing else. Come season’s end, we’ll see which plays out.

Dr. Buss' blend of hands-on ownership when needed and
     hands-off when it wasn't, helped the Lakers to ten titles.

You see, what this whole thing really boils down to is one of the absolute truths I‘ve learned when it comes to sports. For example, if you're missing a franchise QB, you’re royally screwed. (Cut to Browns, Chiefs and Cardinals fans banging their heads into the computer.) If your favorite team has a bad owner they're much worse off. Just think about all the different ways a bad owner affects your team. Coaches don’t want to work with your team and agents will steer the best free agents away from your team if the ownership sucks. A prized franchise player will almost certainly jump ship and high draft picks will always suffer under bad management. When an owner is cheap, they only look at your favorite team as their personal ATM. They don’t spend money on coaches, they try to low ball or underpay their own stars and they cheap out on little things like staff members or team facilities. These cheap, money hungry bastards would charge you for breathing air in the arena, if they could get away with it.

That being said, the ignorant/hands-on owner is a whole other ball of wax. Sure, they'll spend money on the team and their hearts are in the right place, but they can never seem to get out of their own way. This type of owner thinks he/she knows more than the people they’ve hired and even worse, sometimes he/she puts themselves in positions they have NO business being in. This forces/allows them to make stupid decisions based solely on their “I CAN DO THIS MY WAY” ego. (Cut to Cowboy fans banging their heads into the computer.) That’s why Jim Buss hired the wrong coach. It was all Jim desperately wanting to prove that he can do this his way and that he didn't/doesn't need Phil Jackson.

All my life I’ve been a Laker fan and that's not changing. I’ve only known the Lakers one way and that's Jerry Buss’ way. The way that proved you could blend entertainment basketball without sacrificing championship caliber basketball. He always strived to make the Lakers not only the best team in the NBA, but the best “show” in the NBA. I'm also a longtime/long suffering Detroit Lions and Chicago Cubs fan so the Lakers have always been the only source of joy for sports in much of my life. Even during the "down" years, my dad always told me this, “Don’t worry son, Jerry will figure it out and make it work.” For 20 years my father was never wrong about that. Dr. Buss always figured it out. Funny thing is, my dad hasn’t told me that one time about Jimmy Buss. Rest well Dr. Buss. You’ll be missed.

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