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.

I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It! (Podcast Pilot)

How did this team not win 60 plus games?!

So I've finally done it. It took awhile but I actually did it. I've been wanting to do a podcast forever, but for whatever reason, I've just been too "busy" to do it. When Kobe Bryant went down for the season that was the final straw. I have way too many thoughts on the Lakers, Kobe and this season as a whole, to just blog about it. (It would have been a 10,000 word rant. Trust me, this is for the best people.) I'll still be writing because that's what I do. I'm a writer, so I'll always write but the podcast will allow/give all you none "readers" a chance to hear my opinions on sports or whatever else I want to talk about. The podcast will mainly feature my brother, Zeph Jones, but I'm going to try to bring on guests to discuss other things as well. Just remember that this is the pilot episode, so we're still working out the wrinkles and all that jazz. Still feel free to give us feedback and your thoughts. Anyway, hit play and enjoy the NEW view!

I STILL Love LA

     Los Angeles, California is a great place to live. I love this city! There are so many things to love about it. The weather is great! Seriously it’s like 80 degrees everyday and the sun is always shining. The women are beautiful. Like flat out, knock down, “make you wanna slap yo momma” good looking! And although I don’t smoke, I’ve been told the weed here is amazing. The great weather and beautiful women alone was enough to hook me, but you know the one thing I love the most about LA? EVERYONE LOVES THE LAKERS HERE! It’s so weird living in a place where I’m not the only Laker fan. It’s like being in a sports Twilight Zone. I’ve lived in Flint, MI, Shreveport, LA, Fayetteville, NC, Orlando, FL, Forest, MS, Chicago, IL and a few other places I can’t remember right now, but all of those places had/have one thing in common. EVERYONE THERE HATED THE LAKERS.

     Finding a Laker fan in those places was like trying to find a black person in Beverly Hills.(Still haven’t seen one but apparently Kanye West lives there. Or so he says in “To The World”) But in LA seeing a Laker fan is like seeing a roach in the projects. They’re EVERYWHERE. The bus driver, the guy at Starbucks, the weirdos, the cable guy, the neighbors, the kids, EVERYBODY! It’s so nice to always have someone to talk POSITIVE Laker basketball with. It’s something I’ve never experienced before. The common bond between the city, its inhabitants and its team. I’ve never been around so many Lakers fans in all my life. It’s great but it’s strange at the same time. I always felt “special” being a Laker fan alone in my quest to cheer on my team in the bar or at work. It was nice when they were winning and I could soak it all in by myself but when they lose I got all the clowning and trash talking by myself. (Strange but even that was “special” to me.) Everywhere I lived it was always me and my team against the world and I loved it. And those rare times I’d spot someone in Lakers gear and I’d run to them and they’d think I was about to talk smack but then I complement them. Then we’d talk about the team, how they were doing, where we thought they were going and how Kobe was doing. (I have learned something about the Laker Hate over the years. I don’t think it’s about the Lakers per say. Shaq was loveable and likeable. And Magic was all time loveable and likeable. I think the Laker Hate is all about Kobe Bryant. “In the 80’s everyone loved the Lakers” my dad tells me. “Since Kobe’s Colorado “run in” and since he was perceived to have run Shaq outta town people just ain’t been on they’re side anymore.”)

Why can't THIS group of players win together?!

While it’s nice to be around so many fans it does come with a cost. That gloomy feeling I get when the Lakers aren’t doing so good, well lets just say it’s been magnified by about 17 million. The whole city is in the same mood I’m usually in by myself. People keep saying that the Lakers suck. I’m sorry but the Lakers DON’T SUCK. They’re playing like shit. That’s different than sucking. When you have a team with 35 combined All-Star appearances, 48 All-NBA Team/ALL-NBA Defense, 4 combined Defensive Player of the Year awards and 3 MVPs, I’m sorry THAT TEAM DOESN’T SUCK. For all of the noise LA made for firing Brown(Although it was unfair because he never got a real shot at coaching the team, I’m still 100% sure it was the right choice. Mike Brown just ain’t winning you a title. Plus the first guy after Phil was ALWAYS DOOMED.) after a 1-4 start for “poor offensive execution”, that was not LA’s biggest problem. They’re biggest problem (And it has been their problem for a while now going back to the 2010-11 season) has been their defense. It seems so clear to everyone now, but I’ve been saying it all year and all last year. 

     They’re a HORRIBLE defensive team. They’re only 15th in points allowed but it’s a kind of “false” stat. As of December 9, 2012 the Lakers are 9-12. Of the 12 losses, they allowed 100+ in 8 of them (95 and 99 in two others) and in 9 of those losses, the opponent scored well over their season average. Ouch! 113 to both the Kings and Magic is completely inexcusable. Super ouch! Even under Mike Brown, someone known for his defense (and his amazing talent of being the only person to ever stop LeBron James) the Lakers sucked on the defensive end. Mike D’Antoni ain’t changing that folks. The Phoenix Suns never finished higher than 25th under him and the Lakers seem to be getting worse. Now its not all him. The Lakers are old. Like really, really old. While Kobe is playing lights out on the offensive end, (He’s leading the NBA in scoring and IF he wanted to, he could have led the NBA in it last year. I’m really starting to think Kobe Bryant is a machine sent back in time to play basketball and destroy the world. No way he keeps it up but he’s a freaking warrior. ) he’s slipped defensively. He was ALL-NBA defense last year but it was 2nd team, first time he’s been 2nd team in six years, and it was mostly given to him out of respect. He’s not even close to being the lock down perimeter defender he use to be and he’s not getting any younger. Nash was/is/will always be a complete liability on that side of the court and the idiot formally known, as Ron Artest, has been a shell of himself for years now. Quick side note, last year I was in Orlando and saw the Magic versus the Bulls live in person. I took two things from that game: Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard were like super humans on the court with mortals and neither one could be stopped. Howard flew all over the court. He was blocking shots, getting rebounds, causing all around havoc and just being a force of nature in the middle. He seemed to be a one-man defensive team. He’s not that guy right now. I say right now because he is coming off back surgery and I guess that takes time. (I mean come on, the first reports had him coming back around Christmas and he hasn’t missed a single game so kudos for that. You trade Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard everyday of the week.)

     Long story short, LA’s problems were not getting fixed when they fired Mike Brown and they damn sure ain’t getting fixed with Mike D’Antoni. Bill Simmons said it best in his column on December 7, 2012 it’s no coincidence that the only coach that ever worked with Kobe just so happens to be THE GREATEST COACH OF ALL TIME. I’m not saying it works 100% with Phil but I like his chances better than D’Antoni. You needed a coach that A) had championship experience and B) cared about defense or at least understood its importance as it relates to winning a title. Two things, D’Antoni has NO TRACK RECORD OFF AT ALL. Phil wasn’t a defensive guru but he never got enough credit for his efforts on that side of the court. Jeff Van Gundy was quoted as saying that he never worried about those Chicago Bull teams of the 90’s scoring. More of how was he going to score on them. Coaches get fired it’s what happens. I can only remember a few of them walking way on THEIR terms. So like Brown before him, D’Antoni will be fired and the Lakers will be second-guessed and criticized. When the basketball version of Vince Lombardi wants to coach your team you let him tell you no, not the other way around. I’m not a GM but I’m sure I can only think of one team in the NBA that FLATOUT turns down Phil Jackson. (The San Antonio Spurs seem to be happy with the guy they got.)

You have a team ready to win, which coach do you hire?

The Lakers said all they had to say about winning the championship this year when they hired Mike D’Antoni. The Clippers are the Clippers so the Lakers stranglehold on LA is safe.(An all-time winning percentage of .363, 8 playoff berths in 40 years and one was with a LOSING RECORD, 30 years between playoff victories, zero titles and Donald Sterling as an owner insures that. Really I mean come on son! A couple of nice seasons ain’t fooling anyone. The Clipper logo makes me think losers the same way white and red on a soda can makes me think Coca-Cola. It’s branded loserness. (And yes, that is not a word!)) In the end, I still like LA’s chances to get it together. I say wait till Nash is healthy to judge them on offense. (This is also when you can find out whether or not to trade Pau. He's a great pick and roll player and you would have to assume Nash help him look a lot better than he has.) Wait till Dwight is healthy to judge them on defense. (I still think he’s going to cover up most of their holes when he’s 100% because he covered up a lot more on those Orlando teams. He’s basically going from being the nice butt on an ugly chick, (what he was to Orlando) to being the make-up on a cute chick with light acne scars (What he can be for LA)) This team doesn’t suck. They got too much talent to suck. What’s the other thing that’s good about being in LA and being around all these Laker fans? I’m not alone in my suffering. You know what they say, misery loves company and like sunshine and beautiful women, I got plenty of that in Southern California these days.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe and share the blog. Join in the discussion by leaving a comment below. Follow me on twitter @ParisLay. Until next time... Enjoy the View!