By @jeffcaves
I have followed the Los Angeles Lakers since I was a kid. I still fly the flag in my back yard off Bogus Basin road to remind the cars whizzing by who is the King of basketball in the West. My first memory of a Lakers game was Jerry West and the Lakers vs Willis Reed and the Knicks NBA Final in 1970. I was a husky young guy swallowing Original French Dip sandwiches in Downtown LA at Philippes keeping one eye on the TV and the other on any leftovers. The Lakers went on to the playoffs every season while I was growing up other than in 1975 and ’76. The Lakers were clinging to the past in ’75 with Gail Goodrich, Happy Hairston, Connie Hawkins and Cazzie Russell leading the way. They finished 22 games under .500. The Lakers acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the ’76 season and improved to 40-42 but still missed the playoffs.
But, the key to me is at least they did something about it! Jack Kent Cooke had personally built the Forum and didn’t want to see it empty. He approved of the biggest trade of all time. In return for Abdul-Jabbar and backup center Walt Wesley, the Lakers sent Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, David Meyers and Junior Bridgeman to Milwaukee. Done. After that ’76 season the Lakers wouldn’t miss the playoffs again until 1995. Then came Shaq and the winning started once again.
The Lakers missed the playoffs in 2005. It was their first year without Shaq and Kobe was finding his game as the lead player. They went on to win 2 more World Championships until the music stopped for good in 2014. The Lakers have now missed the playoffs 3 straight years and will not make it this year. This is the worst stretch in the history of the franchise even in Minnesota. The Lakers and the Celtics are the 2 best teams of All Time in the NBA and it isn’t even close. The Celtics have 17 titles and the Lakers 16. The Bulls are third with 6. The Celtics went through 6 seasons from 1996-2001 without making the playoffs. The team fired Rick Pitino, hired Jim O’Brien and rode Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce to the playoffs for the next few seasons.
What are the Lakers doing to fix their problems? Their leading scorer is Lou Williams! He is a 30 year old guard, on his 4th NBA team and was averaging 12 points a game for his career. Now he scores 18 points per game. The Lakers signed him as a free agent and paid him $1.5 million more per year then Toronto. WOW. Luke Walton is the coach, and at 36, is the youngest in the NBA. The plan for the team is lose big, draft high and wait for high draft picks Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram to develop into superstars. Ingram is only 19 but needs to hit more 3’s, Russell must get to the free throw line more often and Randle has to be more efficient with his shots. Or, they can trade these guys and beg, borrow or steal Steph Curry, Kevin Durant or Blake Griffin. They are all free agents this summer.
It doesn’t seem likely.
And, hiring Magic Johnson as an advisor seems like a ploy to keep him quiet. The Lakers have the 3rd worst record in the NBA , an owner who needs the income from the team and no superstars.
Now what?
