Baxter Holmes Series on the Lakers' Rebuild

[PhoSita]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13852924/los-angeles-lakers-embracing-new-reality

Some interesting stuff on how the Lakers view their rebuild versus how other people around the league view it.

Sounds like the outsider view is that they need to go strip the roster down, Sixers-style, and then bring in young guys willing to hustle and veterans who know how to work hard (I'd say bringing in Brandon Bass counts toward that goal already).

Either way, the wisdom seems to be that the Lakers are going to be bad for a while.  They're Knicks West.

I'm OK with that. 

Though to be honest, I think I could actually like a Lakers team sans Kobe, Lou Williams, Nick Young, and Roy Hibbert that is all-in on developing a fun, young, fast-paced team around Deangelo Russell and Julius Randle.  When was the last time the Lakers had a home-grown team?

[LarBrd33]

Los Angeles, Russell, Randle, Clarkson and 70 million in cap room this summer make the Lakers a team you can never really rule out.   I have a hard time envisioning them being bad for an extended period of time.

[PhoSita]

Los Angeles, Russell, Randle, Clarkson and 70 million in cap room this summer make the Lakers a team you can never really rule out.   I have a hard time envisioning them being bad for an extended period of time.

Well, the thing is we don't know yet if Russell is much better than Evan Turner 2.0, nor do we know if Randle is much better than Carl Landry 2.0.  Clarkson might be an empty numbers combo guard on a bad team.  They might be further away talent-wise than the Celtics are.

Lots of cap space doesn't help if nobody thinks your organization has the pieces in place -- front office, coach, and players -- to win at a high level.  Again, point to the Knicks.  Even assembling a few really nice pieces doesn't guarantee anything, either.  Look at how they performed with Kobe, Pau, and Dwight for one season.  It was as disastrous as any 40-something win season can be.

Until Kobe is out of there, they will be in trouble, and so long as they keep operating like they can find a quick fix to the current situation, they won't be putting together anything really impressive.

[Lucky17]

Doesn't Kobe have a cap hold next season of approx $31 million?

Edit: not sure why I was thinking a cap hold of 125% of previous year's salary. It's 150%, isn't it?

[Neurotic Guy]

Los Angeles, Russell, Randle, Clarkson and 70 million in cap room this summer make the Lakers a team you can never really rule out.   I have a hard time envisioning them being bad for an extended period of time.

This is the way I think.   It's kind of the NBA's version of the Yankees and Red Sox.  Despite the fact that the Lakers have cap imits, they have always had a location and franchise-cachet advantage which always puts them in the running for FAs and for players with no-trade clauses. They can absorb mistakes (Howard) and recover quickly via cap space.

Their recent whiffing in the FA market I believe is unfortunately going to be history as soon as either: 1) a couple of stars conspire to join forces in LA  and/or 2) one or more of LA's youngsters shows star-power.   

LA is not going to there faster for any reason other than it's the Lakers and they eventually get their guy.

[SHAQATTACK]

Their going to need a REAL coach at some point .....

They may have a huge family fight to wrestle control,of,the Lakers by the two siblings. ........if things don't look up significantly by seasons end.

Things might get much worse in Lakers land before they get better .   Internal power struggles is not good .

[fairweatherfan]

Los Angeles, Russell, Randle, Clarkson and 70 million in cap room this summer make the Lakers a team you can never really rule out.   I have a hard time envisioning them being bad for an extended period of time.

This is the way I think.   It's kind of the NBA's version of the Yankees and Red Sox.  Despite the fact that the Lakers have cap imits, they have always had a location and franchise-cachet advantage which always puts them in the running for FAs and for players with no-trade clauses. They can absorb mistakes (Howard) and recover quickly via cap space.

Their recent whiffing in the FA market I believe is unfortunately going to be history as soon as either: 1) a couple of stars conspire to join forces in LA  and/or 2) one or more of LA's youngsters shows star-power.   

LA is not going to there faster for any reason other than it's the Lakers and they eventually get their guy.

Teams like the Lakers benefit mightily from the combination of max salaries, shorter contracts, and a relatively hard cap.  Max salaries means other teams (except the FA's prior team) can't outbid them AND agents can't milk them for a premium.  Shorter contracts and a harder cap mean there's a limit to how many guys they can throw money at - so fewer chances to waste a max deal on a so-so guy - and mistakes can be negated relatively quickly, either by contracts running out or trading an expiring deal.

That said if Kobe doesn't retire or leave town this offseason I think they'll still have problems bringing in talent until he does.

[Eddie20]

Los Angeles, Russell, Randle, Clarkson and 70 million in cap room this summer make the Lakers a team you can never really rule out.   I have a hard time envisioning them being bad for an extended period of time.

1. Everyone has cap room this summer
2. Russell, Randle, Clarkson don't mean much to free agents
3. The Lakers have had two free agents bolt for less money (Gasol & Howard) and the best FA they signed this summer WITH Russell, Randle, Clarkson, and max money available was Lou Williams.
4. Scott is the coach
5. Kobe not only fails to attract players, but repels them
6. Lakers are afterthoughts to the Clippers

[LarBrd33]

Los Angeles, Russell, Randle, Clarkson and 70 million in cap room this summer make the Lakers a team you can never really rule out.   I have a hard time envisioning them being bad for an extended period of time.

1. Everyone has cap room this summer
2. Russell, Randle, Clarkson don't mean much to free agents
3. The Lakers have had two free agents bolt for less money (Gasol & Howard) and the best FA they signed this summer WITH Russell, Randle, Clarkson, and max money available was Lou Williams.
4. Scott is the coach
5. Kobe not only fails to attract players, but repels them
6. Lakers are afterthoughts to the Clippers

I'm assuming Kobe leaves.  Every team has cap space, but not every team is in Los Angeles.  If one or two of their young guys develops, it could end up a destination sooner rather than later.   

[MBunge]

As far as LA always being good...

1.  The West has become brutally good.

2.  The salary cap/luxury tax rules require teams to work a lot harder to get and stay good.

3.  The NBA is now enough of a national presence that superstars don't have to go to LA to get all the commercial and endorsement money they want.

4.  I'm not sure the Lakers are economically or culturally capable of tolerating an extended stretch out of the playoffs.  That would make it more likely they chase after short-term fixes.

People forget that the Yankees had a long era of irrelevance before the Age of Jeter began.  There's no reason the same couldn't happen to the Lakers.

Mike

[colincb]

I will go with the NBA insiders vs the meme of the Celtics pessimists. From the article:

Many insiders outlined paths that, at best, would take a few more years, if not considerably longer. Indeed, the portrait many painted was one of the Lakers lying to themselves about their current predicament.

"The Lakers are still the Lakers no matter what," one executive said, "but the Knicks have been saying that forever, too."

Said one agent: "Championship organizations start from the very top. I think the Lakers are hopeless, to be honest. I think they're the West Coast Knicks."

Even former Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal, who won three titles with the team, is skeptical.

"They need to do the same thing Sacramento did -- get new players," said O'Neal, now a minority Kings owner.

Pressed to be more specific on the Lakers, O'Neal said, "When you mean 'turn it around,' do you mean a championship? Because that's done. That's not happening unless they make a miraculous trade and get four new people. Who do they have on the Lakers? I'm not sure. I'm not joking. Do they even have anyone to trade that somebody would want?"

I think there's a very strong if not near-universal consensus among NBA pundits and execs (other than CBlog GMs) that the Lakers are a mess and that the Celtics are quite ahead of schedule in their rebuild.

As for Russell, Randle, and Clarkson? Russell was perhaps the single biggest summer league disappointment and deemed to have the highest bust potential of anyone in the 2015 lottery by ESPN. Randle's been anointed for the CBlog HOF after 3 pre-season games when he was mediocre in two years of summer league, and Clarkson ran up some basic stats on a very bad team, but his advanced stats were mediocre and far worse than Smart's. The Lakers also drafted Russell at the same position as Clarkson, which is not much of an endorsement, and moving him with his nonexistent range to SG is not a promising prospect either. They all are very poor defensive players and they all have pronounced offensive deficiencies.

The rest of the Laker cast excluding Kobe is awful, their picks are awful, and their one real advantage is having a lot of cap in a world where everyone has a lot of cap and better situations. On top of that, they have one of the worst front offices in the NBA being ranked 28th in that regard by a 200 member ESPN panel only ahead of the Nets and Knicks, but worse than traditional bastions of NBA ineptitude in MIN, DEN, CHA and SAC.

Dr. Buss must be rolling in his grave. The problem starts at the top with his two offspring and seeps all the way down through management (Byron Scott?) and into the roster (hello Kobe extension). A fish rots from the head and until the Lakers get new ownership that delegates decisions to people who actually understand the game, they will continue their decline.

[manl_lui]

I think the Lakers and the Celtics are doing similar builds (not entirely the same, cuz we completely gutted our roster), but both are going for the quick build...both franchise has too much pride to be bad for a very long time...

The Lakers however did benefit that they are out west...if the situation was reverse, we would miss playoffs in the west and the Lakers MIGHT squeeze into the playoffs in the East...that being said, that "benefit" gave them Russell

Let's not forget they also get Randle who is coming back from an injury.

Depending if Russell is indeed a future super-star like they hoped, they probably will need to do the same thing we did by gutting the team...PROBABLY fortunate for us, is if Kobe decides to keep playing and takes another big contract with a no trade clause that prevents them from signing anyone significant...

[hwangjini_1]

Los Angeles, Russell, Randle, Clarkson and 70 million in cap room this summer make the Lakers a team you can never really rule out.   I have a hard time envisioning them being bad for an extended period of time.

1. Everyone has cap room this summer
2. Russell, Randle, Clarkson don't mean much to free agents
3. The Lakers have had two free agents bolt for less money (Gasol & Howard) and the best FA they signed this summer WITH Russell, Randle, Clarkson, and max money available was Lou Williams.
4. Scott is the coach
5. Kobe not only fails to attract players, but repels them
6. Lakers are afterthoughts to the Clippers

a tp for giving me a warm, glowing feeling deep inside. having the laker suckily suck is almost as good as having the celtics win. not quite, but pretty [dang]ed close. 

[hwangjini_1]

Los Angeles, Russell, Randle, Clarkson and 70 million in cap room this summer make the Lakers a team you can never really rule out.   I have a hard time envisioning them being bad for an extended period of time.

1. Everyone has cap room this summer
2. Russell, Randle, Clarkson don't mean much to free agents
3. The Lakers have had two free agents bolt for less money (Gasol & Howard) and the best FA they signed this summer WITH Russell, Randle, Clarkson, and max money available was Lou Williams.
4. Scott is the coach
5. Kobe not only fails to attract players, but repels them
6. Lakers are afterthoughts to the Clippers

I'm assuming Kobe leaves.  Every team has cap space, but not every team is in Los Angeles.  If one or two of their young guys develops, it could end up a destination sooner rather than later.

lb, you have once again fallen into your irritating habit of making Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. up that supports your pre-existing preference for endless pessimism about the celtics and endless optimism about other teams. your posts are so much better when you don't do this. please stop.

[fairweatherfan]

I think there's a very strong if not near-universal consensus among NBA pundits and execs (other than CBlog GMs) that the Lakers are a mess and that the Celtics are quite ahead of schedule in their rebuild.

Kinda contradicting my last post but the one thing that will keep the Lakers from nabbing elite guys after Kobe leaves is a perception of front office and/or coaching incompetence, which does seem to be developing quickly.  But they have so many built in advantages that it may not matter much; it just takes two top talents who play well together to have a contending core.