CBS Sports NBA guru Ken Berger minces no words when describing what is going on with the Los Angeles Lakers at the moment. With Pau Gasol publicly fretting about his status with the Lakers and Kobe Bryant going public with his desire to have the chatter end, eyes have turned to the Lakers front office. And it’s not pretty.
The Lakers’ front office is an uncommunicative, rudderless fiasco, and the unrest and paranoia that have been festering for years threaten to derail the team’s plans to ride Bryant to his sixth NBA title while they still can. And much of it can be traced to the growing influence of executive vice president Jim Buss, the owner’s bon vivant son, who has helped transform a great franchise into a steaming pool of nepotism and nincompoops.
In the months leading up to the lockout, the Lakers got rid of assistant general manager Ronnie Lester and most of his scouts. Rudy Garciduenas, the equipment manager for nearly 30 years, was let go. Alex McKechie, a renowned sports science expert, was told to pack up and was quickly scooped up by the Raptors. International scout Adam Fillippi wound up with the Bobcats.
The list goes on. Longtime associates of former coach Phil Jackson were let go as the Lakers tried to “wash off anything that had touched” the decorated coach, a person with ties to the front office said. Brian Shaw, Bryant’s preference to succeed Jackson, was interviewed for the job but came away with the clear impression that any efforts to associate himself with Jackson would “hurt him, not help him,” a coaching industry source said.
This is a clear example of how not to run a franchise. Rather than move on from Phil Jackson in a sane, reasonable manner in which talent is evaluated and people who can help are retained, the Lakers apparently chose a petty carpet bombing and napalm campaign to rid themselves of Jackson’s influence.
But like those extreme tactics, there is significant collateral damage. With Mike Brown, the Lakers brought in a completely new system at the completely wrong time. If the Lakers were truly going to ride Kobe to another championship, the sixth ring he so desperately craves, they needed more continuity and complimentary pieces. Instead, they’re riding Kobe into the ground, playing him five more minutes per game than he played last year on that gimpy knee.
The Lakers have traded away a key bench player and they’ve rendered their second option an emotional mess. They’ve pissed off their star player in the process and started a ball rolling that might be too late to stop. And for what? A personal issue with the former coach?
Success in sports requires a certain absence of emotion. Vendettas lead to irreparable decisions, creating a butterfly effect that can trash your franchise for years. The Lakers need to stem this tide somehow. That is, if it’s not too late.
