Tanking in the NBA has been a problem for years – unless you are logical like I am – then you realize tanking is not a problem at all. After all, it is always darkest before the dawn. But it is extremely difficult to label what the Los Angeles Lakers are doing as tanking.
Letting a 36-year-old Kobe Bryant shoot 50 times a night is not their plan to lose – surprisingly enough. It is all they have to go on.
And, though it is early, at 2-9 the Lakers look poised to earn their second lottery pick since they drafted a 17-year-old Andrew Bynum in 2005 (they drafted Julius Randle last year).
You either love or hate the Lakers. There is no middle ground.
Mark Cuban hopes they rot forever.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has seen his team claw through many battles with Bryant’s Lakers. And he probably is not alone when he says he hopes they “suck forever.”
I am sure there are some “car pahkin’” Bostonians and park hoppin’ Orlando fans, who are ready to salute Cuban and set flame to all Lakers gear.
Opinions – what a riot.
Regardless of what the “haterade-sipping” population thinks, the Lakers will not “suck forever.”
I mean, let us be real, they will probably be bad for a while. Most Lakers fans do not want to believe it, but it is true. That does not mean they will be bad forever.
Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak have been schlepping forward with the mindset of throwing dollars at top-tier free agents in this summer or that summer. . . still waiting here, fellas.
Even with an aging Kobe Bryant, the Lakers are looking to keep L.A. a destination for the now. Photo by Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
L.A. has always been a destination for free agents to set up shop with championship aspirations. And the Lakers have rarely been out of the championship conversation.
I am willing to make the bet the tide started to change when the Chris Paul trade fell through.
Think about that for a second. I know the “what-ifs” are a whole lot of fun, but I am being serious. Imagine the state of the Lakers if the Paul trade was not rejected by David Stern and the league. Dwight Howard is probably still a Laker, if the Lakers could even get him from the Magic still, because he would be catching lobs from CP3 instead of Steve Blake or Steve Nash (for five minutes a game).
Getting Paul would have meant an extension, and it probably would have led Howard to do the same.
Let us get something straight here: I do not believe things are meant to be. I think the results can be dictated based upon the variables in the equation, and Paul would have changed the equation. Front offices still have to make smart decisions and build their rosters and teams to have success. The Lakers do not just become magically good.
So what’s next?
My guess is Rajon Rondo. The Lakers have not had a solid, veteran point guard since Derek Fisher left the team, and my guess is he likes his new role as the skipper in New York. Rondo will be a free agent after this year, and what better way to spurn the Celtics than to join their arch rival?
But with Pau Gasol now enjoying life in Chicago, the Lakers are also in need of a big man.
Enter Greg Monroe, who will be a free agent after this season as well. At 24 years old, Monroe is one of the league’s youngest, most gifted offensive big men. Adding he and Rondo to the mix would not only give the Lakers the talent to make one last run at Bryant’s sixth title, but it would give them a leg to stand on after Bryant retires.
Pairing Rondo and Monroe with Julius Randle, and whomever the Lakers draft in the 2015 draft, would catapult them into playoff contention.
My apologies, Mr. Cuban, but forever is a long time.
