WHAT THE FUTURE LOOKS LIKE IN LAKER LAND

This is the first time in 11 years that the Lakers aren’t in the playoffs. It pains me watching the Spurs and Kings competing in the playoffs, our postseason foes, and not us. Not to mention watching a major reason of our demise, Shaquille O'Neal, playing for the title favorites.

So, what to do? Yeah, I am peeved we are in the lottery, but it is pretty much what I expected. As long as we stay on course, we can turn this around in a few years. Of course, we are the Lakers, and we will try our best to fix it now. But, here is my assessment of the team.

ACCEPT DEFEAT. Say it with me..."We suck." We were a bad team this year. Not only were we bad, but we quit as well. Quit on each other...quit on Frank Hamblin [of course, Frank may have quit on the players as well]. We aren’t the Bling Dynasty anymore. Only Kobe Bryant and Devean George remain as true contributors of that. Everyone else was busy watching it. And, folks, next season will be much of the same. The talent you will see on the floor will be pretty much the same...except there will be a few rookies in the mix and [most likely] no Walton or Vlade. The way the contracts are set up....the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons could be playoff-less as well.

                             

WHAT DIRECTION ARE WE GOING IN? Figure out what we are doing. As AOL member and former Laker Board brother IPRATTS were talking the other night, one thing that came out of it was "don't trade Shaq for nothing." Meaning.....look, we dealt Shaq so we could have Kobe for the long haul. So, we need to put Kobe in a position where he can best succeed. From there, that will help us determine (a) our coach and (b) our personnel around him. It is fine with me to be a running team. But, to do so we need to get a true point guard and not have Kobe handle the ball so much. You should not have your finest offensive player "setting up the offense". Figure that out first.

Also, learn that under Rudy T we were 24-19.  Once he quit, we were 10-29 the rest of the way.  Ouch!  Against the Suns, Spurs, Heat and Pistons [the top two seeds in each conference] we were 0-12.  We were 12-35 against the 16 teams that qualified for the playoffs....and 22-13 against teams that did not.  We lost 4 of our last 5 against non-playoff teams, meaning we pretty much were put in our rightful place.  We couldn't beat the playoff teams yet handled the worst teams of the NBA fairly well. 

                       

GET A COACH. The name on everyone’s mind is Phil Jackson. But Flip Saunders is a very interesting choice as well. Saunders has coached a high-school phenom in Kevin Garnett. But he did coach in Minneapolis, which isn’t the media hotbed LA is. But, he is a good coach that may be a fresh influence that Kobe needs. Also, Larry Brown may "quit" the Pistons...and he does have ties with Los Angeles and Mitch Kupchak. Hey, since everyone is leaving UNC early...why not go after Roy Williams again? How about Mo Cheeks? Or do the Lakers take on a more softer approach...like Bill Laimbeer? Or Herb Williams? I'm of two minds on having Phil Jackson return. I like the re-hiring if he has his batteries recharged and is willing to make it work with Kobe. However, I was very critical of Phil last season and he was just a part of the team's failures as anyone else was. He coasted thru the regular season while everything around him was crumbling...waiting until the Finals to figure it out. Case in point...he rarely played Luke Walton, yet Walton has success in Game 2 of the Finals. All of the sudden, he is way up on the rotation chart. Ignorant. But, I will give Phil a pass if he learned from that.

                                  

KOBE NEEDS TO TAKE STOCK IN HIMSELF. This is more towards the Lakers' star. Kobe, despite all of the crap surrounding everything and whatever people may think.....this is your team. The Lakers invested a lot of money and "retooling time" into Kobe. They could have easily let Kobe walk, kept Shaq, added a piece or two around Shaq and been in the playoffs this year. Instead, we kept Kobe for the future and need to build a team as such. Kobe must learn humility of what just happened this past season. He must make sure the Lakers succeed...and not just that he looks good doing it.

DO NOT ASSUME THAT A MAGICAL PLAYER WILL SWOOP IN AND SAVE US. Sure...Yao Ming could become the next in a long line of great Laker centers. Yes, LeBron James is angry at Cavaliers management and may force them to deal him. Yes, you can put together arguments that land Kevin Garnett in Tinsel Town. Yes, upon the Shaq dealings of last year...we all know that anything can happen in the NBA. But, don’t push it. Unlike Shaq in 1996...there may not be a savior ready to pounce down on the Lakers soon. We must realize this. With our limited funds and our somewhat new draft positioning...we must make the most of what we have.

TO TRADE, OR TO EXPIRE? Here is the deal, folks....we aren’t going to sign any free agents. That’s a fact. Our cap number goes up to $69M next year....and we have little help beyond that. Brian Grant has 2-years and $30M remaining on his deal. And that is the contract that is holding us back. Honestly. Atkins, Slava, George, Divac and Jones all have expiring contracts. Of course, those names aren’t great enough to swing any really nice deals. Barring a trade [which I’ll discuss in a bit], these guys will be Lakers next year. We have the $5M exception at our disposal...but (a) this isn’t a strong free agent class and (b) $5M just won’t cover it.

                                       

TRADING ODOM. Aside from Kobe,Odom and Butler are our top tradeable commodities. Odom is a darn fine player, but he has 4-years and $52M remaining. That money may be useful elsewhere. For example [and hear me out on this], the Lakers could deal Odom to the Knicks for Tim Thomas. Or traded to the Knicks [with Jones or Slava] for Penny Hardaway. Now, why would we do that? Easy. Hardaway and Thomas have expiring contracts. Meaning, that $12-$14M would be freed up for next offseason where free agents like Ben Wallace, Jason Terry, Damon Jones, Cuttino Mobley, Nazr Mohammad and even Shaquille O’Neal [don’t laugh, cuz if Phil comes back, you never know]. Not to mention Yao Ming and Amare Stoudamire will be restricted free agents then. So, instead of hanging on to Odom...we may have the ability to fly after someone bigger.

                                         

TRADING BUTLER. Butler is a nice player, too....and he is cheap. He’ll cost us $2.4M next year and $3.3M after that. So why deal him? Again, we have parts...and if we hang on to Odom, Butler is expendable. We could deal Butler and some of those expiring contracts [Atkins, Slava, George, Divac, Jones] for a better player. The other team would get a cheap Butler and some cap space after the season. One possibility is dealing Butler and George to Indiana for Ron Artest. Indiana may want to unload Artest after a testy era....and getting Butler to fill his spot [and Reggie's retirement] could be enough. Adding George to match salaries also gets the Pacers off the hook for his salary after the season. Artest would give the Lakers more scoring [that would add to Kobe and Odom] and the defensive intensity sorely lacking from the team. Of course, the Boozer trade is always out there too, right Jack Haley?

THE DRAFT. Since we are new to this...yes, the draft is still important. The last lottery pick the Lakers had was Eddie Jones in 1994. So, who to pick this year with [most likely] the #10 pick? Do you draft a guy that can help out sooner [like UNC point guard Raymond Felton] than later [Serbian forward Nemanja Aleksandrov]? Do we go after size, like Channing Frye or Tiago Splitter]? Do we look at a high school kid [Gerald Green or Martell Webster]? The Lakers also have two second round picks [#37 and #38]. Maybe Daniel Ewing, John Gilchrist, Salim Stoudamire or Nate Robinson fill our PG problem there? Maybe we add Jawad Williams, Linas Kleiza or Ryan Gomes for front line help. Maybe we add shooters like Luther Head or Julius Hodge? Truth be told, these rookies will be very important to the development of our future.

LEARN HOW TO PLAY DEFENSE.  Your first job, Phil.

Don't get it twisted....this isn't rebuilding. We aren't starting from scratch. Most 'rebuilding teams" don't have a Kobe Bryant to start off with. We just really need to put the parts around him to help him succeed...which, in turn, helps the team succeed.

Get to it Mitch!