Los Angeles Lakers: Must Embrace Lose-To-Win Strategy
After a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers officially became the worst team in the Western Conference. In the entire NBA, the only team worse than the boys in purple and gold is the Philadelphia 76ers, who are an abysmal 0-16 on the season.
There are similarities between the two worst teams in the NBA. Like Philadelphia, the Lakers are hoping to land a top draft choice as a result of their ineptitude. Both clubs lack the talent to compete at a playoff level, and on many nights fail to even put up an effort that is respectable. The teams have highly touted draft picks that are sitting out, likely for the season, with injuries. There are definitely parallel lines here, more than most fans of the Los Angeles Lakers would want to see.
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However, there is one comparison that does not work, a significant difference in the strategies of the clubs that defines their struggles. The Philadelphia 76ers are trying to be miserably bad and, by all public accounts, the Los Angeles Lakers did not embark on their season long journey with that goal.
Now, the front office has serious choices to make that will define the strategy going forward. There are potential trading chips (Steve Nash, Jeremy Lin) that could be swapped for veterans that conceivably could contribute to this team as they try to become something other than this dismal attempt at a basketball team.
This has been the strategy of the past, an attempt to stack the deck in the free agency market, the hope for an overnight improvement from cellar-dweller to championship contender. The past two summers, the franchise has attempted to reel in targets that were never real options, either as a facade for the general fan base or, even worse, becoming so delusional that they believed the team was good enough to attract stars such as Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James to bolt from their clubs.
With each failure on the court resulting in a loss, the Los Angeles Lakers inch closer towards reclaiming the draft pick they shipped to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Steve Nash.
That pick could net them a franchise cornerstone to succeed Kobe Bryant, and be paired with Julius Randle to create a young core; a foreign concept to many Lakers fans. Surely by now the front office has realized that this path is the only course of action that will result in any hope for future editions of the team, but they must show this through their offseason actions.
The general perception is that the Lakers are targeting Kevin Love, Marc Gasol, and others this summer in yet another effort to alter the fortunes of the growing dumpster fire they’ve created. These efforts are not detrimental, but the front office must know when to pull the plug on the stars, and target secondary free agents that can help this team grow and push for a playoff spot.
That fundamental change, along with embracing the losses as wins for this season’s cause, will eventually lead the Los Angeles Lakers out of the darkness into an era that beams brightly with hope.