Los Angeles Lakers Desperately Need A Leader

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It can be assumed that, for anyone who considers themselves a basketball fan, the above statement hurts. Whether you consider yourself a Lakers fan or not, there can be no denying the team’s place in the history of the NBA. Like the New York Yankees, the Lakers are the premier franchise of the league and to see how far they have fallen is just sad.

The death of owner Jerry Buss in 2013 can be seen as the first domino to fall that led such a proud organization to become what it is now: a directionless franchise with everyone scrambling for control and no real idea how to rebuild this team.

It is very clear that a massive rebuild is what the Lakers need, despite what anyone might say. It is a team with too much money tied up in too few players, a bench that is as thin as any in the league and no real options thanks to terrible deals done in order to try to win now.

In one corner you have the Buss children, Jeanie and Jim. Since the death of their father they have tried to split up the running of the team, with Jeanie handling the business side and Jim the basketball operations and it has been a miserable failure since day one. It would seem the two can’t agree on anything and, worse yet, both see themselves as running the entire operation.

And somehow, it has even gotten worse. Jim Buss recently made this comment to Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times:

"“I was laying myself on the line by saying, if this doesn’t work in three to four years, if we’re not back on the top — and the definition of top means contending for the Western Conference, contending for a championship — then I will step down because that means I have failed. I don’t know if you can fire yourself if you own the team … but what I would say is I’d walk away and you guys figure out who’s going to run basketball operations because I obviously couldn’t do the job.”"

Almost before the words were out of his mouth, people were already asking Jeanie Buss if she would indeed fire her brother if he didn’t voluntarily step down. The fact she hesitated and didn’t say no immediately spoke volumes about the state of the ownership of this team.

In addition to the Buss siblings, you also have GM Mitch Kupchak, who has been steering the ship since 2000. Kupchak is seen as largely responsible for the fact that the Lakers seem to have few, if any, draft picks in any given year and an incredibly high payroll. Season after season he would trade picks away in an effort to remain competitive in the Western Conference, the latest examples the disastrous Steve Nash deal and the two-year, $48.5 million extension the team gifted to All-Star Kobe Bryant.

Speaking of Kobe Bryant, it can be said that there is probably no other player in the NBA who has as much say in roster decisions of the legendary Lakers guard. Draft picks, free agents, it seems no conclusion can be made until Bryant is consulted. He is a large part of the reason the Lakers have refused to even consider a rebuild as long as Bryant is on the team. It seems every year fans hear about the Lakers wanting to give Bryant one more chance at a ring and every year, the Lakers seem to instead lose more games.

Throw Lakers head coach Byron Scott and his singular coaching style into the mix and you have an organization who can’t even decide on who to take with their No. 2 pick at the 2015 NBA Draft.

Logic would say that a team with as many needs as the Lakers would take the best player available, which would be either Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor, depending on who the Minnesota Timberwolves take with the first overall pick. No brainer, right?

Instead, word has come down that the Lakers might be interested in Emmanuel Mudiay or D’Angelo Russell or even trading the pick away if it could get them a big name free agent to help them win now.

Basically, the Lakers aren't locked into K-AT or Okafor no matter what at this point, per source. Intrigued by Mudiay/Russell.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 21, 2015

You really have to wonder just what is going on in the Lakers’ front office.

Before the Lakers can ever even begin to think about a return to the days when every boy on the playground dreamed of being a Laker and the team represented the best of the NBA, hard decisions have to be made. The franchise needs a clear and unquestioned leader who will have the final say when it comes to the future. They need someone to step up and say “This is what’s best for the Lakers so this is what we’re going to do, no arguments.” Whether that be one of the Buss siblings, Kupchak or someone else entirely, before the organization can move forward it needs a captain of the ship and it needs one soon.

Until that happens, the Los Angels Lakers will remain a mess of a team that will continue to fall from among the elite of the NBA to a joke faster than you can say Andrew Bynum.

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