The Lakers’ Problems stem from Magic

Magic Johnson is a Laker Legend in every sense of the word. He won multiple championships, was a continual spokesman for the Laker brand and a wise voice that the Buss family consulted when necessary. That being said, it does not mean that he will instantly fit into Lakers’ demanding culture while fulfilling the role of President of Basketball Operations. Over the years, the Lakers have been one of the most successful franchises in the NBA, there have been multiple eras that can be pointed to in which the Lakers were king. Showtime, Shaq-Kobe and the Mikan Lakers. Only the Celtics have the same level of winning culture. The team signed the greatest player in basketball to try and install the Lakers as the Champions of the NBA again. It has gone wrong.

The Lakers are currently not projected to make the play-offs, they sit 11th in the Western Conference in a race for one of few last play-off berths. The Spurs, Clippers, Kings, T-Wolves and Lakers are all competing for two spots but they only a 5.1% chance of making the play-offs according to ESPN’s BPI index. The strength of schedule is significantly higher than any of their competitors for the remaining play-off spots.

It needs to be outlined what a President of Basketball Operations does, high-ranking officials in NBA organisations often do not have a set job title. The reason for this is that POBO often operate with a good amount of latitude within the organisation and do not have defined limits. Johnson’s actions as President of Basketball Operations suggest that he is responsible for roster decisions and the coaching staff that the Lakers employ. The other members of the Lakers FO serve other purposes. Rob Pelinka is the General Manager who actually deals with the transactional aspects of the trade and Jeanie Buss is the controlling owner. Buss has veto power over Magic’s decisions in regards to the coaching staff and the rosteer.

The first flashpoint that popped during the season was relatively early on and came between Johnson and Luke Walton, the Lakers’ head coach. Luke Walton was a coaching hire made by Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss when they ran the Lakers, at the time it was an incredibly popular hire. Walton had a strong reputation as a team-first guy who knew how to manage the pressures that come along with a fanbase that expects winning like the Lakers. Moreover, Walton had the right ideas in terms of X and Os. He was focused on playing uptempo basketball that prioritised good passing and open three-point looks, the core tenets of the Warriors’ offence that is taught by Steve Kerr. Lastly, Walton was a Lakers’ guy, he had spent ten years as a Lakers’ player while winning two rings with the ball-club in the solo Kobe era. It was a great fit for the team but it did not seem to be a great fit for Magic.

Magic has always wanted to hire his own coach, the type of Laker who he could trust implicitly to do his bidding. It does not matter that Luke Walton has stewarded the Laker effectively during a tumultuous three seasons in which management has changed and there has never been a group that could be built around for the future. Players like D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle who represented the closest thing to continuity that the Lakers had were let go for peanuts. As soon as Johnson called out Walton at the start of the season, it created a tension within the organisation that stemmed from uncertainty. Johnson’s attempts to allay this tension have not proven fruitful and it is expected that Luke Walton will be fired at the end of the season as per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

The conflict over coaching has seeped into the Lakers’ senior management with Jeanie Buss being an avowed supporter of Luke Walton and Magic being of the opinion that Walton must be let go. The issue in regards to coaching revealed another issue in terms of complete authority. Jeanie Buss has previously stated that she will listen to Magic’s recommendations over coaching and then decide the course to be charted. However, Johnson has a mandate as President of Basketball Operations to hire and fire coaches without any oversight. There is an overlap in terms of authority which creates confusion within the organisation.

Moreover, in terms of providing his coach with a suitable roster for today’s NBA Johnson messed up. The modern NBA team needs to be able to shoot the ball effectively deep and create lanes in which shot creators can drive to the basket. Johnson chose to acquire more ball-handlers who could feasibly make the offence more efficient by being better in transition. This concept does make some sense, the best type of shot that can be attained is a transition basket. Transition opportunities often will have the offence in mismatch situations against a defence that has not set up properly. However, creating these types of opportunities require disruptive defensive forces and the Lakers’ only signed one player in the form of Rondo who resembles a disruptive defender. The other players namely Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley do not have the defensive smarts in order to succeed in today’s game.

The other point that must be considered is effective roster-building. A team needs to have multiple avenues of play so that they can shift offensive focus when buckets become hard to get. We have seen the Warriors switch from a three-happy scheme to isolation in an instant when it is hard to get a good shot. A great example of roster-building is the San Antonio Spurs. At present, they have a diverse roster of talent. They have mid-range shooters, defensive stoppers and lights-out three-point shooters that means that the roster performs above the sum of its parts.

The Lakers as presently constructed can only play one way and that is not the way that Luke Walton likes to play basketball. Effectively, Magic has signed a roster that does not fit the coach’s basketball ideals. The puzzling point is that the Lakers’ had multi-talented players on the roster over the last few seasons who could have filled in the gaps. Brook Lopez and Julius Randle were both allowed to walk on cheap deals. The reasoning for this was not clear but the market was soft, the Lakers could have signed the players for the cheap deals that the Bucks and Pelicans did respectively.

Brook Lopez signed for the Milwaukee Bucks for just $3.3m on the bi-annual exception. Coach Bud has maximised his talents as an interior force and a big man who can shoot threes. This would have been the ideal player to fit into Walton’s system of play. Moreover, Brook Lopez would have been a great fit alongside LeBron. James has proved in the past that he operates well with a big man who can shoot the ball and plays hard defensively, the most notable partnership being with Chris Bosh in Miami. The drive and kick would have created catch and shoot jumpers for a player who has shot 36.6% on threes for this season.

Julius Randle signed with New Orleans on a 1+1 worth around $9m per year. In his last season with the Lakers, Julius Randle was used as a small-ball centre who could be used to bull-doze his way to the rim while also providing strong interior defence. Randle has his faults in terms of court vision and a distinct lack of three-point shooting but it is not hard to imagine him as a hustle player next to James in the similar sort of mould to Montrezl Harrell. This type of player would have been welcome to LeBron as it would cover over LeBron’s defensive frailties in the regular season while providing the type of hustle that is valued on the offensive end. This season alone, Julius Randle has proved that he can average twenty points on a team and be a viable third option.

In terms of the 2018 off-season, Magic didn't do much right except sign LeBron and Rajon Rondo. Michael Beasley is no longer on the squad, KCP is still woefully inconsistent and Lance Stephenson’s production has fallen off a cliff as the season has progressed. Essentially, the President of Basketball Operations chose to move from talented role players to role players who had questionable histories.

However, Magic’s cardinal sin as POBO for the Lakers is that he has been poor in terms of improving the roster through the trade market. On the 2017 Draft Night, Magic Johnson chose to trade D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov for the 27th Pick in the draft, Kyle Kuzma and Brook Lopez. In terms of return, Kyle Kuzma is the only player from the deal who is playing for the Lakers due to the fact that Brook Lopez was allowed to walk. The puzzling aspect of the trade was how much that the Lakers chose to give up in the form of D’Angelo Russell.

Russell had shown flashes of real talent during his two-year stint with the Lakers and expected rookie growing pains. In his final season with the Lakers, he averaged 15.6/4.8/3.5 on 40% shooting from the field. The numbers do not jump off the page but it has to be considered that the point guard position is the hardest position to learn in basketball. It is an art-form for a guard to balance getting their’s and getting their team-mates involved. During D’Angelo’s first two seasons in the league, he was primarily a scoring guard who looked to score first. Those type of stats for a young guard are not too bad especially when it is considered that most young players in the league take a serious jump between the last years on their rookie-scale contract.

This season in Brooklyn, DLoading has flourished into an All-Star calibre player. Russell was the Nets first All-Star since the infamous Pierce-Garnett trade left Nets desolate and barren. He has become a dependable scorer who is relied upon by Kenny Atkinson to make the Nets competitive in every single game, Russell’s play as of late is a huge reason while the Brooklyn Nets will make the play-offs this season. This incredibly young talented player was moved in a salary dump that was primarily designed to be rid of Timofey Mozgov’s obscene contract.

In terms of the actual trade itself, the salary dump could have been done without the inclusion of D’Angelo. The Lakers’ could have simply attached a few second-round picks and perhaps a heavily-protected first-round pick which would have been a welcome nectar to a Nets franchise that was starved of draft picks. The break-out of Russell does pose interesting questions in regards to Johnson’s evaluation of basketball talent.

He famously deemed that Russell was not leader and there was internal grumblings about the attitude of D’Angelo, the Nick Young incident only provided evidence for Magic’s worries. However, Russell has developed into a leader in Brooklyn and continues to grow as a clutch-time player. It is not hard to imagine D’Angelo Russell as a second option to LeBron as LeBron has previously succeeded with ball-dominant scoring guards who can take over the reigns of an offence. In terms of tangible effect, Russell would allow the Lakers to take the ball out of LeBron’s hands and give the Akron-born forward a rest on offence. It would have also meant that the Lakers would have another crunch-time finisher who could be relied to make difficult shots when it most mattered. There would be additional versatility in those type of situations which is harder to predict for defencees.

The other problems that Magic Johnson has had is in regards to ‘target acquisition’ mode. The original usage of this term was by David Griffin in regards to the Cavs’ aggressive strategy that was implemented after the ‘King’ came home. It was effectively gutting the roster of players who were not suitable for a deep run into play-offs and bringing in valuable contributors who would be incredibly valuable when it mattered. Griffin acquired Kevin Love and did not flinch when Glen Taylor asked for Andrew Wiggins, a prized prospect for Kansas. Magic Johnson has had three distinct opportunities to acquire All-NBA talents and in each examples has fallen short. The difference between Magic and Griff is that one of them has won a championship as the architect of team’s roster.

Magic famously promised that he would resign from the Lakers’ front-office if he could not attract the calibre of players that the Lakers were famed for. He set himself a deadline of three years to acquire All-Star level talent who could feasibly push the Lakers’ to another title. The first player who became available stated that he wanted to be a Laker, that he was a boy-hood fan, that he grew up following Kobe Bryant. That player was Paul George.

Paul George is arguably the most well-rounded forward in the NBA, the dude simply has layers to his game. He can be a primary creator, he shoots the three at an efficient clip while also being a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. He is exactly the type of player that championships look to acquire because he is tremendously versatile and does not shirk pressure situations. The Lakers’ chose to take a pass on making a serious offer to the Indiana Pacers because they believed that the allure of the Lakers would be too strong. Besides, who wanted to play in Oklahoma City with a player who was a selfish as Russell Westbrook. It was a widely-held belief that George would join the Lakers alongside LeBron and they would start the quest back to the NBA title.

Instead the Lakers’ gamble failed to pay off. Paul George chose to re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder without even granting the Lakers a free agency meeting. The Lakers did not obtain the ideal 1b to James’ 1a which meant that they needed to go out and acquire another superstar so that they could be competitive. The important thing to note is the Lakers were in the dominant position in terms of making a trade with George, they had picks and young players which could be used to incentivise Indiana into rebuilding. Instead, the Pacers chose to take the Victor Oladipo/Domantas Sabonis deal as the Lakers did not make any of their prized young assets available.

For Magic, he missed out on Paul George but then the next opportunity to acquire a Defensive Player of the Year came around in the form of Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi Leonard was in the midst of tumultuous departure from the Spurs. In that July, Kawhi’s representatives stated that Leonard no longer wanted to play for the Spurs due to differences in regards to the diagnosis of his injury. During the 2017 NBA Play-offs, Kawhi Leonard was undercut by Zaza Pachulia and suffered a right quadriceps injury which was a season-ending injury. As injuries go, the injury was devatstating to Leonard, it had the potential to severely affect his mobility for the future and reduce his effectiveness as an NBA player.

That being said, the dude is a superb basketball player who when healthy is the best two-way wing in the NBA. Kawhi is a former Finals MVP and has the type of efficient that is highly desired in today’s NBA. In many ways, the basketball fit alongside LeBron can be easily understood, Leonard would have locked down the hardest defensive assignment while also contributing a healthy amount of points on efficient shooting. The acquisition of Kawhi would have relieved defensive pressure off LeBron and would have meant that he could keep his body fresh for when it mattered most. It was rumoured at the time that the Lakers did not want to make a serious offer to the Spurs that would have included either Brandon Ingram or Lonzo Ball due to the fact they are highly valued by the Lakers front office. Both Ingram and Ball are the ideal type of player to receive in a trade for the fact that they are young players who could potentially develop into something special and will be under team control for a maximum of nine years. For an organisation like the Spurs, this type of continuity would have been highly desired.

The trade offer itself was Julius Randle, who would have been re-signed and then traded, Josh Hart and multiple first-round picks. The offer itself is reasonable given the abilities of both Randle and Hart, for any other team the deal would have at least been considered. However, the Spurs were already stocked with big men and had young guards that they believed that they could potentially develop into being better than the pieces they would have received from the Lakers. Moreover, the first-round picks would have likely been late-first round picks given the acquisition of both James and Leonard, from the Spurs’ perspective the deal was not worth it.

It is puzzling why Magic was insistent that Brandon Ingram was not involved in trade discussions. Ingram’s role as a forward would have been severely diminished with the acquisition of Kawhi Leonard unless he was played at the SG position. The Lakers would have the type of forward depth where not every player would be able to get the type of minutes that they need without James, Ingram or Leonard being played out of position. To create enough space for Kawhi to operate at his best, it would have been prudent to trade Ingram. Unfortunately Johnson refused to do so and the second opportunity at acquiring All-NBA talent went out of the window.

At the point when Davis became available, Johnson became overly-eager in terms of wanting to make a deal for Davis. It is reasonable for a President of Basketball Ops to be excited about the possibility of acquiring a player like Anthony Davis. In his time with the New Orleans Pelicans, Anthony Davis has somewhat re-defined the forward position. At the time Davis was drafted, the concepts of verticality were all the rage, a big man had to be a solid rim protector and the rim-running lob target for point guards to chuck the ball. In 2012, Roy Hibbert was considered to be a good big man with desirable skills that teams could potentially use to win a championship. Seven years later, Rpy Hibbert is out of the league and nearly all centres have embraced guard-like skills into their game. It is now uncommon to find a big man who does not handle the ball or stretch the floor, even Andre Drummond has seriously embraced the idea of shooting the three-ball. It is not a stretch to say that Davis is a game-changer who would have made the Lakers serious contenders. And Magic Johnson messed up the opportunity.

The trade discussions for Anthony Davis were acrimonious before negotiations even started, Dell Demps distrusted the Lakers for the fact that they were consistently leaking information about the trade and Rich Paul was closely aligned with the Lakers.The presence of Rich Paul in this situation is key. Paul is one of the league’s foremost power-brokers due to the stable of players who are signed to Klutch Sports Agency. Anthony Davis, LeBron James and John Wall are some of the bigger names who are represented by Rich Paul. It was believed by the Pelicans’ FO that Paul influenced Davis into requesting a trade from the Pelicans as a way of procuring LeBron James a second star. However, acrimony does not prevent a deal from being made in sports, LeBron went back to Cleveland even though he has some personal animus towards Dan Gilbert in regards to the infamous ‘Comic Sans’ letter. The only problem is that Magic was overly-eager in terms of trying to make a deal.

From the get-go of the deal, the entirety of the Lakers’ core was on the table as Los Angeles tried to put together the type of offer that the Pelicans could not in good faith turn down. The problem with the strategy of making nearly all of your most valuable assets available from the start is that is a high base-line price from which little negotiation is possible. Moreover, the other problem with making this type of initial offer is the psychology of the move. It reeks of desperation and for a NBA franchise opportunity. As soon as New Orleans saw that the Lakers were willing to stake Ingram/Ball/Kuzma/Hart etc, they believed that the Lakers would give away the entire pick cupboard as well. As soon as New Orleans asked for three first-round picks, the Lakers became resistant. For New Orleans, the Lakers looked indecisive and distrustful as they leaked everything to the press and spread disinformation. The result of the failed Davis trade was that the Lakers looked stupid and did not get the second star to put next to LeBron.

The results of all of the mistakes that have happened over the Presidency of Magic Johnson is that the Lakers will miss the play-offs for the sixth successive season and will have to enter another summer of uncertainty. There will be hard questions posed in regards to coaching and whether a veritable second star like a Durant, Leonard or Kyrie Irving could be persuaded into wearing the purple and gold. The issues regarding the Lakers are not terminal given the fact that they have the best player in the world who can produce all-World performances when required, the margins for success are just smaller. It is unlikely that Magic’s position will be re-considered due to the fact that he has incredibly links with the Buss family and Jeanie Buss is an avowed Magic fan. The idea of Laker Land and the ultimate winning franchise is drifting day by day.