Thankfully, mercifully, it’s at an end. The first 60 loss team in franchise history. Misguided from the start — management spent too much of the summer pretending competitiveness was a legitimate possibility — things fell apart rapidly and (fortunately for them) completely enough that math thinks the Lakers will keep their draft pick. In a season this bad, it’s hard to draw too many lessons. In Mamba parlance, it’s one to flush. But, if you’ll pardon the imagery, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few useful nuggets swirling around the bowl.
Here are five definitive lessons we learned about the Lakers this year that matter going forward (skipping Jordan Clarkson, because we covered all the implications of his emergence last week).
BEGIN SLIDESHOW: Five Things The 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers Season Taught Us
1. Kobe Bryant Can’t Be Counted On.
After a career soaked in controversy, I’m looking forward to a final season’s worth of (generally) unbridled appreciation for Kobe Bryant. He’s certainly earned it, along with a nostalgia-soaked farewell tour. But those are issues of emotional theater. As a basketball player, the Lakers simply can’t count on Kobe to be an elite level member of a playoff caliber team. Or anything close. Physically, he’s breaking down at a rate that would seem alarming were he not 20 years into this thing. Frankly, that it took this long is incredible. But at this point, no matter how Bryant prepares his body, the odds of it cooperating are very low. On the floor, he’s still a brilliant passer and can influence games as a floor general, but getting to the rack consistently is a tall order, and because age has sapped his athleticism he’s an easier cover from mid-range and beyond. Kobe’s efficiency numbers this year weren’t a fluke. Defensively, put charitably, he’s not helping. He’ll show flashes of Old Kobe from time to time and will probably have a moment or two next year that breaks Twitter, but the Lakers shouldn’t pretend he’s someone around whom they can build, even for one last season.
CONTINUE READING: Five Things The 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers Season Taught Us
2. Byron Scott Is Aggressively Old School.
From moment one, he waxed with pride on puke-cans at the ready. He caught a lot of flak for declaring his belief that 3-pointers don’t win championships. (True if you ignore the last few teams that have won NBA titles.) He threw a saddle on Kobe Bryant and rode him like a mule, either because minutes limits are too touchy-feely or he refused to swap his vision of Prime Kobe for the version suiting up for him. He routinely questions the manhood of his players. Without question, much of the early season stuff was designed for Scott to make abundantly clear the only thing he shared with Mike D’Antoni was a mustache. And there’s some bluster, as well. If the Lakers had better shooters, they’d take more 3-pointers. But taken as a whole, it’s hardly an act. There’s no indication Scott has embraced some of the modern NBA’s more open tendencies or analytical revelations. It’s unfair to judge him as a good or bad coach based on the results this year — the Lakers had a bad roster before the injuries hit. We’ll all have to wait until the talent level is higher before making a full evaluation.
I’m not all that optimistic.
CONTINUE READING: Five Things The 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers Season Taught Us
3. Jordan Hill Shouldn’t Be Brought Back.
Rumor has it the Lakers are interested in having Hill around next season. Hopefully, that kind of talk is only intended to drum up a market to trade him near the Draft, because there’s absolutely no reason to have Hill on the roster again next season. This isn’t to say Hill is a bad player — he’s not, though his growing affection for jump shots is concerning. Nor is it based on his performance this year relative to last (which, as you can see here, has been much worse). The biggest issue is opportunity cost. Nine million going to Hill means nine million that can’t go to something else. Maybe Ed Davis — my feelings on him can be found here — or Greg Monroe or LaMarcus Aldridge or Khris Middleton or whatever free agent might be interested. Just as importantly, it’s nine million the Lakers can’t use to absorb a contract in a Jeremy Lin-esque deal potentially getting them back in next year’s Draft. Sure, they could whiff on the FA’s and trades, then find themselves without Hill. So what? Sign someone else to a one-year deal, and move on.
CONTINUE READING: Five Things The 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers Season Taught Us
4. The Lakers Can’t Afford Another Transient Roster Next Season.
To correct a common misconception, the Lakers can, in fact, afford to be bad again next season. They can afford to do just about anything they want, because the franchise is a spectacular, Wonka-esque money printing machine. Fans will complain, but nobody will give up their season tickets, and as soon as they’re good again the TV ratings will rise. (Don’t believe me? With only occasional exception, the Knicks have been downright shameful for the last 20 years, and really haven’t suffered financially.) Much more damaging would be another season in which it feels the players (key and supporting) brought in are simply place holders, as guys like Hill, Xavier Henry, Wes Johnson, Wayne Ellington, Ronnie Price and Carlos Boozer were this season. It’s not so much the losing that hurts the Lakers from a P.R. standpoint (though it obviously doesn’t help), but a product preventing fans from making an emotional investment in the rebuild. Fix that, and the mood around Laker Land improves.
The Lakers did well picking up guys like Tarik Black and Jabari Brown. Both are young, with potential to be rotation players on a better Lakers squad. Had the Lakers kept Brown out of camp instead of Price, they could have spent a season developing him. Who knows what other lottery tickets they might have cashed had the Lakers taken a more aggressive approach to stocking the roster with young, unproven talent? Those are players with intrigue and possibility. Fans like those things.
CONTINUE READING: Five Things The 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers Season Taught Us
5. Nick Young Has Jumped The Shark.
I’ll admit, while I wasn’t totally on board with his re-signing (mostly because the Lakers rushed into it when they didn’t have to), I should have disliked it more. Young played well last year, and just as importantly was the only consistent source of entertainment. I mean, who didn’t love this? Or this? Or this? Losing him would have unleashed a torrent of decidedly unswaggy complaints across Lakers Twitter. Plus, to keep Kobe’s minutes down the Lakers needed a credible backup. (Granted, nobody mentioned that part to Byron.) Well, it’s fair to say that deal turned sour. Swaggy is a genuinely good guy, but the character he plays has a lot less appeal when he’s not playing well. Add in a bunch of injuries and an attitude his (see item #2) head coach doesn’t appreciate, and suddenly a deal that looked reasonably cheap, particularly once the cap jumps up, is one some think the Lakers won’t be able to move this summer without adding some type of sweetener.
Swaggy P (wait for it…) U.
(I’ll show myself out.)