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Who ruined the Los Angeles Lakers?

Someone has to take the blame for this shabby, superstar-filled lineup

Was it really just a year and a half ago, when LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers were hoisting the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando?

Remember, that 2019–2020 champion Laker team had lots of issues heading into the season.

First, they couldn’t find anyone who wanted to be the coach.

That’s how dysfunctional they had become.

The 16-time league champions (now 17) — home of Showtime, Wilt, Shaq and Kobe, Magic and Kareem, Jerry West, and all the glamour and glitz of Hollywood — couldn’t get any big names to sit in the Laker hot seat.

Vogel: the third choice

First, Tyronn Lue, passed on a three-year offer and crossed the then Staples Center hall to coach the crosstown Clippers. Monty Williams, rumored to be choice two, took a five-year deal with the upcoming Phoenix Suns, who rose all the way to the NBA Finals last summer.

Former team president Magic Johnson resigned as president and bad-mouthed the organization.

However, Frank Vogel turned out to be a hidden gem. His down-to-earth approach, hard-nosed emphasis on defense turned the Lakers around into a championship-caliber franchise in no time.

Now it’s a disaster again.

Vogel should not take the wrath. However, sadly, he often is being pegged as the scapegoa, and rumored to be fired on a weekly basis.

Who deserves the blame?

Who ruined the former champions?

LeBron’s Lakers have won just three of their last 10 games. If the season ended today the № 9 Lakers (27–34) would face № 10 New Orleans (25–36). They’d have to win that game, then beat the loser of the №7-№8 seed game. Not good odds. Stay away from betting on the Lakers.

At 37-years-old and fresh off his game-winning, all-star game jumper, LeBron is having yet another amazing season. He is averaging 28.9 points per game while clocking 36.8 minutes per game. He is the furthest from the reason L.A, is losing

There’s really only one person to point the finger at, and it’s vice president of basketball operations and Rob Lowe-look alike Rob Pelinka, a member of the 1988–89 NCAA champion Fab-Five Michigan Wolverines.

Palinka is the former agent and best friend of Kobe Bryant. He had zero experience as a basketball general manager when hired, and is not very well-liked amongst his NBA peers.

Job in jeopardy?

Though reportedly there’s “unwavering support” from owner Jeanie Buss and the Laker organization despite the team’s stumbling down the standings, NBA insiders believe Pelinka’s job is in jeopardy.

Oh sure, Pelinka, looked like a genius when he landed superstar center Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans two seasons ago, giving up Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and multiple first-round picks.

And yes, it led to Laker championship №17 (tying the rival Celtics) during the COVID/bubble season, but was it a move made for just one single season?

Anthony Davis is constantly off and on the injury report. In fact, Davis just uffered a mid-foot sprain on February 18, and is expected to be out for four weeks.

Lonzo Ball, although injured, is averaging 13 points, 5.1 assists and shooting 42.3 from three-point land and is an emerging star and key component for the much-improved, up-and-coming Chicago Bulls (39–23). Assists and outside shooting are is strengths, both Laker needs.

Despite this year’s all-star game snub, Ingram is leading his Pelican club, averaging 22.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists. Ingram has recored a career-high 12 assist, 24 rebound and eight rebounds versus Dallas this year. Two days later, he poured in 40 points in a loss to Houston.

Ingram was voted Most Improved Player in 2019, while averaging 23.8 points.

Josh Hart, now with Portland, is having a breakout campaign on a serious hot streak, averaging 18 points his last 10 games.

“He’s a keeper,” Portland interm general manager Joe Cronin told The Athletic. ‘’Josh embodies what we are trying to build here. The talent level, skill set, competiviness, the IQ, the defensive mindness, and guard-anyone approach.”

The big mistake

Regardless of your opinion of trading the farm for Anthony Davis and that glorious yellow championship banner, one thing is for certain, Pelinka made some horrible general manger moves this past off-season.

On draft day last summer, reports had the Lakers cutting a deal that would land Sacramento star shooting guard Buddy Hield for only Kyle Kuzma and Montzl Harrell.

Hield’s shooting and overall team play would have blended in nicely with the LeBron and the Lakers. Kuzma really had no role, and Harrell wasn’t playing much nor had any use. It would have been a perfect pairing, but it never was finalized.

Instead, Pelinka went big, trading for dazzling, all-everything Wizard Russell Westbrook, and his numerous all-star nominations and gaudy stats. Big trade? Yes. Big mistake? Also, yes.

The big three in Los Angeles is turning into a big joke.

And, don’t forget his inability to bring championships to Oklahoma City (2009–2012) when he teamed with James Harden and Kevin Durant. Nor, did he succeed a second-go with Harden’s Rockets in 2019. And he was also a bust with Bradley Beal in Washington. He just can’t be the second or third fiddle.

Westbrook’s clearly always the square peg in the round hole everywhere he goes, and not a team player. Not the kind of player you want to build a championship with.

Nor is Westbrook well-liked by teammates.

“It wasn’t always fun. The first years (I played with him) were. But things got more and more out of control.

Not hard to see why. Who wants to watch Westbrook do his thing to pad his stats, unable to make those surrounding him better? Although he’s shooting 43 percent from the field this season, he’s only firing at a 28.6 percent clip from the three-point line.

Unfortunatley, Westbrook plays a selfish brand of basketball, looking to shoot first and pass second, dishing out more than eight assists only once in the past nine games.

How is this possible on a team with LeBron and AD where he should be the third option? Wrangling in Westbrook was clearly a mad scientist experiment gone wrong.

Getting defensive

Defense was the key component to the Laker championship in 2020. Defense is Vogel’s mantra as a coach, and defense is what Pelinka decided to or let go of last offseason.

Sorry to be defensive, but now Frank Vogel and the Lakers are paying the price for Pelinka’s bad moves.

The worst move was not signing local favorite Alex Caruso. Huge loss. Huge. Talk about making Pelinka look like a fool. How could the Lakers pass on this defense gem and energetic sparkplug?

Besides shooting 47 percent from the field in Chicago this year, Caruso continues to be a defensive prowess, averages 2.6 steals and four assists a game.

And he was a bargain.

Caruso wanted to stay and be in the Laker purple and gold. All L.A. had to do was match Chicago’s four-year, $37 million offer. They stupidly opted to pass. Los Angeles’ loss is the Bulls’ gain.

A major reason the Lakers’ defense isn’t very good is the loss of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to Washington as part of the Westbrook experiment. If the Lakers would’ve gone with the Hield trade, KCP would still be flashing his grittiness in Lakerland.

Caldwell-Pope did all the intangibles for the Lakers that don’t always show up in the boxscore. Another perfect fit, KCP was a strong defender on the ball, a decent spot-up defender, and underrated as a shooter (44 percent beyond the arc).

Yes, Andre Drummond should’ve been a high priority. Stop laughing. Now with Philadelphia, Drummond was a bust last season. It was always a spacing thing with AD and LeBron, leading to little playing time in playoffs. Drummond, though, is far better than centers Dwight Howard or DeAndre Jordan and would’ve adapted over time.

It was a disastrous off-season for Pelinka and the Lakers. The original optimism of grabbing Westbrook has been replaced by the constant question of “Is it going to ever come together for the Lakers?” and “When will Westbrook click and make the Lakers great again?”

Easy answers: No, and it won’t

Pelinka needs to go.

He ruined LeBron and the Lakers.

Thanks for reading.

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