Should LA Lakers Tank 2014-15 Season?: Tanking is everywhere in the NBA. Last season, it was in Tinseltown, where the Los Angeles Lakers quickly came to realize that Kobe Bryant wouldnt turn Dwight Howards departure into instant gains. General manager Mitch Kupchak and friends would never cop to it, but they dont need to. There came a point last year when the Lakers werent trying to win, when evaluating prospects such as Kent Bazemore and Kendall Marshall was more important than creating a unified dynamic, when the NBA draft was all they had. Next season could see more of the same. Whiffing on star free agents such as Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James has the Lakers thinking about losing big in 2014-15, per Bleacher Reports Howard Beck: Is that the right move? Is prioritizing losses over wins the best way for the Lakers to expedite their rebuilding process? Or is it fools gold this time around? Why Would They Tank? If you dont think you can beat them, make sure you lose to them. A lot. This is the motto certain teams have come to embrace over the years. Contrary to popular opinion, and despite the frequency with which he employs this concept, Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie did not author it. Hes just really, really good at interpreting it as a yearly edict. Ugly in practice, tanking can have its benefits. Although the league has discussed draft lottery reform, nothing has changed. The more a team loses, the better chance it has at landing a high draft pick. But its a bit more complicated than that for the Lakers. If theyre going to tank, they must tank hard. They must be even worse than last season, as Beck points out: Winning 27 games last year gave the Lakers the Associations sixth-worst record. That wouldnt be good enough next season. The Lakers must guarantee they land a top-five pick in the 2015 lottery; otherwise, it will be the Phoenix Suns enjoying what will still be an incredibly early first-rounder. The only way to guarantee a top-five spot is by finishing with the leagues second-worst record; otherwise, their at the behest of the lottery gods, who didnt treat them so kindly this year. Only the top three picks are determined by way of pingpong balls. The rest are handed out in order of increasing winning percentage. Finishing with the leagues second-worst record insures the Lakers against three teams with better records leapfrogging them in the lottery process. And leapfrogging is a very real danger. Look no further than the Cleveland Cavaliers here. Eight teams entered the lottery with better odds at landing the No. 1 overall pick this past season, yet the Cavs still won, proving once again that deliberate bottom feeders are promised virtually nothing. Can the Lakers tank that hard? Fall that low? Within a fray that still includes the Sixers, Milwaukee Bucks and so many others? Not with the roster theyve assembled. Anti-Tanking Measures There is no championship for the Lakers to chase next season. Make no mistake about it. As currently put together, theyre bad. Just not bad enough. If Bryant is even close to healthy next season, the Lakers have a future Hall of Famer and psychotically competitive scorer on their hands most teams dont. Tanking becomes that much harder with him on the floor. Purposely losing becomes even more difficult given the supporting cast theyve assembled. Nick Young, Ed Davis, Julius Randle, Jeremy Lin, Xavier Henry, Ryan Kelly, et al. doesnt seem like much, because its not. Its not enough to win or contend for a championship. But its enough to remain relevant in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. Any doubts in the Lakers intentions should have been erased when they signed Carlos Boozer. Picking him up is an interesting way to tank, in that it doesnt help Los Angeles tank, like NBC Sports Kurt Helin says: Boozer averaged 13.7 points and 8.7 rebounds a game last season. His game has deteriorated in recent years, last season he wasnt efficient (.489 true shooting percentage) nor does he play much defense. That said, hes more solid than his critics give him credit for — hes still okay — and hell make a decent backup big man for what the Lakers are paying. Hell help the Lakers win more now as opposed to bringing in a big man to develop for the future. Boozer isnt an All-Star anymore, but hes not someone worth signing when trying to get worse. Hes a victim of a contract the Chicago Bulls never should have given him. Racking up losses is also easier when youngsters and inexperienced players dominate the rotation. Boozer, as Forum Blue & Golds Rey Moralde makes clear, puts the Lakers in different territory: The Lakers paid a LOT of money to keep Jordan Hill. They drafted a promising Julius Randle. Just yesterday, they claimed Ed Davis. And we all thought that its inevitable for Ryan Kelly to come back. I was looking forward to the Lakers developing these young players and seeing if Jordan Hill can be a 30-minute-per-game player. This Carlos Boozer acquisition mucks it all up. I mean, what am I not seeing here that the Lakers are? Boozer is going to take away lots of minutes from the young guys. Hes a better fit for a contending team and we all know that the Lakers are far from that. Why stunt Randles development? Minutes arent ripped away from developing talents such as Davis and Randle on tank jobs—not unless the Lakers feel that Boozer, who can still post double-doubles on the regular, is a significant downgrade. Which hes clearly not. Even those on the fence about Boozers arrival cannot find clear-cut evidence the Lakers are tanking elsewhere. Its not out there—especially if they are, in fact, chasing immediate impact players such as Eric Bledsoe: Then theres the matter of Bryant, who, by all appearances, is happy with Los Angeles direction. I can sit here and tell you with 100 percent honesty that Im happy with the effort the organization put forward this summer, he said, per ESPN Los Angeles Ramona Shelburne. I think Mitch has responded quite efficiently (from missing on Melo/Pau) by picking up some of the pieces he has. Were the Lakers actually tanking, it would be obvious. And if it were obvious, Bryant—who, admittedly, probably thinks he can lead the Lakers toward a championship on his own right now—wouldnt be at peace with their offseason. He would be angry, belligerent, bitter. Instead of praising Kupchak, he would be making obscene comments. Think the Detroit Pistons interest from 2007 still stands? he might ask. Lauding Kupchak and the Lakers is exactly what hes doing, though. Because the Lakers arent tanking. Nor should they. All Risk, No Reward One top-five draft pick isnt going to change the Lakers fortunes as quickly as theyre hoping. Their rebuild was, is and will remain predicated on free agency and their ability to recruit superstars. That plan hasnt changed one bit—not with the addition of Boozer, not in light of any other move the Lakers have made, as Bleacher Reports Zach Buckley observes. Its not as if Boozers addition impacts the Lakers odds in the 2015 and 2016 free-agent markets one iota, he writes. His contract will be wiped off the books long before the franchise fires up its next round of recruiting pitches Kevin Love. Marc Gasol. LaMarcus Aldridge. Kevin Durant. Those are the players the Lakers are waiting for, if theyre waiting at all. Thats who and what theyre playing for and why their team is structured the way it is. Free agents wont be sold on tankers. They wont be swayed by Jahlil Okafor, Stanley Johnson, Emmanuel Mudiay or any of the other top prospects expected to enter next years draft. If Bryant reinjures himself, if the Lakers are invaded by injury bugs once again, the current course stands to change. Right now, their end game is clear. Whatever theyre looking for lies not in tanking and the ability to retain a draft pick theyre likely to lose anyway. What theyre looking for, what theyve tried to build, is a competitive placeholder that bridges the gap between now and next summer, when their cap space—not draft pick—is supposed to change everything. Follow @danfavale Read more NBA news on BleacherReport #Basketball #NBA #NBAPacific #LosAngelesLakers #fantasybasketball
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 00:36:07 +0000
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