The Lakers are a very bad basketball team, and they just completed their fourth straight season without sniffing the NBA Playoffs.
The team went 26-56 this season, second-to-last in the Western Conference, and absent a great pick in the NBA Draft lottery and a breakout performance from a player like Lonzo Ball, they’re probably doomed to failure again next season. Another problem: The Lakers are so bad at being bad that they hurt their lottery chances by passing the Suns in the standings. They can’t even tank well.
According to Mark Heisler of The Orange County Register, the Lakers aren’t even looking for good advice, either. For some reason, the team is refusing to hire former general manager Jerry West as a consultant.
These days the Lakers don’t even do no-brainers, like inviting Jerry West back in a consultant’s role like the one he has with the Warriors. A Lakers insider told me it’s not happening … even though the Lakers are aware West would love to be asked back.
The reason cited isn’t much different than what Jim Buss felt: They don’t think they need West.
The Buss siblings have done a pretty disastrous job with the Lakers, and bringing in Magic Johnson to make personnel decisions doesn’t look like a very smart move, either. All we know of Johnson’s plans is that he wants to go get Kobe, then have the rest of it figure itself out, which isn’t really a strategy. (Note: Being a good player isn’t a sufficient qualification for being a good front office executive.)
It’s hard to be so bad for so long with the Lakers’ built-in advantages. Congrats to them on being a perpetual mess.
