Can the Lakers Be Fixed


There are five teams still alive in the NBA postseason, but watching nightly SportsCenter updates, you might not know it. The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Lakers in five games to move on to face the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals, but every day the story is about where the Lakers go from here.

The Thunder are one of the best teams in basketball, and are arguably the future of the league. But they aren't the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers and the Boston Celtics are, arguably, the premier teams in the NBA. And with the Lakers' track record of success the past 10 years, they continue to be a focal point for the league.

Three years ago, the Lakers won the second of back-to-back titles, and completed their third straight year in the NBA Finals. They came back with a loaded team, in the last year of Phil Jackson's reign, and completely fell apart.

This off-season, the Lakers tried to get Chris Paul, and the league blocked it. They were forced to ditch Lamar Odom before the season started, never found a good rotation, and continued to try and piece things together throughout the season. By the time the playoffs rolled around veteran Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant's best friend on the team, was on the Thunder and Ramon Sessions was trying his best to play over his head and help the Lakers compete.

It didn't happen. For the second straight post-season Andrew Bynum was erratic and Pau Gasol, arguably one of the best power forwards in the league, disappeared, putting up pedestrian numbers. The Lakers lacked depth and heart. So, naturally, the question is what will be done to correct that.

There have been a lot of ideas discussed, from trading Gasol for supporting pieces to trading Bynum for Dwight Howard. Some or all of those ideas are appealing, but it remains to be seen whether those moves alone can help the Lakers contend in a deep, loaded Western Conference.

For years, as their best players have gotten older, the San Antonio Spurs have reloaded with young talent. Now, the team sits as the No. 1 seed in the West, and a strong contender to win the title. They still have their great older players, and a second generation helping now and waiting in the wings. That is the approach the Lakers need to take, but they have been restocking solely with older veterans while missing with draft picks for years.

If the Lakers really want to compete, and if the Lakers really want to be relevant in 3-5 years when Bryant is gone, they have to start looking for the next generation right now.

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