2012-2013 Lakers: A team in search of its soul — The Autopsy

The Lakers didn’t exactly have a banner year. By Sgt. Joseph A. Lee, via Wikimedia Commons

What if I told you in the beginning of the 2012-2013 NBA season that the Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol on their roster would end up crawling their way into the playoffs and finally getting swept in the first round? You wouldn’t believe it, would you? You might call me crazy or a doubter but it’s the unfortunate reality for Lakers fans.

Beginning with high hopes for another run at an NBA title, this year ended up becoming one of the longest and most bizarre Laker seasons in the history of the franchise. Looking back, we should have seen this coming right? They did start out the season 1-12 including going 0-8 in the preseason and to me looking back on it, we should have seen that as the first big red flag. After two straight championships then followed by two second-round playoff exits, Lakers’ management decided it was time to shake things up and they did so in a huge way. By adding All Star center Dwight Howard and former All Star Steve Nash to a roster with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, the Lakers looked primed to chase their 17th title. Add-in veteran Antwan Jamison and Jodie Meeks and things in Laker land seemed pretty good. As the season started, the Lakers fell to a 1-4 record through the first five games and fired coach Mike Brown and replaced him with offensive-minded Mike D’Antoni while spurning Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson in the process.

To many fans’ and players’ disgust and disapproval, Mike D’Antoni was named head coach of the Lakers. Unfortunately for the team and their fans, the change of the coach didn’t help much as the team fell to a horrid 17-25 record at one point. Over the last 40 games, the Lakers had one of the league’s best records 28-12 and things finally started to look in the right direction for the Lakers. But the injury bug bit and fate decided that it just wasn’t meant to be for the Lakers. Pretty much every single player on the Lakers roster got hurt this season. With the team struggling to make the playoffs, Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles with just two games left. It was a bitter way to end his season after yet another outstanding and age-defying year by the Black Mamba. Barely sneaking into the postseason, the Lakers drew the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.

The Spurs had been banged-up themselves with injuries of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and many wondered if the Kobe-less Lakers could manage the upset. But, after game-one of the series, you could tell that the Spurs meant business and the Lakers were going to be no match for them. The Purple and Gold would end-up getting swept in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since the 1960s including a 31-point loss at home. It was the worst loss at home in franchise history. What a fitting way to end the bad season by getting swept on their home court. The only Laker star in his prime, Dwight Howard, even got ejected a little into the third quarter in what may have been his final game as a Laker. Looking back on it, I should have seen that the Lakers season was doomed from the start.

So what now?

This upcoming off-season might be one of the biggest Laker off-seasons in recent memory because of the many decisions that Jim Buss and the rest of the Lakers front office has to make. No longer do they have hall of fame owner Jerry Buss to help make decisions.

Many questions linger. What will they do with Pau Gasol? What will happen with Dwight Howard’s future with the Lakers? What will happen with Kobe trying to come back from the Achilles injury? Where do Antawn Jamison and Earl Clark fit in during the next few seasons? And most importantly, will Mike D’Antoni return as the coach of the Lakers? All of these questions will be answered in the coming months, but my answers to all these questions if I was the Lakers GM/owner would be as follows:

I think they should keep Pau because his versatility as a passer and shooter is something that most big men in the league don’t have and is a huge value to the team. Not knowing if Howard is going to stay is another reason to keep Pau for another year. In the worst case scenario, Pau is there for another season, then becomes a free agent and over $18 million comes off the Lakers’ books in 2014.

As for Dwight Howard, I believe that he will stay with the Lakers and sign a long-term contract for two reasons. One: where else is he going to go? Houston? Dallas? Atlanta? If Dwight wants to win like he says he does, then staying in Los Angeles should be priority number one. What other team is going to put talent around him to win? And what other fans are going to put up with all his drama? As for the second reason it is strictly Howard’s image and ego. His image has already taken a hit from his Orlando days and if he left the Lakers after one year, he would be playing for three teams in three years. This isn’t the profile of a franchise cornerstone.

Kobe Bryant has defied basketball odds time and time again but this will be his greatest test, coming back from an Achilles tear. I believe that he will come back stronger than ever. That is all I will say because questioning this man’s will and heart for the game is shameful and shouldn’t ever happen.

Now, on to the bench for the Lakers, I think they should re-sign Antwan Jamison for another season and keep him as a veteran for this team. He provides leadership and a unique shooting and cutting ability that can still help. I also think they should re-sign Earl Clark back just to have a younger, athletic player on the team that has played a season with all the players and knows the system. But they shouldn’t just stand pat. Jim Buss should try to sign another player or two that can help out the team like Nate Robinson and/or Kyle Korver to improve the team’s shooting.

The biggest question aside from the Howard drama is what to do with D’Antoni. To me, Mike Brown re-signing with the Cavs is a blessing in disguise for the Lakers. It eats up some of the salary that the Lakers still owe Brown and would make it so if they did indeed fire D’Antoni like most Laker fans and media members want to happen, it would equal them just paying Mike Brown if you add up D’Antoni’s and the rest of the money owed to Brown. I think they should fire D’Antoni and not because he was a bad coach because he was a good coach under all the scrutiny he endured all year. That being said, he isn’t the right coach for this team and the Lakers management needs to realize that. The team wasn’t even running his offensive system all season. How can you have a coach who doesn’t even run his own system? My message to the Lakers: Fire D’Antoni.

I cannot go as far to say that this was the worst season in Lakers history. They did make the playoffs. But it has to be one of the mot disappointing seasons in recent memory. I attended the final game of the season where the Lakers got swept by the Spurs and the atmosphere in the Staples center was unlike any I have every seen there before. It was clear that the fans were still very supportive but you could sense a huge disappointment among them — and rightfully so. The season was doomed the day the front office planned it out and the Kobe injury was the cherry on top of it. Hopefully next season will be better for the Lakers and that starts with the critical moves needed to be made this offseason. Hopefully Buss, Kupchak and company can find a way to restore the Lakers to the proud franchise that we all are used to seeing out there on the court.