A championship is the ultimate prize in sports. Every fan of every team wants what is best for the team in order to put their team in the best position to compete for a championship. Sometimes, though, winning sometimes isn’t always the answer to success; and in the Lakers current situation that can’t be overstated.

The Lakers and their fans are hoping to see another title parade soon after a few hard seasons.

For the Lakers organization and its fans, the 2013-14 season is one of the darkest and hardest to watch in the past 30-plus years. In the end, though, it might not be so bad.

After losing out on the Dwight Howard sweepstakes in the off-season and while waiting on Kobe Bryant to return from injury, the Lakers knew the season would be a long one. Countless injuries and poor play have made exacerbated the situation. Currently, at the All Star Break, the Lakers sit with a record of 18-35 and are tied for the worst record in the Western Conference with the Sacramento Kings. So, the question is where do the Lakers go from here?

As the Lakers continue to lose, it all adds up to one step closer to a great lottery pick in the upcoming draft. The 2014 draft class looks to be one of the deepest and strongest draft classes since the 2003, when players such as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh entered the league. It looks like the Lakers may even have a good chance to get a top-5 pick in the draft, which would greatly improve the team. Combine the good draft pick with all the cap space the Lakers will have this off-season and the Lakers should be back in contention for a title within a year or two.

What makes people skeptical about the future state of the Lakers is the fact that Jerry Buss and Jerry West are no longer with the team and that it is being run by Jim Buss, a man criticized for his poor decisions pertaining to the team. He is accompanied by general manager Mitch Kupchak, who is a fan favorite for his-out of-nowhere great moves. I understand why Laker fans like myself are worried about the future but we have to just trust in management and hope for the best. I mean after all it’s the Lakers right? Whoever is managing the team, I have to believe they will figure it out and bring this historic franchise back to the place it was always meant to be.

Mike D’Antoni accepted the Lakers job this week, replacing the fired Mike Brown. While he is coming off of knee surgery, D’Antoni will take “at least a few days to acclimate himself,” according to this Yahoo! report.

What happened with Phil Jackson and how should Lakers fans feel about it?

Phil didn’t just want money. He wanted control over personnel. He and Jim Buss do not get along and reports of him wanting to humiliate Buss have been published. As a Lakers fan, I have mixed feelings about the whole volatile situation. If all the Lakers wanted was the best option to actually compete for and win a title, then the choice was Jackson — travel restrictions or not. If it happened, the Lakers calling Jackson up at midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning to tell him they were going with Mike D was at-best weird and at-worst was completely indicative of a poor decision-making process that could take the Lakers into the abyss.

Bill Plaschke’s feelings were not mixed. An excerpt from his take below.

Short of a larger ownership slice than the 4.5% that Magic Johnson was once allowed to buy, Jackson was worth every bit of the Lakers’ time, money and pride. That Jimmy Buss suddenly turned to a quirky offensive mind with a losing playoff record and smoldering New York Knicks wreckage on his resume makes it seem as though Buss was angrily running from Jackson.

In a world where I was omnipotent, I would put Phil Jackson in the role of Pat Riley and make Jim Buss let him have total basketball control. I think Jackson would be fantastic in that role for the next 3-5 years at-least. I would rather have Jackson as a coach and future GM or President over Jim Buss’ helter-skelter decision-making any day. It was Buss who had a big say in the Mike Brown hiring and is already eating his words. My perception is that Jim Buss doesn’t work well with Mitch Kupchak and that, given to much latitude by his father, he could turn into an early-80’s version of George Steinbrenner — making crazy management choices based on keeping the team relevant that end up being to the detriment of everyone. Unfortunately, I’m not omnipotent.

Mike D’Antoni will have pressure to win this year in Los Angeles. By [1] Matt Hickey (Flickr: PA224170_1) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

All that being said, I don’t think Laker fans can be disappointed in the D’Antoni signing.

My name’s Mike D’ and I gets respect…

Mike D’Antoni is a clear upgrade from Mike Brown. That’s easy. Especially with a roster that includes Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Dwight Howard, D’Antoni’s system will see the Lakers scoring a lot of points. He’s also not as bad a defensive coach as you think.

T.J. Simers from the LA Times published a few things today at LATimes.com after an interview with the basketball’s Mike D. You should read all three. Mike D’Antoni is a man who is many things. He’s a former player. He’s a native of West Virginia. He played in Italy after the NBA and stayed there, coaching off and on until 2002, when he was hired as a Suns assistant. He’s a guy from West Virginia who loves a spread-out offense and a point guard with handles. He has the cockiness of someone who knows he’s smarter than his counterparts with the passion of a competitor who still has plenty to prove. This is what makes me excited about having him as the coach of the Lakers.

After making the wrong choice with Mike Brown, Lakers management made a risky one in hiring D’Antoni. Phil Jackson would have been the best and safest move. Instead, Jim Buss once again chose the risky option. Hiring Jackson might have been a championship decision, but it surely would not have ended in chaos. The D’Antoni decision could be either brilliant or, given the Lakers’ horrible start, end really badly.

Second’s the Best

While Phil would have been around for probably a year or two at-most, D’Antoni could (with success) be around for five-plus years. Mike D is not the first choice of fans, and probably not even the best choice, but if the Lakers have even one more championship three years from now, D’Antoni’s hiring will surely be looked at as everything Mike Brown’s was not — namely a success.

Whether Jim gave Phil a fair shot or not, the Lakers got what I think was the second best coach on the market. D’Antoni will bring success and teams will not like playing the Lakers come April or May and his brand of offense will keep the Lakers relevant whether they win or not. And, in Los Angeles, that’s what is most important.

How do I know? Because when you set a record for most career points in the All-Star Game, it means that, undoubtedly, you are nearing the end of your career.

John Stockton didn’t get better after his 10,142nd assist. Kareem wasn’t still improving when he scored his 31,420th point. And when Kobe scored in the third quarter of yesterday’s game and broke Jordan’s All-Star Game record, it marked another time when Laker fans need to be thankful for and reflect on what they’ve (we’ve) had.

Unfortunately, that also means that they (we) need to start being realistic about the near future. Kobe’s skills are declining, ownership is acting — well they actually aren’t acting like anything since they aren’t really doing anything — and, as I’ve told both Luke and Andy in our podcasts, the Lakers are a middling team that is the second-most relevant team in their city.

God, that hurts to say.

Smush Parker, anyone? Pig Miller?

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Kobe also got his nose broken by Dwayne Wade during the All Star Game. Did Wade and others think he was trying too hard or something? Are other players secretly mad at him for some reason? Did he do something bad to D-Wade during the Olympics or something? An All-Star Game broken nose certainly isn’t usual.

I don’t know what his Lakers or Western Conference teammates’ reactions were, but I do know that if Shaq were on the Lakers still, D-Wade would feel it the next time he went into the lane on the Diesel. I wonder if anyone on this year’s Lakers roster would have his back like Shaq would have…