SAN FRANCISCO – The draft, free agency or trades. Or a skillfully executed combination of the three. Those are the four ways to build a championship-caliber roster in the world’s greatest basketball league. Four.
The Lakers opted for a fifth.
Inasmuch as there is no fifth, the dubious experiment that was the 2021-22 Lakers, who bamboozled enough folks to be given the status of preseason favorite to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals, never had a chance.
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When they take the court Thursday night to face the Warriors at Chase Center, the Lakers are showing up out of schedule obligation. Two days removed from being bumped from the list of 20 teams in the playoffs, or with a chance to get there, they’re likely to be one of eight squads to lose at least 50 games.
The Warriors will shed not one tear. Nor should they. The Lakers spent five decades piling up championship trophies and generally treating their NorCal neighbors like scrimmage scrubs. Only three times between 1976 and 2014 did Golden State win the season series.
Which, I suppose, partly explains the spurious faith in these Lakers. In addition to a galaxy of stars that began with chief recruiter LeBron James and extended to Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony, there is the rich purple history. The mystique.
The preseason over/under for Lakers wins, 52.5, was four more than that of the Warriors, who woke Thursday morning 19 games ahead of Los Angeles.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors, to their credit, were among those who never bought the preseason hype attached to LA. As many of us – guilty, I am – longed against the odds for a season of high-stakes, intrastate drama and perhaps NorCal-vs.-SoCal postseason series, the Warriors there was plenty of reason for doubt.
“It’ll be interesting to see,” Warriors president Bob Myers said in an October conversation about the Lakers’ grand experiment. “But you can say I think the West is open.”
The Warriors topped the Lakers in LA on opening night to seize first place in the West and held it for the better part of three months. The Suns moved into first on Jan. 11 and never had a reason to look back. Phoenix clinched the No. 1 overall seed two weeks ago, and will finish at least 10 games ahead of Golden State – and at least 29 games ahead of LA.
For the sin of being the head coach of conceivably the most overrated NBA roster of all time, Frank Vogel will be sacrificed. And the exit line won’t stop with him.
The real basketball sinners are, of course, those who collaborated to assemble this roster. This soggy mattress of a season is smudged with the fingerprints of LeBron, of top basketball executive Rob Pelinka, of behind-the-scenes decision-makers Kurt and Linda Rambis and, ultimately, of CEO Jeannie Buss.
There were too many ill-fitting pieces, beginning with the James-Westbrook pairing, and there was too much age. Too many miles on the legs.
The Lakers opened the season with eight players who had at least 12 years of NBA experience, five of which had at least 15.
They were short on shooters, shorter on quality defenders and much too long in the tooth.
History has shown the NBA postseason is unkind to those who try to cheat time. Michael Jordan was 34 when he last appeared in The Finals. Magic Johnson was 31, losing in five to the Bad Boys of Detroit. Larry Bird was 30, losing in six to the Lakers.
The Spurs’ thirtysomethings – Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker – would have been smoked by the Heat in 2014 if not for 22-year-old teammate Kawhi Leonard, who was voted Finals MVP.
LeBron has done a tremendous job of dodging advancing age. He is a marvel. But he’s 37 and has played more total minutes than anyone not named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Quiet as it’s kept, LeBron has missed at least 23 games in three of the last four seasons.
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The Lakers have no Kawhi. Their roster is inferior to the vast majority of NBA teams, and appreciably so to Golden State.
The Warriors built their team in the more traditional format, primarily through the draft, with additions through trade and free agency. They’re in the second tier of championship contenders, with a chance to rise.
That the Lakers believed they could succeed with talent that shined brightest seven or eight years ago was equal parts bullheaded and blindness. They didn’t fly too close to the sun. Rather, they were guided by a mirage long obsolete.