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Among all the criticisms received by the Los Angeles Lakers this year, the most legitimate is probably the fact that the organization failed to acquire the level of shooting of an NBA team needed even to achieve a moderate success . Former basketball president Magic Johnson bragged about how he watched the playoffs and discovered that the best shooting teams did not win (although literally the best shooting team was never won the title), while managing director Rob Pelinka, still in office, was talking about how the Lakers had "pushed".
None of these things have come true, or at least not enough for the Lakers to take part in the playoffs, and one of the most important (and most persistent) moves against the front-office n & # 39; 39 was not the renomination of veteran center Brook Lopez. After expressing some interest for a Lakers return at the departure talks in 2018, Lopez left for the Milwaukee Bucks, taking advantage of the $ 3.3 million biennial exception to leave a team near Disneyland to another.
During his long appearance on ESPN's "First Take" Monday morning, Johnson took responsibility for this mistake, but he did not want to accept criticism for not having renewed the contract with the company. 39, Lopez's independent agent, Julius Randle, who took two years. , $ 18 million agreement with the pelicans of New Orleans:
"The only one we could sign again is Brook Lopez, and I made a mistake. Julius, we could not offer what he had. He wanted two years, we only offered one. It was a good deal for Julius and he played well. He and LeBron are not going to go, no way. We needed space.
Need space to justify not signing Randle again in the same breath as confessing that you made a mistake not to sign again Lopez is a miraculous level of cognitive dissonance, but Johnson is right as to the contractual part of this less in part). Randle's contract is not bad in a vacuum, and the second year is a player option that Randle probably will not take back, but whether you agree with them or not, the Lakers were not going to take the risk than Randle when all their project was centered on the signature of a superstar such as Kyrie Irving or Kawhi Leonard this summer. Clearly, they simply did not want to run the risk of being capped, as evidenced by their comments, and did not sign agreements that lasted more than a year last summer.
Johnson tried to use a similar reasoning to switch Ivica Zubac against Mike Muscala at the trading deadline, but in this case, it does not really align. Describe his exchange with ESPN's "First Take" facilitator, Stephen A. Smith:
Johnson: Now, Zubac, let's move on to that. Give me some numbers for him at the Clippers … He did not even play at the Golden State series.
Black-smith: He is 23!
A few notes, before letting Johnson and Smith continue. To be honest, Zubac only averaged 9.7 minutes per game in the Cleats vs. Golden State series and was mostly played off the floor. However, he also had 18 points and 15 rebounds in the third game of the series. It was not a tight match, but it's still productive minutes for such a young player in the playoffs.
In addition, to sum up Smith, Zubac is still only 22 years old, but that does not weaken him. Anyway, let's continue:
Johnson: Listen, LeBron James and Lonzo Ball have improved Zubac. Why? Pick and roll, ride for the dunks. Boom. He was going to be a restricted free agent. We knew we were going to use this space for a superstar.
Zubac's holdback for this summer would have been just over $ 1.5 million, which is little more than the amount of the mandatory markup for a pristine spot. The Lakers could also have simply given up his rights if they needed space. In addition, Ball and James were both (and are both) still on the team. It was not like they could not continue to help Zubac produce, and Zubac would almost certainly have given the Lakers more than Muscala.
Anyway, let Johnson finish his thought:
Johnson: Now, I had to try to space the floor, so the job I was doing I wanted to make sure we could space the floor, and it did not work. Zubac still has a long way to go to be special, but we had to try solutions. So it was not a trade as we traded a guy to win a championship for the Clippers, but I will say Brook Lopez, I did not succeed. I did not do it.
Well, it's really an admirable responsibility from Johnson on a day when he did not show much, and he should be applauded … – Ah, wait, Stephen A. is back with the averages from Zubac:
Black-smith: By the way, Zubac 5 points, 5.5 rebounds per game (in playoffs).
Magic: Say it a little louder!
Black-smith: I said 5 points, 5.5 rebounds in the playoffs!
Magic: Thanks thanks.
It's a lame, classless thing from a legend of Johnson's stature, or any former team leader. It's one thing for him to not feel like making a mistake or justifying a decision, but it's another to please a TV analyst who reads a disappointing number of playoffs for a 22-year-old. years who played for him. This is unworthy of someone who occupies the position occupied by Johnson, but that is not surprising considering what he said about D'Angelo Russell at the time of getting out. At least Zubac was able to laugh at it soon after the comments were posted.
Do not get me wrong, he's not the only one to laugh at the Johnson or Johnson's warrant in the direction, and his thoughts on the outdated list alignment at his second case of kicking a young player at Outside, the appearance also perfectly summarized why Johnson was not a good solution to be a departing team leader.
But aside from that, later in the series, Johnson made it clear that he had found the mistake of his alignment strategy and would have tried to rectify the situation this summer if he had not not left his job:
"I know we needed more shooting. I did not do it. And so it was my fault. Let me say this: you are learning from year to year and we would have corrected this year. Lopez, yes it hurt us not to have a big man able to space the floor and give LeBron more space to work. I learned of a bad decision. "
The Lakers fans will just have to hope the team too. On all fronts.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed. iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.
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