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Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press
The Los Angeles Lakers have great expectations this season.
Although the last three or four years have been an experience of humility for the organization, to its credit, the reconstruction has gone well. Patience – something partially enforced by leading free agents who ignore them – has helped the Lakers to produce a young core that is ready to flourish or even attract these free agents to the city.
In fact, the Lakers seem so confident that something big will happen this season. Magic Johnson apparently put his work at stake:
Eric Pincus @EricPincus
Magic Johnson announced that he would resign if the Lakers did not land the best players over the next 2 summers.
This is not the only time Johnson has made a bold proclamation lately, not with his Tania Ganguli of Los Angeles Times he would resign if the team continued to miss the playoffs.
But the list of guarantees has already begun on shaky ground, as the Lakers seemed to be a possible landing spot for Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs. Instead, it appeared that the Spurs ignored the Lakers, as well as the Western Conference as a whole, according to Sam Amick of USA today.
Otherwise, Johnson has played well since he was president of basketball operations in 2017, landing Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma in the repechage and winning 35 games, a significant step in the right direction.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images
Based on the recovery, it's hard to imagine Johnson's job is in real danger. Lakers co-owner and governor Jeanie Buss made it clear by talking with Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com:
"In the new core and the new guys that we add, I have total confidence in our front office – no matter how they want to build the team, whether through trades or from other people. Free agencies, trades or by the draft that I'm going to press the style of play you've seen throughout this year. "
More than anything, it seems that Buss wanted Johnson to instill a culture and lead the young core in the right direction by setting up a "style of play". Call it a natural step in the process, with an identity more likely to lead to free agents coming into town, as the old sale of just being the Lakers was clearly not enough.
Now Johnson, Buss and the others have their eyes on an easy target – Paul George.
Easy, because George grew up in the area and always seemed destined to join the Lakers when the time came, even though the Indiana Pacers seemed to delay the process and shipped it to Oklahoma City Thunder .
Anyway, George has the chance to join the Lakers this offseason and Illustrated Sportsof Robin Lundberg has gotten hold of a seemingly leaked voice-off that the organization will use when trying to woo George:
"When you were only a child
"In your room
Dreaming of Palmdale
"We dreamed too.
"While you were dreaming, we were building for your arrival
"And while we were dreaming, you were also building
Become one of the best in the world.
"The most powerful dream of life is the one we realize ourselves.
"Those who turn us into legends.
This Palmdale kid always knew him
Now the world too
This is not the end of a lot that the Lakers will use to lure George, as the billboards also began to appear all over the city:
Ohm Youngmisuk @NotoriousOHM
Lawyer and season ticket holder Lakers Jacob Emrani, who has set up 4 billboards recruiting LeBron in March, has paid more than 40 billboards for Paul George. There are six different models, all of which have the # PG2LA with three models, including LeBron with George. Here is a display panel: https://t.co/xHoHaItlqC
As Lakers fans have learned over the years, there is always a chance that the plan goes awry. And in fact, Amick reported recently LeBron James camp does not seem confident George will actually choose to leave the Thunder. Carmelo Anthony has just come back, by Yahoo Sports & # 39; Shams Charania, baduring George that he would still be part of a Big Three capable of competing for the playoffs.
Speaking of James, it is the next obvious step in any plan for the Lakers, the idea being probably to land George and then climb the ladder. Easier to say than to do if George decides to avoid his so-called destiny and play somewhere else.
But the Lakers are used to this kind of risk-reward in the offseason. The stakes could be higher after years of rebuilding, but a quality approach has left the organization much better than before, and the future looks promising in both cases.
Mention the identity – she can not attract free agents, but the idea is much more believable than she has been in the past.
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