The lakers are no longer on the timeline to develop young players

The Lakers received a gift from the lottery gods on Tuesday when they jumped to the fourth pick in the repechage despite the eleventh chance. The improved position of the project, in addition to being a sinkhole for the NBA reform project, gives Los Angeles a better asset and, as Silver Screen & Roll has described earlier this week, it offers more money. Options to the Lakers before the off season.

The most obvious of these choices is simply to have the opportunity to recruit a better player with choice # 4 to add to the core of the team. As reported by Ramona Shelburne from ESPN a few days ago, the team is trying to redefine its star-gazing priorities from last year and return to the development of its players.

It's a very good ideal, but it does not have much water with the current iteration of the Los Angeles Lakers.

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If the Lakers were not on a strict chronology of conflict, they would be on the moon to add another young player to their exciting core. The team could focus on the "next steps" put forward by Alex Regla last week, working in another very positive element of the project and build in an organic way. Last year, each of the four main players (Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart) had a positive point differential, which gave the front office a solid base to build on to rebuild. a lot of alignment.

But the Lakers have LeBron James. Still, it's LeBron's team, and as long as he's here, Los Angeles has an obligation for LeBron to maximize what's left of his basketball excellence. Otherwise, this situation could become quite uncomfortable.

It does not matter if the Lakers hire head coach Frank Vogel against LeBron James' claim and insists on the inclusion of an assistant coach for the player's stated development. It does not matter if they can recruit another promising young player. L.A. and LeBron tried to build methodically last year. It did not work, and it's the playoff season and beyond.

That's why it's wise to explore the use of the fourth choice as a possible commercial token. Rob Pelinka made it clear that the team was considering all the possibilities of maintaining leverage in the league, but even if some of the rookies contribute right away, the Lakers would do better with a player who has a proven track record.

During the 2010s, the undeniable aspect of the organization of the Lakers was his desire to take care of his stars. Kobe Bryant was offered a gigantic extension following his Achilles tear that tied him up for two seasons. His agent became the general manager of the team and Kobe still has the ear of Jeanie Buss.

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When James arrived in Los Angeles, the idea was that the team would continue to respond to James' quirks. It's theoretically a bit too far from last season when the Lakers tried to reduce James's offensive load on the basketball court, overloaded with playmakers, and made those decisions made by LeBron as many players had turbulent stories with him in the past.

We are witnessing a recalibration this summer. Los Angeles begins to reject GM LeBron's influence this summer, to the point that James has made it known that he was not part of the search for the main coaches. The front office is apparently concerned about the perception that James and his camp Klutch Sports exert a disproportionate influence on the organization (which is rich considering the fact that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's team specifically signed to establish a relationship with the agency).

And now, the Lakers, or at least the reporters close to the team, admit that they are not concerned by a schedule of LeBron James and wish to create a list as if 2018-19 had never arrived. Maybe the franchise never really wanted LeBron.

The front office may be in disarray and it is difficult to know who sets the priorities or holds the authority, but this is clear: the time to embrace a youth movement ended July 1 2018. What about the promise of the core of youth, or the fact that this team resides in Los Angeles, the Lakers have got LeBron. They can not keep him happy by slowly playing their talent. Magic Johnson and Pelinka understood this well during the regular season when the team offered the farm to Anthony Davis and eventually cashed in smaller assets for Reggie Bullock and Mike Muscala.

The run may have been flawed, but the premise was correct. The biggest star of the game plays with the colors purple and gold, and the Lakers must find a way to form a basketball team around him that matches his skills and needs. They can not harass James with a group of kids and expect everyone to find out.

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