The Los Angeles Lakers are not having a good season, and the road ahead may have a few more bumps before success is found again.
There was a definitive plan to keep this team heading in the right direction, but somehow this team has struggled to assemble the pieces into a winning formula in 2012-13.
If you look at the history of the Lakers going back to the Showtime era, there have been a number of fortunate events that have helped the team maintain success over a long period of time.
The Showtime era was clearly a successful time for the Lakers, as fans enjoyed Magic, Kareem and "Big Game James." After a brief lull, the team finds itself with a young Kobe Bryant, either due to the brilliance or luck of Jerry West.
The Diesel leaves, but somehow the Lakers convince the Memphis Grizzlies to give them Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown. That trade is still a complete mystery.
As the team starts to age, there is the inevitable expectation that another star must be coming soon. Who comes next? Dwight Howard, come on down!
This offseason should have been the next step in maintaining the greatness of the Lakers. Dwight Howard and Steve Nash arrive. The team chases more titles before Kobe Bryant says goodbye. Howard signs a long-term deal and Los Angeles uses its geographic advantage to attract another high-profile star to pair with Dwight.
The plan was good, and the Lakers wouldn't have had to trifle with the normal decline and rebuilding process that is experienced by just about every other team in the NBA. After all, the Lakers deserve to be contenders every year, right?
At the midpoint of this season, the plan has gone awry. The Lakers are losing, and the games they win are against inferior talent. Los Angeles cannot find a way to beat the elite teams of the NBA anymore.
Instead of a long-term deal, trade rumors for Dwight Howard have started up again (via NBC Sports). When it comes to the coverage of sports, the validity of these whispers is somewhat irrelevant. The rumors are out there, and as long as the Lakers are losing, they are unlikely to go away.
Hindsight, of course, is always 20-20. The Lakers have done deals over the last couple of years that were intended to maintain a championship roster.
In exchange, the Lakers gave away a number of future draft opportunities. From the team's standpoint, these picks were not going to be particularly valuable anyway.
Now that the team may miss the playoffs, those draft picks are starting to look a little bit more valuable. Until Los Angeles sheds the contracts of Kobe, Pau and other high-paid stars, it will be in no position to chase free agents.
That leaves the draft, but as noted by ESPN, the Lakers have essentially mortgaged the future in order to win in the moment. The only way the Lakers get draft picks is to trade current players.
This may have worked in the past when the team was younger, but now the Lakers are a collection of huge contracts and older bench players that seemingly get switched out every year for other old players.
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