Lakers rumors: Three reasons tanking is bad for Los Angeles
By Keith Rivas
Wanting to tank comes off as not trusting the young core
Like I mentioned earlier, there’s no success in Los Angeles for the purple and gold unless trust is there. Insisting that the team tank, even for just another year, gives the vibe that you don’t like the core as it is.
Which is understandable to a degree, given the fact that no playoff berth has come around yet, but they’re getting there. To say that the Lakers can’t make progress after looking at the last two seasons is a blind answer.
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Not liking what the Lakers have right now also means that a new face won’t bring you something you’ll root for. Eventually, that next draft pick could be part of that puzzle you thought the team had figured out.
But sometimes, you really don’t know what you have until it’s gone.
The same can be said for what this young core had to deal with in the second half of the season. Not having Lou Williams on the team due to a last minute trade with Houston made a ton of difference.
Veteran leadership was something that the front office last year pursued, however wrong it might’ve been, through Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov. Instead, Williams happened to be that guy that the young guns leaned on and learned from.
As a result, they had a spark and balance with him running the bench. They’ve only played half a season truly on their own, so it’s way too early to be making that kind of assertion about them.