NBA : How Bad Are Things In Los Angeles
Thursday January 24,2013 : NBA Betting – How Bad Are Things Really Getting in Los Angeles?
The public in Los Angeles is evenly divided, for now. Half of the basketball fans in Los Angeles are having the best year of their lives. The Los Angeles Clippers is the best team in basketball and it looks like this could be the year for a franchise that has been considered an NBA doormat for its entire history. With players such as Chris Paul and Blake Griffin bringing respectability to the Clippers franchise, it looks like there are two formidable tenants in the Staples Center.
On the other side of the Los Angeles coin is the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers cannot seem to buy a win despite all of the money the team has spent on players and coaches. When the Lakers bypassed legendary coach Phil Jackson in lieu of Mike D’Antoni, most observers will agree that it was a money move. Jackson wanted a huge salary, part ownership in the team and the ability to take a lot of the long road trips off due to health reasons. D’Antoni just wanted to get paid a salary that was a fraction of what Jackson wanted. Right after that decision was made, the Lakers went way downhill.
Most agree that the first thing that needs to be done in Los Angeles is that Kobe Bryant needs to stop giving interviews. His arrogance is starting to divide a locker room that is already pretty divided. Kobe is not the head coach of the team, yet he feels the need to call players out in public and dictate game plan strategy to the media. When the media puts a microphone in front of Bryant, the Lakers need to step in and put a stop to it.
The people also agree that Jim Buss may not be the best man to make decisions for the Lakers. Buss is the one who pulled the trigger on the Dwight Howard deal when Dwight Howard made it pretty clear that he would rather be in Brooklyn or Dallas instead of Los Angeles. Since the decision to hire D’Antoni was a money decision, it is safe to speculate that Buss also pulled the trigger on that deal as well. Those were two horrible decisions that are still haunting the team.
Dwight Howard is not a team player, especially when he is not happy with the team he is on. The Lakers need to move Howard before the trade deadline and hope that someone wants to take him. Mike D’Antoni needs to take control of the locker room and wrestle control of the team away from Kobe Bryant. As long as things are allowed to remain as they are in Los Angeles, then the team will play poorly. As it looks now, the Lakers is a lost cause for this season. Any moves made at this point would be for next year.
Read more about the Los Angeles Lakers and its problems.
