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Lakers finish season full of questions by The Sports Network
Toronto, Canada (Sports Network) – When the Los Angeles Lakers ungraciously bowed out of the 2011 NBA Playoffs at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks in an unexpected four-game sweep, marking the first time in Phil Jackson’s coaching career his team was swept in a series, the eliminating annihilation was a telling sign that things were about to blow up in Lakerland.
Immediately following the fourth and final game were the unrelenting questions on the future of Jackson with the team. The veteran coach has made it clear this would be his last season on the bench in the NBA and his comments after Game 4 only reaffirmed he had no intentions of returning.
“In all my hopes and aspirations this is the final game that I’ll coach,” said Jackson, at his post-game press conference. “This has been a wonderful run. I go out on a sour note after being fined $35,000 this morning by the league, so that’s not fun. Feeling like I’ve been chased down the freeway by them, but as Richard Nixon says, ‘You won’t be able to kick this guy around anymore.'”
Though we’ve been here once before back in 2004 when Jackson first declared he was stepping down, this time it seems he may be true to his word.
Early indications are Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw is a front runner for replacing the legendary bench boss. Yet, there are rumors that former Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman will also be considered.
Regardless, change is imminent and the coaching position is not the only place where it likely will come.
Throughout its second round series, Los Angeles struggled to find any cohesiveness. It appeared players weren’t on the same page on either side of the ball and there was a true lack of togetherness apparent throughout the series with Dallas.
Much of the blame will fall on the slender shoulders of power forward Pau Gasol, who failed to score more than 15 points in any of the contests against the Mavs, averaging just 12.5 ppg and 9.3 rpg in the series. There are rumors an outside distraction may have been a cause for the Spaniards lack of production, but it’s certainly not a viable explanation for such an abysmal playoff performance, following an already subpar first round from the four-time All-Star.
It raised a question though, who would be Kobe Bryant’s second-hand man heading into the future?
Before conducting an act of pure classlessness – flooring J.J. Barea with an elbow to the chest, mid-flight – it was Andrew Bynum who was the Lakers most reliable interior presence. Despite being only 23-years-old, Bynum’s total lack of discipline showed he’s not nearly mature enough to handle the load of being the second option, let alone the heir apparent to Bryant.
Of course, it’s asking a lot of a club to stay mentally prepared after three seasons of getting to the NBA’s biggest stage, twice coming away victorious, without considering the physical strain and psychological fatigue it has endured over the years.
Where youth and exhaustion aren’t to blame for poor judgement, however, is the frustrating showing of Lamar Odom. It was Odom’s uncalled-for shove of Dirk Nowitzki that began the Lakers to unravel further into the depths of all-time sore losers. The only thing that could have triggered such an act is a complete inability for the versatile forward to come up with an answer to Nowitzki’s offensive onslaught. Coupled with the distraction Odom’s new Hollywood persona must have had, it can only lead observers to think maybe the 31-year-old would rather be on the red carpet than the hardwood.
The Mavericks effectively exploited the Lakers’ biggest weaknesses – a lack of three-point shooting, an inability to defend against quick penetrating guards, poor defensive rotations and a paper thin bench – giving Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak a plethora of areas he needs to address in the off-season.
With little coming off the books next year and a number of players locked into lucrative long term deals, the Lakers will be in a financial straight jacket, especially considering the almost eminent smaller cap to be instituted by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
With immediate help nowhere on the horizon, it leads us to the final piece of what was the NBA’s dynasty these past three seasons – Bryant.
He may have had a tremendous Game 1, dueling it out with Nowitzki for the right to be claimed the game’s best crunch-time scorer, and arguably its best player, only to fall short at the buzzer. Except after that, it seemed every passing game was another year on the aging knees of the once fleet-footed leaper who has long been relegated to the status of a wily veteran dependant on guile as opposed to sheer will and athletic grace.
It’s the deteriorating skills that have to worry Lakers fans as the 32-year-old is certainly not getting any younger, or healthier for that matter.
Could this brusque exit be the end of the NBA’s last remaining dynasty? Who will succeed the legendary “Zen Master”? Will Gasol’s performance go down in infamy as one of the worst showings by an All-Star in a playoff series? How will the Lakers address their long list of limitations? And finally, does Bryant have what it takes to be the best player on a title contender?
These are the questions that will surround the franchise going forward and until they’re answered, there will be an undeniable shadow of doubt on the future of the Lakers as a championship-caliber club.
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