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First of all, stop giving me that look..

Secondly, they're historically the best franchise in NBA history but I'm talking about on-the-court results for the next decade plus...

But, for the last 33 years the Lakers have had a franchise player from their rookie seasons for 28 of them in Kobe and Magic. Bryant, while still a great player is aging and I don't see him playing into his late-40's with all the wear and tear. He's played over 51,000 minutes between the regular/postseason.

On to the current situation:

- Kobe, Nash, Pau and Peace are 32+
- Dwight has been a disappointment and will probably leave this summer
- Mike D'Antoni is a mediocre coach and they can't fire him because they're still paying Mike Brown
- Buss JR is running the organization and he's come under criticism
- Going forward they're not the best team in their own arena

Counter-argument is everyone said the Lakers would never be the same after Magic retired and Shaq was traded to Miami and they've gone thru 2 dynasties since then. So, will the Lakers be a mediocre team for the next decade-plus or will they find some way to get Lebron/Irving/Love like they always do...?

No.

All I know Lakers fans aren't as loud on General Boards no more.

They'll continue to be in the lull until they can entice the best big man in the league to play for them.

JesusHCoxMd wrote:All I know Lakers fans aren't as loud on General Boards no more.

That's because most of those 'loud' fans are frontrunners who have probably stopped watching games.

Classic fan knee jerk reaction. All because the Lakers are having a bad year must mean we must question whether they'll lose grip of being the most dominant franchise in the sport from here on out.

Short answer : No

Long Answer : They'll always be the premiere franchise with a huge fanbase and tons of history, that simply doesn't disappear if they suck for a few years. We may see a similar situation as to what the Lakers faced in the 90s. Once Kobe retires that is, they might experience a few years of non-competitive play.

Honestly though, its just a matter of time till they get the next big thing. I'd say its pretty inevitable and I hate the effing Lakers,

Nope. They'll find a way to reload like always. We just don't know when it'll happen.

In the offseason they were praised as the best franchise in the NBA, just because of landing old man Nash and drama-queen Howard.

They will do good in the future, especially with the financial power they have...

i don't see them really competing in the foreseeable future.

Naive kids will believe that, but the Lakers will never be irrelevant for too long.

To be honest, current team aside, it depends A LOT on the ownership situation. If the current owner is as bad as reports make him seem, they could be in trouble.

Obviously the Lakers will always play with a stacked hand, but if their owner is an idiot who folds every time or calls everybody's bluffs, a great hand can be blown.

The one thing that can screw up any franchise is a terrible owner. Look what Dolan's done to a gigantic market with tons of draw in New York.

Possible despite what some people want to believe, I wouldn't bet on it though.

6 months after acquiring multiple HOFers and putting together a team many were calling the best in the league, it doesn't work out and so now the Lakers will no longer be an elite franchise? Please.

In two years such a statement will look ridiculous as it always does with them. They are the Yankees of the NBA. They have the most money, the biggest name. The highest expectation of success. Is Kobe/this generation done being elite? Yep. Sure looks like it. But the Lakers always reload. Just being the Lakers gives them a huge and frankly unfair advantage. They'll steal somebody else's superstar, which is a one way street that only favors the Lakers (the smaller team could never steal the Lakers' guy). They'll pull off an unbalanced trade depending on their ability to ignore the luxury cap to resign somebody. And sooner or later, and its normally sooner, there they'll be again.

Draper wrote:

JesusHCoxMd wrote:All I know Lakers fans aren't as loud on General Boards no more.

That's because most of those 'loud' fans are frontrunners who have probably stopped watching games.

BAM! That's the truth right there.

The location, market size, and history mean they'll always be a premiere destination for NBA players. But bad management can screw even that up. As Sinant pointed out, the Knicks have a good location, market and history too, and bad management managed to screw it up for years and years.

And I don't see how any Lakers fan can have faith in Jim Buss, a GM who lets his ego decide his decisions more than reason and analysis. A guy who purged one of the better front offices in the league in order to fill it with loyalists - eg, making his bartender a scout while firing longtime scout Ronnie Lester (Buss likes to claim credit for Bynum, but it was Lester who convinced the Lakers to take a 2nd look at Bynum after Kupchak and Buss had dismissed him as Eddy Curry II for being fat at the McDonald's game) and consolidate his power base.

People seem to think the Lakers are just magically going to always be good. It's only magic if you don't understand it. The fact is, the Lakers have been consistently good because they had very competent people doing their jobs very well, and who put the team above themselves and their own egos. The Lakers were able to retain these people because they treated them well, took care of their own. Under Jim Buss, that's gone.


tl;dr - the best thing for the Lakers right now would be Maury Povich telling Dr Buss he is NOT Jimmy's father.

For a year or so, yes.

Winsome Gerbil wrote:6 months after acquiring multiple HOFers and putting together a team many were calling the best in the league, it doesn't work out and so now the Lakers will no longer be an elite franchise? Please.

In two years such a statement will look ridiculous as it always does with them. They are the Yankees of the NBA. They have the most money, the biggest name. The highest expectation of success. Is Kobe/this generation done being elite? Yep. Sure looks like it. But the Lakers always reload. Just being the Lakers gives them a huge and frankly unfair advantage. They'll steal somebody else's superstar, which is a one way street that only favors the Lakers (the smaller team could never steal the Lakers' guy). They'll pull off an unbalanced trade depending on their ability to ignore the luxury cap to resign somebody. And sooner or later, and its normally sooner, there they'll be again.

Chris Paul was stolen from us. No I'm not bitter over it. Just saying it doesn't always work out in favor of the Lakers.

They're one of if not the absolute best free agent destination in the NBA. They'll never be out of the picture. They don't have to deal with what the Utahs/Minnestoas/Milwaukees of the world have to deal with.

#Lebron&Dirk2014 and Kobe takes a paycut...