Where did it all go wrong?

[miggs]

Basketball Reasons (we never got back our brand strength after that PR humiliation)
Kobe's Achilles injury (destroyed any chance big FAs would sign here in the next 2 seasons)
Dr Buss' passing
Hiring bad coaches: Potato Head, Pringles, Byron

[madmaxmedia]

Instead of blowing up the team, we could have retooled, developed younger talent to spell the older players. Like San Antonio has shown. Yeah Lakers got swept, but Dallas got stupid hot that year (and Cuban equally stupidly broke up that team). But San Antonio has off years too - but the Spurs don't panic. They just tweak. And that consistency is a testament to championship winning strategy.

For the past three years, if we had a healthy Kobe capped at 30 or fewer minutes, Pau and Odom still playing at a high level, we could have swung Bynum for a few good pieces. Help in the backcourt, depth, etc. We'd still have been contending for the past few years. At the least, we'd be in the playoffs. Instead, we've been trash, and all we've got is Julius and Russell to show for it.

I'd rather have had Pau, Odom, and the lost opportunities for competing. Even without top picks, I'd be fine with looking toward the upcoming free agents and the raised cap for people who would love to join the Lakers, under Phil Jackson, and perpetuate the championship-winning culture.

In the end, it all fell apart when the Lakers decided to break up the team from top to bottom. But it did start at the top.

The Spurs is a great example to bring up, they never won back to back but they never tried to totally rebuild, they stayed the course because they had a roster committed to winning and some sacrifice towards that end. The Lakers went for the big bold move instead (twice), which is not in itself bad- often its a good thing.

Kobe was still near the top of his game when he got hurt, it would have been interesting to see how things play out if they tried to tweak and adjust but largely stay the course, starting with keeping Phil (assuming that Kobe doesn't tear his Achilles which is not 100% guaranteed of course.) Not saying all the bad things that have happened have been the Lakers fault, just saying it really would be interesting to see where they are now. Would all the contracts of the vets have still fit in, and given the Lakers room to sign a big FA like the Spurs did?