Sir Charles in Charge
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The Lakers Need A lot Of Time

By Hans Themistode

Nov 1, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell (1) is greeted after the game by Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats the Los Angeles Lakers 115-108. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 1, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell (1) is greeted after the game by Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats the Los Angeles Lakers 115-108. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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Despite a plethora of young talent, including the return of Magic Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers are still a long ways away from competing

As the regular season winds down, the Los Angeles Lakers have done the unthinkable. They’ve tanked.

That much is clear when they traded away their leading scorer Lou Williams to the Houston Rockets for Corey Brewer a player who more than likely isn’t apart of this team’s long term plans and a second-round pick. A pick that will quite possibly be used as a trade chip rather than on a player in this years upcoming draft.

The thought process behind the move was simple, lose as many games as possible in order to keep their top three protected lottery pick in this year’s upcoming draft. If they fall out of a top 3 slot, then they forfeit their pick to the Philadelphia 76ers.

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The Lakers are hoping to draft either Lonzo Ball out of UCLA or Markelle Fultz out of Washington. Both players seem like transcendent talents. Lonzo with his uncanny ability to make everyone around him better, gaining many comparisons to future Hall Of Fame point guard Jason Kidd, and Fultz with his ability to score at an elite level garnering comparisons to former all-star guard Brandon Roy.

Neither one of those players, however, are capable of pulling the Lakers out of the basement of the NBA.

LA poses one of the best young cores in the entire league, starting with Julius Randle their power forward who often times gets compared to Lamar Odom and Draymond Green because of his ball handling, rebounding and versatility as a all around good basketball player capable of filling up a stat sheet.

D’Angelo Russell is another good player who was thought to be the Lakers point guard of the future but seems more interested in lighting up the scoreboard himself instead of getting his teammates open looks.

Jordan Clarkson’s a player who goes out every night and gets buckets on whoever is defending him and than you have this year’s No. 2 overall pick Brandon Ingram who has shown flashes of greatness, most notably when he dropped 22 points against Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs. Ingram’s flashes, however, have been few and far between as he has been wildly inconsistent and supremely disappointing so far this year.

Adding another talented but young player will not place the Lakers in a position to compete for championships no matter what Lavar Ball says. So what should they do then? The Lakers have been linked to Paul George as a destination he really would like to play for. That’s a great start. Getting a player who is already established as elite and in his prime is a good starting point but then what?

If you acquire a talent like George you can’t simply surround him with young players and expect him to lead your franchise to championships. This young Lakers core is good but in no means are they ready to help contribute to a championship.

Trading for George will also undoubtedly come with a price meaning one or multiple of their young pieces will have to go. Adding George will also force the Lakers to make more moves to acquire more veteran talent. Meaning they would need to form their own super team of sorts. The question is, How fast can this be done? The more important question is will it be enough?

Year-in and year-out, the San Antonio Spurs are always in the title conversation. The Rockets are lead by MVP candidate James Harden and have surrounded him with snipers who have the firepower to take down any team. The Warriors are the team everyone is chasing in the West and it seems as though they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, and of course LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers are always in the mix for championships as well.

This is the competition the Lakers must compete against.

This is the daunting task the Lakers face themselves with and a decision they must soon make. Do Magic and Jeanie leave the franchise in the hands of their young players in the hopes that they will soon develop into star players or do they scratch that idea and make trades, giving up on their young talent and bring in more established players ready to win now?

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No matter the choice they make, will it be enough to bring this once glamorous franchise back to prominence?

It’s not enough that the Los Angeles Lakers simply make the playoffs and make a respectable run. The Lakers are a franchise that is associated with competing for championships. They are a long way away from from doing that. Ervin is going to need all of the Magic he has in order to restore this franchise to where it once was.

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