Few exercises can bring a smile to a sports fan’s face more effectively than calling to mind the popular role players of yesteryear. We can spend hours just mentioning names of former Lakers whose names do not hang in the Crypto Dot Com Arena (still rare) and whose numbers have been reused ever since. However, names like Derek Fisher, Michael Cooper and the like will live on forever in their own way.
At some point with Rob Pelinka at the helm, the Lakers have stopped caring about effective role players, a repeated mistake that has crippled the organization. Now, with a couple of different paths laid out in front of them, they’ll have to break that bad habit.
Behind the number one door this offseason is Kyrie Irving. As talented as he is maddening, he would immediately inject star power that fits exponentially better than the last all-time great point guard Pelinka acquired.
Behind door number two is a trade package for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, two players who will never reach the heights that Russell Westbrook or Irving have in their careers, but are very capable NBA players who are an incredibly good fit with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Oh, and there aren’t as many questions about your interest in showing up to work every day.
Technically, there are a couple more doors that represent other options, but for now, these are the focus of this week’s episode of “The Anthony Irwin Show.” Also, acknowledging that the Lakers can only technically run last year’s core is pretty depressing and I’d rather pretend that door is locked forever.
Let’s take a look at that 2020 champion team. Yes, James and Davis were, without a doubt, the engine and rotor of that boat, but the crew tasked with helping to ensure it ran at optimum levels was very important. Since then, that battle-tested group has been whittled down and replaced by an unrecognizable and uninspiring collection of guys who we’re not sure can steer any ship in the right direction.
The maddening part of all of this is that Rob Pelinka, who was essentially a role player on a championship team, has played a central role in stripping a championship roster of its valuable role players. The message at every step: If you’re not a star, you’re expendable. The lesson throughout: That’s an incredibly stupid message!
Yes, there’s almost no doubt that James prefers the Irving route, even after acquiring a superstar point guard who hilariously blew up in his face just a year ago. Yes, Pelinka is now fighting for her job and appeasing James is probably the surest way to keep him. And yes, Irving has committed to basketball in ways he hasn’t in the last two years, it probably offers the highest ceiling.
But if the Lakers really want to show they learned from the disaster that was the 2021-22 campaign, the choice here is a relatively easy one: run the trade that draws multiple NBA-caliber players. Go back to the approach that won them a championship just a couple of seasons ago.
Role players do not earn headlines and will not sell tickets individually. But guys like Turner and Hield are more likely to help win basketball games. Somewhere along the line, the Lakers forgot that’s the whole point, and it’s time to remember.
This week, I got back with my old friend Adam Mares from DNVR to discuss this, Tim Connelly’s giant swing for fences, and Kobe Bryant’s admiration for Nikola Jokic.
You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you don’t miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast at itunes, Spotify, stapler either Google Podcasts.
And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin summarizes the previous day’s news and prepares you for the next day at LakerLand, every weekday morning at the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast Feed.