This appears on philstar.com
Looking at Aldridge
Spurning LA
by rick olivares
One team celebrates while another gnashes its teeth
and asks, “How has it come to this?”
One of the prized free agents this summer, LaMarcus
Aldridge, late of the Portland Trailblazers, has announced via Twitter, that he
is going to join Greg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili over
at San Antonio to try and win another NBA championship.
Aldridge isn’t the only one to spurn the Lakers,
Detroit power forward Greg Monroe opted to go to the Milwaukee instead of playing
for the Los Angeles Lakers! Remember when the Bucks’ Lew Alcindor left
Milwaukee and Oscar Robertson for the Lakers? Now Monroe chooses the Bucks who
he believes to be a better fit for him and that has a bigger chance of
competing for a NBA title!
The Lakers were able to avoid a strike three when
they landed the Indiana Pacers’ troubled center Roy Hibbert.
A long time ago, I read about how the Lakers was one
of the more desirable NBA destinations (this was in the mid-1990s) if not the
preferred destination.
Why not? The celebrities came out to watch
championship-caliber teams with Magic Johnson running the point guard position.
There too was the great weather, the allure of Hollywood, a great location with
good golf facilities and business opportunities.
Remember how Mychal Thompson proved to be a huge
addition to LA in the mid-1980s as the Lakers won the first back-to-back NBA
titles since the Bill Russell-era Boston Celtics?
How about when they landed Shaquille O’Neal, Pau
Gasol, and even Dwight Howard?
Of course, people conveniently forget that this was a
different time. The purple and gold were perennial NBA contenders. But if you
look at the Lakers, the one time they looked like a fun bunch was the 1980s.
When they won their lone title with Wilt Chamberlain, they were mostly an
underachieving bunch. In the 90s after Johnson hung up his sneakers for good,
they were dysfunctional -- good teams that never seemed to put it together.
When they won in the new millennium, they nabbed an
incredible three-peat in spite of being a nightmarish soap opera. It all
coalesced in 2004 when they were defeated by Detroit, 4-1, in the NBA Finals
despite starting four Hall-of-Famers in O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, and
Gary Payton.
Head coach Phil Jackson wrote a book about that
trying season titled, “The Last Season: A Team in Search of its Soul that
detailed the problems that plagued the team that season. More recently, in the
wake of allegations by Robert Horry that he couldn’t wait to get out of there,
you wonder if that the family atmosphere only pertains to the Busses and
nothing else. Remember too how they tried to trade Gasol on numerous occasions?
Howard wanted no part of the feuding with Bryant that he skipped town after one
season in purple and gold.
Like everything else, the worms turns for everyone. Since
their last NBA title during the 2009-10 season, the Lakers have hit rock bottom.
They finished 21-61 and 27-55 the past two seasons. They have an ageing star in
Bryant – albeit one of the best of all-time – who still commands the volume of
touches and will continue to do so upon his return – some young and exciting
talent. But not much.
Since the San Antonio Spurs brought in Popovich and
Duncan, the team has been remarkably consistent in its contender status as well
as culture. When you see players who could opt out and move to another team for
max money and for the status of being the Man but stay put that has to say
something about the organization.
Jerry Krause used to contradict Michael Jordan by
saying that organizations not teams win championships. The answer is in
between. In the years post-Jordan the Chicago Bulls struggled to attract top
free agents. The thinking is, “If the Bulls could low-ball Jordan, Scottie
Pippen, and Phil Jackson, then how much more them considering they haven’t won
anything?” Since then the Bulls, of course, have become a better organization
by bringing in solid people but they just can’t seem to find themselves out of
controversies and infighting.
When Aldridge spurned Los Angeles for San Antonio, it
was a clear signal that history and Hollywood isn’t everything. Sure, Aldridge
is going home to Texas, his home state but there’s more to that as well. The
reality is he is also going to another team with some glittering history
itself. Furthermore, you get none of those barbs and tirades between players,
front office types, and whatnot as for close to two decades now, the Spurs have
run an efficient ship.
You hear stories of how Steve Kerr (backed with
Golden State’s owners) have also created a great atmosphere and I couldn’t help
but think that playing for a sound team isn’t so bad. If Andre Igoudala didn’t
make a fuss about coming off the bench then that was a major factor. Think of
Manu Ginobili sometimes starting and sometimes coming off the bench. How many
NBA titles does he have?
The old model doesn’t work. Welcome to the new NBA.
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