One-on-One: Let's sift through mess of dysfunctional Lakers

Heery: Do you think the Lakers get any big-time free agents this summer? Is it any surprise that the three teams remaining in the playoffs are run by quality organizations?

Keane: By the way, not only did Magic shred the Lakers' organization, he did it mere hours before the team introduced new head coach Frank Vogel, who was subsequently ignored at his own news conference while Pelinka answered questions about Magic. It’s not even clear who is in charge -– nominally it’s Jeanie Buss, but her best friend Linda Rambis weighs in on decisions, as does her former fiancee Phil Jackson, and her brothers are reportedly angling for more power. It’s not a coincidence that the year former owner Dr. Jerry Buss died was the last year the Lakers made the playoffs.

The Lakers are going to pay top dollar for someone this summer, but that doesn’t mean they’re getting a big-time free agent. It’s more likely to be a Jimmy Butler-level player than Kawhi Leonard, and Kawhi may prefer the other team in the Staples Center. I think they’ll make a hard push for Anthony Davis, trade the No. 4 pick, and end up with a veteran on a short deal -– perhaps Paul Millsap, or a traded Kyle Lowry. They might also have to agree to star in "Space Jam 2,” a movie which LeBron is also struggling to recruit players for.

The organizational dysfunction is being revealed just as competent organizations are thriving in the playoffs. The Warriors are going to their fifth straight Finals with the same core players, coach and GM. Toronto has gone to the playoffs every year since signing GM Masai Ujiri away from the Nuggets, who missed the playoffs for five straight years after he left. And Milwaukee has GM Jon Horst, who has been with the organization since age 25. Imagine choosing an executive because he’s worked for your team for a decade, rather than hiring your last superstar’s agent (Pelinka).

Keane: What do you think are the keys to having a good organization, besides keeping your employees away from Stephen A. Smith interviews?

Heery: What a concept indeed!  It's like they tried to copy what Golden State did with Bob Myers except with a dash of Mamba Mentality. Unfortunately, Rob Pelinka's Mamba Mentality burnt a bunch of bridges with people in front offices around the league.  Did Jeanie hire her brothers to oversee the due diligence or something?

When I think of the best organizations in the NBA -- Warriors, Spurs, Raptors, Bucks, Celtics, Clippers, Mavericks. --- a couple of factors stand out to me (none of which the Lakers possess). The first factor is having a first-generation owner. In other words, you want your team to be owned by someone who was smart enough to make his/her own fortune and interested enough in the NBA to invest in a team. You don't want the kid(s) who inherited the franchise from daddy (see, James Dolan, Jeanie Buss). 

The second factor, inspired by my 118th viewing of Remember the Titans last week, is presenting a united front. The last thing a franchise needs is members of the front office leaking information about organizational disfunction to Woj and Shams. Have you ever heard anything shaky come out about the in-fighting in the front offices of Boston, Toronto or Golden State? Remember when it was reported that Danny Ainge wanted to fire Brad Stevens, but the COO stepped in and stopped him? You don't? Right, because that would never happen with the Celtics.

Finally, you need people who know what they're good at and what they're not good at. Take the Clippers, for example. Owner Steve Ballmer knows he's good at making a lot of money, running a business, inspiring those around him, and thinking outside the box. He also knows that he's not good at evaluating talent, coaching or managing the salary cap. So what's he do? He empowers his people in the front office. He asks questions, then he listens. And he addresses his own mistakes. Doc Rivers is a good coach but was a really bad GM. Instead of simply firing Rivers, Ballmer reduced his role to coaching and brought in Jerry West as a consultant. He figured out what Rivers was best at and inspired him to stay with the organization to do what he does best: coach basketball.

Keane: Besides the Lakers, there are other franchises that seem adrift. It’ll be interesting to see what Grant Hill and the Hawks do with their late lottery picks and $40 million in cap space. It could be time to splurge on free agents before Trae Young gets expensive and the Southeast Division improves. The Wizards finally fired Ernie Grunfeld, who took over as GM after Michael Jordan’s final retirement, then they unsuccessfully tried to hire away Denver’s team president. Meanwhile owner Ted Leonsis wants to reunite Fugazi. Speaking of Jordan, his Hornets, a perpetual 10th-place team in the East, might lose Kemba Walker this summer. If so, we could see another teardown in Charlotte. Maybe Jordan should step away from basketball for a year to run a minor league baseball team.

Yet no one seems as lost as the Lakers right now, who dealt with the loss of Magic Johnson by not even hiring a replacement president of basketball operations. Maybe it’s a money-saving move -- they still don’t have a shooting coach, after all. On paper, the team really should be in good shape. They have cap space, young talent, the No. 4 pick, and LeBron James, who turns 35 in December, and presumably wants to win. Now.

But do you trust Pelinka and Buss to build a winning team around him?

Heery: My view on the Lakers' situation is that they have too many assets to not be a contender in the next two years. They have the ultimate asset in LeBron, who went on the greatest playoff run ever a mere 12 months ago and has presumably spent the past month drawing motivation from people talking about him the same way they talked about Kobe Bryant post-Achilles tear. 

They have a playoff-tested coach. And they have the cap space and assets you mentioned. Maintaining the status quo could make them a fringe contender. Trading their assets for AD could make them a contender. Trading some of their assets for Bradley Beal could make them a contender. Signing any "A" or "B"-level free agent could make them a contender. 

They could friggin' put up Twitter polls about which free agent to sign: "Should we re-sign Lance Stephenson or sign Wayne Ellington?", and the bots on Twitter could point them in the right direction. They'd literally have to try to screw this up to not become a winning team. So, do I trust the two of them build a contender? 

Hell, no!