Ripping the Lakers right now is about as challenging as ripping Qatar as a World Cup venue. You don’t even have to try.
That said, the voice of Magic Johnson shredding the Lakers — on twitter, most recently on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno — rings hollow. For a guy whose statue is outside Staples Center he spent a lot of time ripping the coach, players and everyone associated with the organization. He swung wildly on issues — remember he fully supported the hiring of Mike Brown when it happened — and of late he sounded like a drunk, frustrated fan at a bar complaining about everything. He was part of a foolish “the Lakers should be a contender every single year” mindset that is delusional. His already tedious twitter feed had been filled with Lakers blasts.
Finally, someone seems to have gotten through to him, that this wasn’t good for his image (and someday when the Dodgers’ struggle he wouldn’t enjoy the Karma). This is from Magic’s timeline on Thursday night.
https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/statuses/429104299646676992
https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/statuses/429104818461114368
https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/statuses/429106052689571840
The Lakers are not good right now but that’s about the talent on the floor, now what D’Antoni is doing with it. The plan for the Lakers is to go find elite talent the next couple years — somewhat via the draft but more via free agency the next couple summers — then when they have the talent decide who should coach it. Until then, D’Antoni’s style is entertaining and can help guys like Kendall Marshall thrive. It helps other guys put up inflated numbers that boosts their trade value. He’s a good fit for this team right now.
I don’t like saying Magic Johnson is wrong because he is my all-time favorite player, and he is a guy who has done more off the court for my city of Los Angeles than he did on the court (not to mention his helping change the image of HIV). I admire the man. But he should be smart enough to know where the Lakers really are in the process right now. This “the Lakers should never be anything but a contender” attitude is outdated and that more indicative of the drunk fan at the bar than any rational thought.
I’m glad Magic is moving on, so well all can.