Throughout this course we learned many facts about the Los Angeles Lakers that helped me better understand their history, business and social life. I think the Lakers have improved drastically in the past decades. By choosing the right players, coaches, and staff, they were able to move forward with their success. This is good to see because it is hard for any basketball team, such as the Lakers, to stay as one team. Not only did the Lakers become a better basketball team; they became successful economically as well.
When they first started out as a team, the Lakers were located in Minneapolis. They were named the Lakers because Minneapolis is nicknamed “city of lakes” or “the land of a thousand lakes”. Minneapolis is a small town and back then, the team was worth about twenty million dollars. Now that they are in Los Angeles, one of the famous cities in California, a metropolitan city, they have a net worth of seven billion dollars. That is a drastic change in just thirty-three years. Their move to a better location indicates that it was a benefit for them.
However, they do not stop making business even though they are very wealthy. Recently, the Lakers signed a contract with the Time Warner television. Now, the people from Los Angeles can watch the games on their local television. In addition to having a lot of money, their social life has become more popular throughout the decades. The Lakers have grown into becoming a better basketball team. In the beginning of the Lakers Era, the Lakers did not have a big name. It was not until “Showtime” when the Lakers got more popular.
Showtime was the era when the Lakers’ court plays were fast paced led by Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. As a result, they won five NBA Championships. Showtime attracted many fans and even got some big celebrities to come out and watch the Lakers play. This was one of the ways the Lakers got a lot of attention from the media. The celebrities would bring in the media and the fans also. Many famous celebrities started going to their games. A celebrity that is a huge Lakers fan is Jack Nicholson.
He has had season tickets since the 1970s and is working his shooting schedules around the Lakers games. Not only did they bring a lot of celebrities to their games, they started selling their gears in stores. They sell gears such as jerseys, socks, sweaters, hoodies, cups, and etc. They are sold mostly around the world, if not all of it, because they are a very popular team. Kobe Bryant, in particular, has the most seller jerseys around the world from China, to Europe and Latin America. In winter of 2010, I went to Bangladesh for a soccer tournament and when we went shopping I noticed many Lakers gears.
The main one they were selling was Bryant’s number twenty-four. Never did I think the people in Bangladesh would know what the word, let alone the team, “Lakers” meant. Seeing that made me realize that the Lakers are known all over the world. However, in the perspective of their basketball side, the Lakers had their ups and downs throughout this whole journey. Every time the team started losing, the coach would be at fault. They would then fire the coach for not winning any games. This past couple of month, the Lakers have been struggling with their coach Mike Brown.
Because the Lakers had a very solid team, their roster being—Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, and Meta World Peace—they were expected to win games. All of that changed when the season started. They started losing games and to some weak teams and everyone pointed at Mike Brown. Because Mike Brown did not have any championship rings in his coaching career, and could not get a win for the Lakers with the three All-Star players in his roster, he was fired in the middle of the season. The one coach the Lakers should have kept was Phil Jackson.
Jackson won the Lakers five championships and has a total of eleven, six with the Chicago Bulls in the Michael Jordan era. When Jackson left the team in 2004, the Lakers did not make it to the finals. Right off the bat, they hired him again in 2005 when Rudy Tomjanovich resigned midway season. With Jackson coming back to the team, the Lakers were able to get some more rings in the upcoming years. Jackson had his moments with the team but at the end of the day he was the only coach that would most likely give them another ring. The Lakers have always been a “one man” team in their games.
From the very beginning of the time, their dominant player was Milkan. A source states, “The biggest name of all was Milkan, and fans flocked to see him in every BAA city. When the Lakers arrived in New York to face the Knickerbockers, the marquee at Madison Square Garden read “George Milkan vs. Knicks. ”” The team depended on Milkan so much that the media put “George Milkan vs. Knicks” to the public instead of “Lakers vs. Knicks”. The fans were ecstatic to see him play. Even now, the one player the Lakers depend on is Bryant.
Bryant has been the key player for the Lakers. Lately, Bryant has been frustrated in the way the Lakers have been playing. After their loss to the Magic he states, “I’ll kick everybody’s [butt] in this locker room if we don’t fix things”. Bryant stating this shows how careless his team is about winning a game. Yes, we got Dwight Howard and Steve Nash on our roster now but they don’t seem to be doing much work. With Nash out, Bryant is determined to take over his position. They still have yet to learn to play with each other and their teammates.
The past couple of games Bryant has been scoring thirty points or more for his team, which shows that either he is not passing the ball, or he is doing all the work. With all that success, the Lakers can become a much better team in the future. You would think that they would be nothing without Bryant after he retires, but they seem to be the next ones going for the championship. The Lakers were smart to sign Dwight Howard, since he is very young and competitive. They knew Bryant’s time as a Laker was coming to an end and looked for the next big player in the league.
Even though they did not sign someone in Bryant’s position, they were smart about their choice. With Andrew Bynum always being hurt, they needed the best center. They have a lot of time to teach Dwight Howard the techniques and have him lead the Lakers to a championship without Bryant. After Bryant’s retirement, the Lakers can build the team around Howard just like they did back then with Shaquille O’Neal. With the ideas of the owner, Jerry Buss, his son Jim Buss, and the General Manager, Mitch Kupchak, they can start signing new players on to the team as well.
One of the players that I think will be soon a Laker is none other than LeBron James. Because Bryant will be leaving soon and he is the most paid player in the team, the Lakers can sign some other All-Stars to their roster. They are going to focus on someone young, and very talented. LeBron James is one of the guys the Lakers are aiming for in 2014 when he becomes a free agent. I am not that excited for the future of the Los Angeles Lakers. In the next few years, the Lakers will not be the same team as they are now without Kobe Bryant.
Honestly I am more of a Bryant fan than a Lakers fan and to see him leave I do not see why I should watch the game. In fact, I might not. Someone will rise up to be the next Bryant, but I think that will take some time. However, that will not stop them from being a better team. With the new players added to the roster, I believe they will be a good team. With that being said, I believe the Lakers will grow to become more successful and popular in the next generation. With Bryant retiring in the next couple of years, I did not think Lakers would have anyone anymore.
But now looking from the beginning and seeing the plans the general manager and owner has been making to improve the Lakers, I feel like they are in good hands. In the near future, the Lakers can sign many All-Stars because they will have the money. The owner is ten steps ahead of everyone and knows what he is doing exactly. Although his son made a very bad decision of canceling their offer to Phil Jackson for this season, I think they have a plan. They have been planning everything from the beginning and that is why all three factors of the Lakers life, the social side, the business side, and the basketball side, they will go far.
