Why the Lakers should just tank the rest of the season

Alright, so before everyone starts crapping all over this post, let me preface this by acknowledging that this is simply NOT going to happen; you just don't bring in a winner and Lakers legend like Magic Johnson as the President of Basketball Operations, pull off the FA signing of the decade in bringing in Lebron for 3 (or 4) years and just tank his first year away.

That being said, if I was in charge of the Lakers and I knew my job was safe for the entirety of Lebron's contract (at least), then I would most definitely look at these 20 first games and decide to tank the rest of the year away and here is why:

1. Keep Lebron on ice until the games actually matter

Let's start this one by talking about the obvious elephant in the room - the one and only, the King of Akron, Lebron James. First off, props where it's due: this guy is unreal. To still be considered by far and away the best player in the world in his 16th season is absurd, and to top that with the simple fact that the second half of his career has been entirely spent going to back to back (to back to back x8) NBA finals is something not even MJ was able to accomplish - so much so that he had to take 1.5 off because of the mental toll three-peating took on him.

Now to the real issue: Lebron is getting old now and the last thing we need is for him to add another full year of mileage when no one expects the Lakers to actually contend for a championship this year; and really, in my opinion, there's nothing worse than making the playoffs just to get bounced in the first (maybe second) round. Not only did you not win a championship, but you just added more mileage to Lebron and you lose a shot at a lottery draft pick.

Now on the other side of that coin, people will argue that

1. it's been long enough since we haven't been in the playoffs, enough is enough, let's make it there, make some noise, enjoy the ride and get a better shot next year - I disagree whole heartedly with that approach. You either aim for the championship or take a smarter approach to the season. And honestly, if we did tank, what would we/you all do? stop watching the Lakers? nope, we've dealt with 5 years of horrible basketball, we'll be just fine tanking one more if it means a better shot at the chip next year.

2. We need the young guys to get SOME playoff experience before we take a real shot at the title, use this year to accomplish that. While that's a solid argument, when I'm looking at the current Western Conference, I'm not seeing much early competition so long as we avoid the Warriors in the first round - The rockets look worse this year and when you add another year on CP3's legs, he'll only get slower and less effective aaaaand then the rest of the West doesn't really scare me right now. Use the first couple rounds next year to get the young core (we keep) the experience they need and just throw them into the fire when we get to the west finals.

So this is my proposed solution:

As you tank the year away, play Lebron no more than 26 mins a game (the first 8 mins of the first and third quarters and the last 5 mins of the second and fourth) but ask him to play at 100% THE WHOLE 26 MINS. I truly hate the 60% of Lebron we've gotten most of this year; yes, he's good enough that he can post a near triple-double when going at 60%, but it gets in the way of the current players actually knowing what it's like to play with Lebron, because 100% Lebron is a guy I not only trust to create mismatches all over the court, bully his way to the rim and either score, get fouled or kick the ball out to a wide open teammate but also trust to play all NBA-level defense. And right now, that's not what we're getting. Right now, we get a lazy ass Lebron on defense, who doesn't seem to be able to guard his man (prefers ball watching) and doesn't make the rotation when needed.

[and again, while no other superstar has done what he's done in the modern era of basketball - getting to 8 straight finals and still being this dominant - it's just not something you ever saw from MJ or Kobe (granted when Kobe had a shitty knee and post-Achilles injury he simply wasn't the same player on both ends of the court) Magic, etc.]

Give me 100% Lebron, 26 mins a night so everyone on the team knows exactly how to play with Lebron, how to play team defense knowing every single player will make the right rotation and cover for each other.

By taking this approach, you not only save Lebron's legs by only playing him those 26 mins a game, but you also take the mental toll away - if the year doesn't really matter, Lebron can just play the game the way Luke wants to play it and not have to worry about being ready by the time the playoffs roll around. Just play the game to keep yourself in shape, observe which young piece has your blessing and focus on building the right team for next year's run.

2. Developing the young core

Alright, so to me, this is almost more important than conserving Lebron's legs - if you tank, there is no longer any pressure to play the veterans and you can finally play the living hell out of the youngings. And I'm pretty sure everyone here will agree that we simply haven't seen enough of Lonzo as of late, with Luke seemingly finding every excuse in the book for why he went for a different player to close out games. If you tank, no one care, you can play Lonzo 35-40 mins a game and no one cares.

Beyond that, though, you also get to sit Ingram and Kuzma down and tell them "you guys are starters in the NBA, there's no arguing that, but in order to win, we're going to need more than just a top-notch starting 5, so I'm going to experiment playing you both in and out of the second unit. Suck it up, ball out and show me you'll do WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN".

One of the line-ups we've all wanted to see is Lonzo, Hart, Ingram, Lebron and McGee (I'm content subbing Ingram out for Kuzma) but because of the early Ingram suspension and how Kuzma played in his absence, Luke has them both in the starting lineup every damn game and we simply haven't been able to truly evaluate that starting line up yet. If you tank, no one cares about putting out the "best" lineup to win games, you now have the freedom to experiment to your heart's content, including having Ingram and/or Kuzma come off the bench to really beef up our second unit.

Almost more importantly, you evaluate who stays and who goes - everyone seems to understand that this year is an evaluation year. We look at how the young kids fit next to Lebron, whoever does well stays, and whoever doesn't gets traded for players who will. By giving the kids more burn and playing them in all kinds of line up you finally get to have them audition for the championship run next year. If they outperform expectation, you now have trade-able assets to (maybe) grab yourself a superstar or a piece that fits better around LBJ.

3. You put yourself in the best position to go balls out on contending for a championship next year.

My only concern as the Lakers' President is winning a championship, no matter how ugly it has to get (looking at you, Philly) and tanking also gets you the final benefit - a lottery pick.

What you do with that pick is up for grabs - grab yourself a player that can contribute immediately (preferably a quick footed Center/PF) or use it as an asset to get you a solid contributor for next year's run, it doesn't matter. You now have a valuable asset you can use to put yourself in an even better position to make a run next year and that really should be the only focus this year.

Conclusion:

Ok, so maybe I got the inspiration to write this post after watching a pathetic effort from this team last night against Denver, hell, maybe we win the next 5 games in a row and I end up deleting this post altogether, especially since none of it is actually going to happen.

All I know is that instead of taking the L this summer and just banking on getting a younger superstar next year (I really believe we could have landed KD, or KL if Lebron wasn't already here which meant potentially overshadowing them as the Alpha) that would have given us 100% all year while playing a style of basketball that actually gels with our roster (run and gun mentality Lebron can't keep up with) we landed LBJ, and while I am grateful and excited, we also got ourselves a more limited window of opportunity and a bunch of players who don't all fit next to him.

Hey, maybe everything actually works out; we pull off a nice trade at the deadline that improves our team for a run in this year's playoffs and set ourselves up even more by signing a second star in free agency next summer and go on to win 1 or even 2 championships before Lebron's contract is up - or maybe it all goes to shit and my idea wasn't really all that crazy after all ;)

I guess only time will tell...

*As I'm re-reading this I'm realizing I just threw a bunch of random thoughts on paper, but hey, what's this section for if not to post random thoughts by a Lakers fan =D