I focus on college football, I’m an expert on college football. But as a sports fan, I have opinions on many different sports and leagues. In this edition of Mike On Sports, I have bad news for LA Lakers fans.
When I grew up, the Lakers were Showtime. Magic Johnson led them to an NBA title with Kareem Abdul-Jabaar as the best center in basketball and teamed with James Worthy and others to bring a fascinating and exciting brand of basketball to the NBA. I hated the Lakers as a Celtics fan and the battles between the two were epic.
The Lakers were revived by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and continued the dominance of the franchise for years. The 80s and 2000s belonged to the Lakers with shrewd basketball minds leading the way. And then they sucked. The Lakers went from their title in 2010 to multiple losing seasons before LeBron James graced them with his presence and they won a cheap bubble COVID title in 2020. LeBron has tried to form super teams like he had in Miami but they haven’t finished higher than 7th in the West since that COVID year.
So when Danny Hurley gets offered a lot more money to coach the Lakers but decides to return to UConn it’s not just about him being an east coast guy or his wife’s geographic preference. It’s because the Lakers job isn’t what it used to be.
I can list the following teams in the West alone — Dallas, Minnesota, Denver, Oklahoma City, LA Clippers and even Phoenix with no draft picks that are in better shape for the future than LA. And none of them are relying on an aging superstar who wants to get his below average son drafted to play with him. The Lakers haven’t been good in awhile, the COVID title is suspect and they don’t look like they’ll be good anytime soon. Hurley isn’t dumb. He saw that and said no thanks. Hurley will take an NBA job within the next few years, trust me. But the temptation to run a storied franchise like the Lakers just wasn’t as tempting as it should be. LeBron is known for getting coaches fired and rarely takes the responsibility of losing upon himself. He’s a coach killer at times and Hurley didn’t want to deal with that or his son, regardless of the money.
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As the Boston Celtics cruise to banner No. 18 I laugh that the Lakers can’t lure a guy out of Storrs, CT. My old hatred for the Lakers faded when the greats like Kareem, Magic, Kobe and Shaq retired and now I see a franchise and fan base that clings to being competitive against the team that won the NBA title last year. Yes, last year. Hanging in season tournament banners and losing to the team that lost to the team that lost to the team that lost to the team that won it all is sad yet funny all the same.
