This franchise is simply not in terrible shape. There have been some bad front office decisions but they only have short term implications.
Henry Abbott and the rest of the Truehoop staff have long had a systematic campaign of discrediting Kobe Bryant as a ball player, this is nothing new...
I wouldn't read too much into it.
The problem is they paid him way too much money to build a contender around his massive contract, which is the front office's fault. Most guys are going to take that money if it's put on the table in front of them.
Dwight Howard left because he is -- for lack of a better word -- a big baby, and doesn't like being held accountable, and doesn't like being told what he doesn't want to hear. He's never going to win a championship, so it's better for the Lakers long-term that he's gone.
Jimmy Buss and the front office are the bigger problems here: they have hired lemons as coaches since Jerry Buss died and the idiot son rose to power. Then overpaying Kobe Bryant by nearly double what he is worth ensured they would not be competitive until he retires / re-signs for less once this contract is up.
Getting Steve Nash was dumb then and it looks dumber now. Ditto for hiring Mike Brown (put a pushover in charge of several of the biggest egos in the league, yeah great idea Jimmy). Hiring Mike D'Antoni over Phil Jackson was maybe the dumbest hire in the history of sports in terms of opportunity cost. Then hiring Byron Scott was a low-risk / low-reward kinda dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. All front office stuff.
BUT THEN at the same time, they're going to have a lot of financial flexibility with the rising cap and all those expiring contracts, so don't expect them to stay down for long at all. I think they knew they weren't going to be competitive so they just said, "Hey, let's give Kobe a massive deal and surround him with expiring contracts while we watch him try to go for 40 every night while he does his retirement victory lap, then we'll rebuild when he's gone."
Julius Randle is going to be a good, tough player as well. They have Houston's first round draft pick next year, which kinda makes up for the first rounder the stupidly traded away for Steve Nash's decaying corpse (but not really, because their pick to Phx will be higher, which again is Kupchack/Buss's fault, not Kobe's). However, the pick to Phx is top 5 protected next year, so it's in LA's best interest to lose a tonne of games this year so they get to keep it. They might end up actually keeping that pick, so they'll have two first rounders next year.
This franchise won't stay irrelevant for long, and when you look at what they're going to have going forward, it's not a bad situation at all. Financial flexibility, a massive market, and deep pockets.
This isn't the Brooklyn Nets we're talking about here...
