The proud Los Angeles Lakers franchise has been in rebuild mode for entirely too long now. Fans of the purple and gold are very impatient, which is totally understandable.
Boston is the only franchise with more NBA championships, at 17.
Nonetheless, the Lakers are only one title behind with 16 of their now.
What will it take for Los Angeles to reach 17?
Well, first of all, they must get rid of current head coach Byron Scott. Unfortunately for ‘Lakers Nation’, Scott believes he’ll be back next season.
“Absolutely,” Scott said two days after the team closed its 2015-16 season with a win over the Utah Jazz, which gave the Lakers a franchise-worst 17-65 record.
At the same time, Scott can believe that all he wants, but considering his two seasons as head coach have resulted in back-to-back franchise lows, the odds of him returning must be pretty slim.
Assuming Scott does indeed get the boot, we must ask which job is better between the Lakers and Timberwolves?
On the surface, you would think Los Angeles in a heartbeat, right?
They have the tradition, the aura, the glamour and beautiful weather.
Also, not to mention, with Kobe Bryant retiring, selling top free agents to come shouldn’t be too difficult.
While all of that may be true to certain extent, the job in Minnesota is still better.
Why?
For starters, you already have Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Wiggins won Rookie of the Year honors last year and it’s only a matter of time before Towns receives the hardware this year. The Kentucky product averaged 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, two dimes and 1.7 blocks per game at 20-years-old.
Oh yeah, Wiggins is only 21-years-old and he averaged over 20 points per game this season.
Furthermore, Minnesota still has Ricky Rubio, Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng and etc as good complimentary pieces.
With all of that being said, Minny has plenty of cap space to go along with a potential top five pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
Expect for them to add Buddy Hield, Kris Dunn or Jamal Murray because they desperately need outside shooting.
Defensively, they were very bad as well, but if they hire someone like Tom Thibodeau or Jeff Van Gundy as their next head coach, expect to see major improvement in that department.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have meetings set with the two top targets of the franchise’s basketball operations and coaching search: Tom Thibodeau and Jeff Van Gundy, league sources told The Vertical. Those meetings are expected to happen in the next few days, sources said.
With cornerstone pieces in Wiggins and Towns, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see this duo become one of the best in the association for years to come.
When it comes to Los Angeles, yes they have young talent in guys such as D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr and etc but none of them scream franchise player like Wiggins and Towns.
Now, things will change if they land the number one pick and get Ben Simmons. If they get the number two pick, no one will feel sorry for them when selecting Brandon Ingram, but he isn’t Simmons.
Although we believe free agents should flock to LA, it’s still an unknown at this point, which is another reason I must give the edge to Minny because they’re in a position where they don’t need stars via free agency.
Minny already has future all-stars in Wiggins and Towns.