Magic says the Lakers are back. That would be quite a trick.
The made-for-TV summer series is over, with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA Summer League championship in what looked more like the McDonald’s All-American Game than the true pro basketball playoffs.
I’ve said here before what a smart marking move NBA Commissioner and Duke graduate Adam Silver made in turning what was essentially a camp for rookies, free agents looking for contracts, and reserves who will never play once the real season starts into a high-profile summer league schedule.
The enthusiastic crowds in Las Vegas have made what used to be exhibitions in empty gyms must-see TV for basketball junkies getting their summertime fix. But don’t mistake these games for anything that resembles the NBA we all know. Even when the Lakers add whatever veterans they have to this rookie roster, they’re still among the worst teams in the Warriors-Rockets-Thunder led Western Conference.
So as new Lakers’ President Magic Johnson, who returned to his unsuccessful coaching career for the summer league, declared the “Lakers are back” you have to wonder who exactly he is talking about. Rookie Lonzo Ball was a summer league MVP for averaging more than 9 assists a game, but the true test comes when Ball faces the real ballers of the NBA.
It’s a small step for the franchise once known as “Show Time” when Magic played more than 30 years ago, and Laker fans need to temper their excitement. Ball and former Dukie Brandon Ingram aren’t exactly Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, who must be watching from home chuckling at all the hoopla in Sin City. For that reason, their summer league profile is bad for teams trying to rebuild.
They should be indoctrinating themselves in virtual anonymity, not raising a trumped-up trophy to the sky and celebrating like it is June. The Lakers’ phony championship is likely to insure another last-place finish when they try to prove it for real and get it thrown back in their collective faces once the serious season starts next November.
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