by The Purple Emperor » Fri Mar 04, 2016 9:09 pm
The ink was bright black, like a fresh death. I wanted to rip the paper in half. That should have been my story, not his.
Culling The Lakers Mystique
by Jake Naveen
The moon is new, and so are the Lakers after the team shockingly dealt away the greatest player in the game, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, for two first round picks. That this marked a partial rescinding of the earlier trade that brought M.L. Carr to Los Angeles means that in essence, Kareem and the Lakers' 2nd round pick was traded for M.L. Carr, Leon Douglas, Detroit's 1979 1st and 2nd round picks. There's selling for ten cents on the dollar and then there's this - a free charity giveaway to the Motor City.
This is a travesty of the highest order. Kareem should have stayed in purple and gold until his twilight, and now the all-too brief time he had with us will now be eclipsed by the spectre of a younger, far less talented squad. It will take years for us to see a breaking dawn, and the darkness has me howling with rage. Remember, it's just a handful of games into the season and the Lakers made a major move in bringing in Carr. From my own basketball days at Syracuse, I can tell you when you make that big a move, it takes time for the team to gel and the players to adapt - especially when it's a player of Carr's caliber, who represents a major shakeup of the lineup.
I'm told that assistant GM Ed Culling was the one who orchestrated the move. He is now my mortal enemy. To engage in such short-sightedness is to ruin a lot of careers and break a lot of fans' hearts. Now we all need to watch the Lakers listlessly go through the rest of the season and hope the lottery gods smile upon us. Culling has sucked the life out of the Lakers, and there's nothing, nothing sparkling about the squad now. The only way this trade will work is if the team's pick turns into the likes of Bernard King or Jack Sikma, and then only if those college superstars prove to be NBA stars in their own right.
***End Excerpt***
Personally, I thought it a bit extreme to call someone a mortal enemy over one bad trade, but what did I know? As to why Jake got the assignment over me... Oscar said I still wasn't 100% after I got back, so he put me to work covering high school basketball. High school basketball. High school. You don't care about that, and neither did I. It also cut off all chances I had of going to New York. Not that it mattered. Mishell still hadn't written me.
The rest of November passed in a blur - filled with the stink, acne, and basketball of high school gymnasiums; the vodka sweats and belches of dive bars; the growing laundry and dust of my apartment in which I stared at my glowing TV. Much to my anguish, the next game was in New York against the Knicks. Though it was foolish, I spent most of the game searching the crowd for Mishell. Naturally, I couldn't find her. The Lakers overcame a slow start to fight back in the second half and steal their second straight stunning victory after utilizing a curious lineup of Lucius Allen/Dwight Lamar/Earl Tatum/M.L. Carr/Kermit Washington in extended spurts. M.L. Carr scored 23 and we got a lot of contributions from the bench.
Balanced scoring, keyed by Don Chaney's 16 bench points, led to a third straight win, the easiest of the year, at home vs Denver. One thing I noticed is that the team became more aggressive from the 3 point line without Kareem. I thought sure the surreal run would end at the Pacers, but no - it was the first true blowout of the year - a 115-98 rout engineered by Don Chaney and Kermit Washington teeing off for 21 points each, Washington adding 9 boards besides. And then there was M.L. Carr swiping the ball 7 times. I just didn't understand this team at all, or the fact we flattened a powerhouse on their own turf. Maybe dealing Kareem was addition by subtraction?
Next, a road trip to the lowly Jazz. Down by 20 in the first half as only M.L. Carr's 17 points were doing anything, Lucius Allen suddenly erupted in the second 20, finishing with 25 points and 14 assists, and the bench mob alive with Cazzie Russell's 23 points and surprise Cornell Warner somehow finding a 16 point, 10 rebound double-double, and incredibly, another comeback win. Just who was this team? The miracle finally ran out against of juice against Portland, as was to be expected. Then a blowout loss at Oklahoma City, which saw Cornell Warner starting over Leon Douglas at center. Gritty defense and 28 points from Cazzie Russell sparked an ugly win vs Golden State, as M.L. Carr had a one game injury.
And then in the final game of the month, a 20 point lead went right out the window as the Lakers fell to the Kings in the last minute of play, wasting Lucius Allen's 13 points, 11 assists and Kermit Washington's 26 points. Ron Boone singlehandledly torched us for 43 points.
So there the Lakers sat, 9-5, still just a game out of the Pacific lead. Meanwhile, at 8-9, Detroit barely hung on to the 8th seed over Milwaukee in the West.
But I didn't really pay much attention. I was still on the high school beat.
More importantly, finally came the contact I'd been waiting for.