Never. Even if they finish ahead of the Lakers in the standings or win an NBA title (highly unlikely, though not impossible).
Though many believe there's a battle for hard-court supremacy in the City of Angels, it's the Lakers who are, and will continue to be the dominant basketball presence. There's just no denying the fact that the Lakers have owned L.A. since the days of Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.
And nothing will change that.
I can already hear hardcore Clippers fans pounding away on their laptop keyboards to tell me that I'm crazy, that I've gone off the deep end, don't know what I am talking about and will rue the day I ever thought to write such a ludicrous column. And then those same fans will wake up from their bad dream and realize I was right all along.
If you had asked me about the Lakers in May or June, I might have sounded a different tune. The team had just been bounced from the playoffs for the second consecutive year and looked tired, disorganized and nonchalant in the process. They had no first-round draft picks in June, were way above the salary cap and had just a mini mid-level exception in an empty bag of tricks as they headed into summer and a dismal looking offseason.
In other words, the Lakers were walking wounded—head honcho Jim Buss sounded like General George Custer circling the wagons when he was asked by L.A. Times columnist T.J. Simers what he and management might do to get the Lakers moving in the right direction.
"I think changes are going to be made moving Pau (Gasol) lower to the ba...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
