Age, the lack of a quality point guard and dependence on an antiquated offensive scheme are just a few of the reasons Los Angeles failed to defend their 2010 NBA title, and in all honesty, you had to see it coming.
The Miami Heat's ability to sign LeBron James, Chris Bosh and re-sign Dwyane Wade forced other teams to adjust to Pat Riley's blueprint and focus their energy on signing multiple star players to compete with the Heat's free-agency coup.
Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire in New York is one example, and many observers expect the biggest names in the free agency class of 2012 such as Dwight Howard and Chris Paul to form their own versions of super teams.
The convergence of stars in Miami was lauded as a bold and historical event, and it was seen by some as the next step in the NBA's evolution, but the only problem is the concept of pairing superstars to chase titles is not very bold, and it's definitely not historical.
In fact, Riley was only following a script that had been perfected during his time as coach of the Lakers during the Showtime era, and this same script is the reason it would be very foolish to dismiss the Lakers in the future.
Since the Lakers were formed in 1948, the franchise has only failed to qualify for the postseason five times, and they have captured 16 NBA titles and appeared in the NBA finals a total of 31 times, which is nearly half of all finals series played.
The Lakers as a franchise have defined success, but more importantly, they have also defined consistency, which makes all the talk about their demise a little silly.
I have been following the Lakers since 1980, and ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
