The YOLO Lakers

Team building without a net

BY HENRY ABBOTT

How can all of these things be true?

• On April 11, TrueHoop published a story in which a Lakers source called the Lakers “an absolute organizational disaster.”

• On May 28, Baxter Holmes pulled back the curtain on what’s awry.

• Now it’s mid-June and the Lakers are the favorites to win the NBA title—twice as likely, in some places, as the second-rated Bucks.

It’s the difference between having good cards, and being good at poker.

Now, the Lakers have the best cards. Although David Thorpe discusses some stylistic wrinkles down below, all in all, Anthony Davis and LeBron James make a fantastic pair. Davis is 26, huge, and as good as it gets. The other guy is the best player in the history of basketball. They are both long, strong, have to be guarded all over the floor, play fantastic defense, and are at home in the pick and roll.

The trouble is that there are a lot ways for teams not to win titles. Twenty-nine out of 30 don’t every year. With this one, if anything goes wrong—and…