For the last several years, the Laker organization has lacked a clear vision.
When the Lakers acquired Nash and Howard in 2012, everyone knew that it was going to be a challenge to manage the egos of Kobe, Pau, Nash, and Howard. That's what really made the D'Antoni hiring such a poor decision. D'Antoni is smarter than he gets credit for being, but he's never been known as a great communicator or a guy that's gotten a veteran team to buy in (he inherited a young team in Phoenix, and while he helped sell Nash--a perfect for his system--Phoenix putting $27 million more on the table than Dallas was the biggest selling point). Look at the way the Knicks played before and after D'Antoni: started 18-24 and went 18-6 after his resignation, then went 54-28 the next season playing the same brand of basketball that D'Antoni unsuccessfully tried to get them to play during his tenure. He never figured out how to balance the needs of Amare and Melo or how to integrate Melo into his system. He wouldn't (or couldn't) bench Amare even though Melo was a terrific fit as a small-ball four in his system.
Not only did the Lakers have a coach who couldn't manage the teams personalities, they had two superstar bigs who couldn't co-exist in the coach's offense. Instead of trading Gasol for one or two complementary players who not only better fit D'Antoni's system, but who would also be willing to take a backseat to the remaining Laker superstars, they instead chose to hold on to Pau and lose him for nothing a couple years later, even though it was immediately apparent that a Howard/Gasol duo was doomed to fail under D'Antoni. This is part of what I mean about the organization lacking vision: if you're going to commit to a certain style of basketball by making that type of coaching hire, then give the coach players who fit.
Say what you will about Howard, but he was the key to the Lakers building another contender. Even if you don't believe he's THE guy you can build around, he's a big enough star to help bring that guy into the fold. It's exponentially easier to recruit star players in their prime when you already have one in the fold (and no superstar in his prime is leaving a good situation to play with Kobe in the twilight of his career). Howard was the only chip they had, and the Lakers botched their handling of him so badly that he left money on the table to be second banana to a ball-dominant SG in a less glamorous market, playing in an offensive system that's eerily similar to the one that D'Antoni couldn't sell him on.
For a team that's trying to rebuild by tanking, a lot of the Lakers' offseason moves--such as taking one-year flyers on a bunch of young players, or absorbing Lin's expiring in order to pick up a first-round pick--made sense. On the other hand, if the Lakers genuinely expected to be this bad, they wouldn't have placed a bid on a washed-up Boozer. They wouldn't have given a four-year contract to a vet like Swaggy P. Those moves are inconsistent with a sound rebuilding approach. Again, it's a lack of vision, unless the vision is, "We know we're going to be terrible, but Kobe doesn't, so let's placate our delusional star by surrounding him with big names who put up hollow numbers."
So now the Lakers' plan is hoping that Randle and whoever they draft in 2015 are both instant stars, then convincing Kevin Durant to leave a championship contender in the prime of his career--and to spurn other ready-made contenders, like Washington and Houston--by selling him on the idea of joining a lottery team that features two 20-year-old kids who will have never played in a single NBA playoff game (no matter how good Mudiay/Okafor and Randle are, the Lakers aren't a 2015-16 playoff team)?
Perhaps some sort of mid-decade dip was inevitable, but a series of botched moves is what's led them to rock-bottom. The only time Jerry West and Dr. Buss lost players as valuable as Howard and Gasol without compensation was if those players retired. Call them "soft" or whatever vague, overused adjective you want, but the front office and ownership blew it by not at least flipping those players for valuable assets when they had the chance.
