It’s a big day for our neighbours to the south in the United States as its Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday. The recognition, on this day, of Dr. King’s leadership in the endless pursuit of equality for African Americans should always be remembered and celebrated. The stories need to be passed down to each generation so that people can be reminded to recognize differences and respect, even if they do so grudgingly, and accept others for what they are.
It says here the Civil Rights Movement that began in the 1950’s and 1960’s was the impetus for subsequent battles for equality by all minority groups and has led to a more open and accepting society. I have put some thoughts together in the past, but every year this day reminds me of how far society has come. What an eerie coincidence that on a day that Martin Luther King’s legacy is celebrated, I sat and watched as the United States witnessed the inauguration of an African American president, Barack Obama.
I put these thoughts out on twitter earlier today while watching the inauguration and thinking about the changes I have witnessed in my lifetime. It is one of my favourite quotes from Dr. King’s speech in Memphis where he was helping sanitation workers protest before he was eventually assassinated.
I may not get there with you but I have seen the mountain top ..Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr…not there yet but society in trying #MLKday — Paul Jones (@Paul__Jones) January 21, 2013
I may not get there with you but I have seen the mountain top ..Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr…not there yet but society in trying #MLKday
— Paul Jones (@Paul__Jones) January 21, 2013
No he didn’t get to the mountain top with us but with society becoming more accepting and tolerant, surely we are moving in the right direction up the proverbial mountain. I have seen change. There were once dreams, and if they were verbalized or even uttered back in another time in history, it would have led to mockery or perhaps even physical beatings. But now, they are new realities of our world. It shows me that there has been change for the better with all humanity proving as Dr. King once said that the long arc of the moral universe truly bends toward justice.
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It became painfully obvious watching the Los Angeles Lakers in their recent loss to the Toronto Raptors. They need an overhaul, again. Oh I’ve documented it many times over the course of the season so why not say it once more.
The system doesn’t fit the parts and in the event you need confirmation, if the Lakers aren’t able to make the playoffs, the present incarnation of the “big three” — Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash — may be viewed as one of the NBA’s greatest disappointments.
Truthfully, if the Lakers’ front office thinks they made the wrong hire in former coach Mike Brown, since they fired him after a shortened season and five games into this campaign, then what must they be thinking at this point. In truth, they would have been better to keep Brown as current head coach Mike D’Antoni’s system of up-tempo play is not working for the current Laker personnel. It’s not that the system doesn’t work, it’s that the talent doesn’t fit the system.
People close to the team have quietly remarked that there seems to be a lack of commitment to the system. Combine that with the fact that roles aren’t clearly defined and some players use the quick pace as an excuse to break from the system and not put the ball back in the hands of the decision makers, Nash and Bryant. The result is a team without an identity or style of play. Unless there is a change, the Lakers are bound to be watching the post season on television.
In retrospect, the Lakers may have been better off with Brown and his defensive mindset. There was a huge uproar about Brown instituting part of the Princeton offence. But that offensive framework wasn’t for the creative players like Nash and Bryant. The movement in that system would have benefitted the other starters and bench players when they were in the game by cutting down on turnovers. But the true benefit with Brown may have been the development of a defensive system to try and hide some of the glaring weaknesses. D’Antoni, as an offensive minded coach, doesn’t seem to put a focus on the defensive end of the court and now with the offence not firing on all cylinders, there is no defense to keep them in ball games.
The other choice that could have been made by the Buss family would have been just admitting that Phil Jackson was indeed a good coach and they could have asked him to come back and coach the team after dismissing Brown. When the 2010-11 season ended for the Lakers with a crushing four game sweep at the hand of the eventual NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks, everything associated with Jackson was put out with the trash. Was it jealousy? Was it the Jerry Kruase mentality — who in the midst of the Bulls dominance once said in Chicago that it would be “fun” to try and build a title team without Michael Jordan — rearing its head? Only the decision makers in Lakerland know for sure, but it might have been nice to give Jackson one last dance. I’m sure he would have taken the floor for it, bad health and all.
Would D’Antoni be brazen enough to junk his system and try something more traditional? From this corner if Los Angeles decided to play more traditional with two big men on the floor, Howard and Pau Gasol surrounded by Bryant, Nash and Metta World Peace, they may be able to punish teams offensively by slowing the pace slightly. The impact would also be felt defensively in a slower paced game allowing them to use good defensive players like Howard, Bryant, World Peace and to an extent Gasol to hide Nash, the way Jackson was able to mask suspect point guard defence in season’s past,
Regardless of what it is, the Lakers need to make some changes or they will have to be prepared to watch the post season and trying to answer a myriad of questions.
