The Los Angeles Lakers have dominated the NBA over the past three years, with three conference titles and two NBA championships to show for a ton of talent and the guidance of the greatest coach in the history of the game. That modern day dynasty came to a quick and sudden end when the Lakers were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in four games to be eliminated in their conference semi final series, and despite all of the success that they have had that loss is likely to signal the end of an online sports betting dynasty.
[adinserter block=”2″]Gone is the Hall of Fame head coach that will end his career with more NBA titles than series losses, and who helped turn some of the most outstanding talents to ever play the game into true greats. Phil Jackson had the ability to take everything that he had in front of him and put the pieces together to make something truly amazing, and it was his work with Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Kobe Bryant that had such a huge impact on the franchise over the past couple of years.
Jackson waved his final goodbye as he stepped off the court following the game four loss, and it is likely that assistant coach Brian Shaw will take over as the top man going forward. Shaw has already developed the rapport needed to work with Bryant and that will be crucial as the team makes pay per head changes to his supporting cast going forward.
On the court, many projected that a change was necessary as early as midseason but the team elected to keep the same group that had won the past two NBA championships together for at least one more shot. The ideology was simple in respect to the fact that it’s hard to break apart something that had gotten the job done in consecutive years only to fall short, but after their quick dismissal against the Mavericks that frame of thinking is no longer in play in the NBA scores.
[adinserter block=”1″]The changes will begin and end with Bryant, who is the face of the franchise and will truly go down as a legend in the city. Even despite his ability to close out games the way that he had in past years, Bryant is a clutch performer that can still play at an elite level when he has the support around him and isn’t plagued with injuries. The poor play of Ron Artest and Pau Gasol opens the door for even more questions, even though it will be tough to fit any more pay roll underneath the cap even if Shannon Brown and Matt Barnes elect not to exercise their player options.
The Lakers salary cap situation is difficult to figure out over the next couple of years, and that might delay the inevitable. In the end there will be change in Hollywood, the only question is what will happen as the Lakers look to put the remaining pieces in place to become a true contender once again and provide the consistent hope that has made it easier to deal with the MLB betting problems that the Dodgers have faced in the city.
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