The State of the Nation

Growing up in Los Angeles I've seen and lived through some of the greatest Laker moments. As an 80's baby I born during the Showtime era. This shaped my life at an early age. In fact my very birth year of 1987 was the first of a back to back for the Lakers. This is what I came to know. The Lakers were synonymous with champions.

By the time I graduated high school in 2005 the Lakers has already won 5 times in my lifetime. Shortly after my high school years the Lakers added 2 more to that list. In my first 23 years of life they had won 7 times. That roughly one championship every 3 years.

I, like many other Laker fans had grown accustomed to this trend. The Lakers were more than just the hometown team they were the most dominant franchise in sports.

From 2000-2010 the Lakers had 5 of the 11 championships. It was to a point where if you had told me in 2010 that, that would be their last championship for the next 7 years and quite possibly 10 or 15 or longer. I would have laughed you off as a hater and confidently went on my way to handle my day-to-day business.

It's now June of 2017 the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers played in their 3rd straight NBA finals this season. The Lakers not only have not won a championship since 2010 but have not made the playoffs the last four seasons. This of course is a franchise record never before missing the playoffs for 4 consecutive years.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. And as a Laker fan I'm not going to lie it stings, it really does hurt. The worst part is during the time the Lakers have fallen into this deep depression, the Clippers have risen to regular-season juggernauts.

The battle for the city that has long been designated as Laker town is now resurfacing as Lob City. The clipper fans are now coming out of the woodwork swarming the city. As a Laker fan there's not much to be excited about these days.

The sliver of hope we have is in our young talent that has come to form through lottery picks that we have fortunately kept. This upcoming draft is yet another promising lottery pick that many fans look to as another step in the right direction.

With the new addition of Magic Johnson in the front office and Luke Walton as the head coach many Laker fans are becoming more optimistic again and are looking to the future.

Lonzo Ball from UCLA is a unique talent and comes from a unique family environment. These days it's hard to say LaVar Ball, Lonzo Ball's father, without someone having an opinion. LaVar much like the Kardashian's have become a household name.

The game plan that many believe the Lakers will follow involves drafting Lonzo Ball with the second pick in this upcoming draft. Lonzo's closest comparisons have been Magic and Jason Kidd. A true pass first point. The kind of guy that makes everyone around him better.

It's hard to tell if this is the direction the Lakers will take. There have been plenty of conversations about the Lakers drafting Josh Jackson out of Kansas or even trading the pick. Only time will tell the direction they will take as Magic looks to rebuild such an iconic brand. For the time being however, it's safe to say that Laker fan have something to look forward to.

NBA Draft will be on ESPN June 22, 2017 at 4:00pm PDT.

Check back in for updates on the draft and all future Laker news.


- Eddie Schlierman