The Lakers can’t give up on choosing continuity after one season

Rob Pelinka and the Lakers opted for continuity last season and diverting off that path after one season would be a mistake.

The Lakers are a franchise with a rich history of stars. The rafters in Staples Center are full of evidence and the Hall of Fame is littered with players who made stops to don the purple and gold.

The history of the Lakers franchise can not be told without the stars they have chased and, almost always, landed. Whether it was Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James or Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers have been defined by their eagerness to acquire superstars.

It’s with that in mind that the Lakers’ decision to opt for continuity last offseason was surprising. But it’s also why the reports of them going star-chasing again this offseason are unsurprising.

The issue is those things don’t go hand in hand.

After a run to the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers chose to run it back with their deep squad. Vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka preached the importance and value of continuity. The team spoke of how helpful it would be to build together.

And after one injury-filled season in which the head coach was fired, the team is now looking to change it all up.

That’s not how continuity works. It’s not something you can turn to for one season, expect results and change the tune when it doesn’t work. It’s not a skill set you can build around, like 3-point shooting or playmaking.

If you’re going to go the route of continuity, that’s a multi-year, long-term commitment. If you ask the Lakers themselves, it’s the path you want to continue down, too.

“It’s all about continuity,” Anthony Davis said after the team’s Game 5 loss to Denver. “...I think we found something toward the end of the season with that lineup. Obviously, some guys in the locker room who have decisions to make. But I think the way you continue to compete for championships is keeping the core. I learned that just from being in New Orleans. I don’t even know how many teammates I had. It’s tough.

“You look at a team like Denver, Boston, Golden State, all these teams who’ve done unbelievable things, their core group has stayed together and you had supporting cast around that and not make too many changes...Just watching and knowing from experience, the way you continue to compete for championships is keep that core group together.”

The Lakers aren’t, obviously, going to keep every piece of the team together. Darvin Ham, obviously, won’t return and all 15 players should not return next year either.

What should be done, though, is that the Lakers need to identify a core and keep building around that. You can shift some pieces around, but it should be done with the sole purpose of complementing that core. Roster moves should be made with the intention of maximizing a roster.

The Nuggets found their core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon and built around that. The Celtics identified Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford as their core and built around that. The Warriors have built multiple title-winning teams around Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

The players believe they have the pieces in place to be that, but it’ll require a commitment.

“I think this is the team,” Rui Hachimura said. “We can be a championship team. We just have to keep building it. You guys see all these teams that are winning, they’ve been building for years, year, years. It depends on the team. Every team has a different strategy but those are the ones winning. We just got to keep building.”

There’s a way both committing to continuity and trading for stars can be possible.

The Nuggets are the best example of this in which they saw Gordon, who perhaps was generously considered a star in Orlando, as a perfect complementary piece and pulled the trigger on a trade. The Celtics did something similar with Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis this season.

The Lakers tried some version of this in going after Russell Westbrook, but it was not building around a core but giving up the core to acquire him. That’s not even to speak of how little he complemented the two stars he joined, either.

Perhaps that means the Lakers should set their sights a little lower than superstar or bust this offseason. Instead of pushing all the chips to the middle to find a third guy, the Lakers should be searching for their Gordon or KCP trade that the Nuggets made.

The problem is that this also requires your team to have an identity. The Nuggets, Celtics and Warriors were able to identify players around the league that would best benefit them because they knew the type of basketball they wanted to play year in and year out.

The Lakers have been searching for that for years. But it’s imperative that their approach be unified, with an idea of what type of basketball they want to play. Even when they’ve had a successful team, it has rarely felt like the front office and coaching staff were united in how they wanted to build a team.

Continuity is not just identifying a core of the roster but having an identity as a franchise. When was the last time the Lakers had an identity as a team that lasted multiple seasons? It’s hard to even say that was the case with the 2019-20 and 2020-21 teams, as they went from JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard as the centers alongside Anthony Davis to Marc Gasol, a drastically different offensive approach.

There is a challenge doing this with LeBron James on the roster. Everything comes with a greater sense of urgency when LeBron has a very finite amount of seasons remaining. But there is arguably no better time to get a firm grasp on your franchise’s identity than when you’re about to part ways with your central figure.

The Lakers have the luxury now of a roster with plenty of different pieces, many of them tradeable. They also have draft picks available to make deals. This is the time to make their moves, build out a balanced, competitive roster around their core.

They chose continuity last summer. Throwing that away after one season in search of a superstar that perhaps hinders your ability to build out a roster and may not even bring you closer to title contention would be a decision that likely sets the franchise back.

If LeBron, AD and Austin Reaves are the core moving forward, make the moves to get the best out of them. If any of Jarred Vanderbilt, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura are part of those complementary pieces, ride with them, too. But trading all of them for another superstar is repeating an old mistake that hasn’t led to success with the Lakers or elsewhere.

Find your identity. Find your core. Continue the continuity.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.