It turns out that the LaMarcus Aldridge free agent fiasco wasn't a Kobe Bryant fail; it was a Los Angeles Lakers fail.
Basketballinsiders.com reported on an interview the San Antonio Spurs' new acquisition did with the Ryan Russillo Show on ESPN radio earlier this week and talked about the free agent recruitment process.
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Aldridge was asked specifically what happened with the Lakers.
"With the Lakers, it wasn't anything crazy," Aldridge said. "It was just the [first] meeting didn't go as well as I wanted it to, so I did another one. People blew it out of proportion about things happening in the meeting. That wasn't correct. It just didn't go as good as I wanted it to so I had one more."
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Bryant was part of the Lakers representatives, so he is not totally blameless. But the Lakers made a horrible gaffe by not knowing what Aldridge was interested in learning, which was the basketball plan the team had for incorporating him.
Then again, the Lakers may have emphasized the Hollywood aspect of playing in L.A. because they knew they couldn't compete, basketball-wise, with the Spurs. That is also a management fail that stretches back to the Mike Brown-Mike D'Antoni coaching debacles. Management couldn't stop the Lakers from plummeting to unprecedented depths the past two seasons.
A big part of the Lakers' problem is that they're used to operating from a position of power, like the Spurs are now, and their pitch to Aldridge was probably similar to what Dwight Howard heard in 2012.
They are no longer in a position of power, and just saying the name "Lakers" is not going to bring in big-name free agents.
Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak are running out of time trying to figure out what the new strategy should be.
Who do you blame for the Lakers' inability to sign LaMarcus Aldridge this season? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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