"I Built This Team For The Playoffs" - Magic Johnson Showed Us 8 Months Ago He Had No Idea What He Was Doing

Incase you didn’t hear the news, the Lakers were officially eliminated from the 2019 NBA Playoffs after they lost by 5 to the Brooklyn Nets last night. It’s the first time since 2005 that LeBron will not be participating in the postseason and the 6th straight season for the Lakers. In their entire history, from 1948 until now, they’ve never had a drought like this before. The longest the Lakers ever went without making the playoffs was 2 seasons in 1974-76, so you could make the case this is the lowest point in the history of this historic franchise. You just hate to see it.

Which is why I had to share this video from the summer. Listen I’ve had to deal with my own disappointing season by my own favorite basketball team, but the one thing that always made things better was no matter how bad the Celts looked, I could always look to the Lakers to cheer me up. I mean this had to be one of the biggest dumpster fire seasons by a team not actively trying to tank in recent memory. And when you think about it, it all comes back to this interview. Maybe the reason the Lakers were terrible was because Magic Johnson has no idea what he’s doing. He went on television and explained his plan like it was revolutionary, when it reality all it did was expose him.

They have shooting? Yeah I don’t think so. They didn’t in July, they didn’t in October, they don’t in March. His evaluations of HOU and BOS, that they didn’t have shooters is what made me laugh too. Couldn’t have been more wrong on that one especially when you were trying to model your team after what worked in the playoffs. You know what that was? Defense. So explain how a Lakers team that is at the bottom of the standings in pretty much every defensive category followed that blueprint. It makes me heart swell with joy to hear about how he built this team for the playoffs, only to then not make the playoffs. You heard him, you don’t build your team for the regular season you build it for the postseason. Only problem is if you don’t build a team that can win during the regular season you don’t make the playoffs. I feel like someone should have let Magic in on that little secret.

I also love how he tried to spin the McGee/Lance/Rondo signings by saying he was bringing in tough guys. Sure they’re tough, but they didn’t fit at all and everyone could see it. The three of them had some of the most negative net ratings on the entire team. They did the opposite of whatever it was that Magic thought they were going to do, and I’m not sure how valuable their “toughness” was in the first place.

All in all, if maybe you lost a little money over the last two days and you need something to make you laugh, that interview at the top of the blog should do the trick. Now with rumors flying that nobody wants to come to LA to join LeBron, I’m pretty sure we won’t be hearing from Magic at the next summer league and that’s a damn shame.