That's terrible, I mean yeah the last few years the Lakers probably haven't been able to completely go in a direction they wanted to as an organization but they've had two top 10 lotto picks (including #2 overall) and a likely top 3 pick this year by letting Kobe remain the alpha dog. It's not like Kobe has left a barren wasteland in his departure by forcing them to trade young players/picks for guys to win with. If the Lakers hit on the pick this year they could be back to a perennial, competent, winning, playoff team in the next 2 years. Also 5 rings in 20 years isn't too bad either.