With the Los Angeles Lakers headed towards their third consecutive season without making the playoffs, the fans of this franchise has begun to grow angry.
While much has been directed at Byron Scott and Jim Buss, general manager Mitch Kupchak has escaped the criticism for the most part.
Kupchak has long been the general manager of the team and his role in helping build championships has given him some leeway amongst the people.
Kupchak, however, doesn’t believe that should be the case and told Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times that anger should be directed as him as well:
“I know people aren’t happy but that also should be directed at me. That’s the bottom line,” Kupchak said. “Everybody has to share in the blame. Whether that’s the GM, the coach or the players, it’s got to be directed somewhere.”
Kupchak also believes that seeing signs of development from the young players would ease some concerns from the fans:
“I think our fans would understand if you’re actually developing young players and there’s some growth, and maybe that’s yet to come. But in the first 20 games, it’s tough to find consistent results to feel good about.”
Both the Lakers front office and head coach Byron Scott have insisted that the top priority this season was winning games. Scott has worked his rotations around that thinking, which has led to young players like D’Angelo Russell getting benched for vets such as Lou Williams.
Scott recently made the move to bench Russell and Julius Randle in favor of Williams and Larry Nance Jr. which didn’t sit well with the fanbase either. Scott and Buss may get the majority of anger from the fans now, but if things don’t change soon, Kupchak will be in the crosshairs as well.