What is wrong with the Lakers?
The Los Angeles Lakers’ uneven start has led many pundits and fans to wonder what went wrong? This was a team widely expected to represent the Western Conference in the 2022 NBA finals at +350, just behind the super-team known as the Brooklyn Nets. https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/here-are-preseason-nba-title-favorites-2021-22
Led by 3 future Hall of Famers in LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Anthony Davis, we were all marking our dates for early June when we would get the fourth episode of LeBron vs. Durant. Instead the Lake Show are scrapping for the final play-in spot, more than two months into the season. If Christmas Day is the unofficial start of the NBA season, where a team’s record can start to be truly quantified, then the Lakers are heading towards some serious trouble.
Issue #1: The Fit- LeBron And Westbrook
In August of this year, LeGM agreed to trade Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell for Russell Westbrook, thus also ridding LA of Alex Caruso (signed with Chicago) and Dennis Schroeder (signed with Boston) due to their fit and play style with Westbrook. This was a huge risk to take due to Westbrook’s erratic play over the course of his career and the now sudden absence of their key role players. The Lakers could have signed DeMar DeRozan or Buddy Hield, two floor-spacers who are able to efficiently get off their own shots. These would have been much smarter acquisitions due to the success of LeBron James led teams being historically predicated on efficient sharpshooters, who are able to stretch the floor, therefore leading to winning basketball. Think Jr. Smith and Kyrie Irving during the 2014–2018 Cavs era shooting 37.3% and 40.7% from three respectively. Or Mike Miller- career 40.7% from three during the 4 year domination tour of the Heatles.
So with Westbrook being the ball-dominant point guard shooting 30.4% from behind the arc, while averaging 4.6 turnovers per game, it’s no wonder the Lakers are doing as bad as they currently are, even with James posting arguably the best stat-line of his career.
Issue #2: Age
Much has been made of Lakers’ veteran group, and for good reason as they boast an average age of 30.9 years old, good for 1st in the league, and way past the league average of 26.1. This lack of youth has persistently been exposed on defense and fast break opportunities particularly against young, bad teams such as the Thunder, Rockets, Magic, and Pistons. The stats portray this as evidenced by their 108.9 defensive rating meaning they allow 108.9 point per 100 possessions.
In their most recent win, they allowed the 10–25 Rockets to shoot 51.3% from the field. However just the game before, these same Rockets got blown out by 24 by the Hornets (a supposedly inferior team to the Lakers) while only shooting 41.4% from the field, a drastic difference.
Dwight Howard, NBA veteran, recently told ESPN that the Lakers would be ready to dominate come playoff time, citing their experience and the dominance of their Big 3. However let’s just say I’m not ready to jump on the Lakers hype train, just because of the comments made by a 36 year-old, averaging 5 points and 15minutes per game.
Issue #3: Anthony Davis
The main reason why Rob Pelinka and LeBron James were so confident in building this veteran roster was because of their 28 year-old unicorn named Anthony Davis. Davis, a career 24 and 10 monster, was not only entering the second year of his $190 million contract, but was also entering his prime. 2021–2022 should be the year AD leaps into MVP contention, and proves he belongs in the same conversation as Giannis, Jokic and Embiid. Instead he is averaging one of his fewest point totals, rebounding totals, and lowest efficiency ever from the field, while recently being sidelined for four plus weeks due to an MCL sprain. The concern is not will the Lakers being effective with AD injured, but rather how underwhelming they were with him on the court. When he left the Target Center in the third quarter, they were a .500 ball club, getting destroyed by a team picking 1st overall just a season ago. Flash forward and they have dropped 5 of their past 6, looking to head into a free-fall, and potentially a major deadline shake-up.
