Who are the Los Angeles Lakers this season?

Who are the Los Angeles Lakers this season?

Last night’s All Star game was a lot fun. Stephen Curry puts up 50. Giannis dunks all over people. Luka lays the ball up on a breakaway. There are a lot of things to talk about when it comes to that game. But somehow, someway, the attention goes to LeBron James, who hit the game winning shot for Team LeBron last night. The All Star game was in Cleveland so obviously LeBron has a lot of memories there. LeBron had 2 stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers that lasted a total of 11 years while winning 1 championship with the team. But when asked about if he will ever join the Cavaliers again, LeBron said “The door’s not closed”. Well, maybe he wants to go back to Cleveland! The Lakers, who were the championship favorite pre-season, now sit at a 27-31 record, 4 games under 500. Who are the Los Angeles Lakers and will they be the championship favorites they’re supposed to be?

The Lakers have been mediocre for basically the entire season! They started out 0-2 and the best record they’ve had has been 2 games over 500. However, the Lakers have had some injuries so maybe that was hurting their play. Not a lot tough. The Big 3 of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook has played 20 games together and won 11 of them. That is a 55% win percentage. That win percentage would put them as the 7th seed in the Western Conference! Remember, this team was the championship favorite pre-season! They also have a negative 1.5 point differential. The Lakers have not been good all season!

Something that will help the Lakers is that they have LeBron James, the 2nd greatest player of all time on ESPN’s latest Top 75 NBA players ranking article. LeBron is a talent that the NBA will never see again. But, he also needs some help to win. The Lakers have not had a great record since adding Russell Westbrook. The Lakers won the NBA championship while being the #1 seed in the Western Conference during the toughest time in NBA history, the bubble. That was the 1st season with LeBron and AD together. Their 2nd year (last year) LeBron and AD both couldn’t stay healthy. Now their 3rd year together they have Westbrook. I am not trying to say Westbrook isn’t a good player but when the Lakers have a better record with a new starting 5 every day than with a Big 3 that was supposed to win a championship, something is happening!

The problem is, they’ve tried solution after solution and nothing has worked. I thought moving Westbrook to the bench to run the bench unit would be the solution. Clearly not! I don’t think this is a Frank Vogel problem either. He is a championship winning coach and was a coach of the year candidate just 2 seasons before they got Westbrook. It’s also not like Westbrook has played well and the Lakers aren’t. Westbrook has averaged less points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per game while playing around the same amount of minutes. He has also decreased in his percentage from the field and his percentage from 3. I think Westbrook simply doesn’t fit with the Lakers. He was the best player in basketball for 1 month last season with the Wizards. Now without a serious injury(s), he is now a completely different player? That doesn’t make sense! Westbrook is still the talent and the player he was in Washington, he’s just not in the right place to use it. I think there is simply no solution and LeBron may want to go back to Cleveland, because this year’s Lakers team isn’t going anywhere!

 

Chase Coburn

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chase@chasessportsnews.com

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