There is no doubt the Los Angeles Lakers have suffered a very underwhelming season this year. With their 28-36 seed good for 9th in the West, nobody could have imagined a squad led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook would be fighting for the play-in spot. After all, those three names are Hall of Famers with some of the best talent we have seen in their generation. So what has gone wrong?
- 5. Anthony Davis Cannot Stay Healthy And Consistent
- 4. Frank Vogel Is Not Uniting The Troops
- 3. The Russell Westbrook Trade Was A Mistake
- 2. The Roster Is Old, Slow, And Lacks Shooting
- 1. LeBron James Is Older And A Defensive Liability
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It was only two years ago when the Lakers won the NBA title in convincing fashion, led by the superstar duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But now, the team has completely changed with two older stars who are lacking the appropriate help. There is still a chance that the Lakers can turn it on with 18 games remaining in the season and somehow avoid the play-in, but it is very likely that they will need to earn their spot in the playoffs.
With not much time left in the season, there have been questions as to why the Lakers have not stepped up to the plate and placed themselves in a position to win a championship despite the addition of 9-time All-Star Russell Westbrook. Here are the 5 major reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers’ season has been an utter disaster at this point.
5. Anthony Davis Cannot Stay Healthy And Consistent
Anthony Davis might be the most injury-prone superstar in the league, and that has frustrated Laker Nation since the start of the year. But his health has been an issue throughout his career, as Davis only appeared in over 70 games only twice. With the Lakers, Davis’ appearances have not been spectacular by any means. In his first season that led to a championship, Davis appeared in 62 games. Last year, the big man only played 36 games which put Los Angeles in a very precarious situation.
Without Davis, the Lakers fell to the number 7 seed in the West and were not able to get past the talented Phoenix Suns. Of course, LeBron was left to fend for himself in the playoffs and could not get it done due to his age. This year, Davis has only played 37 games and it looks like he will miss the rest of the regular season. The 8-time All-Star is in his prime at 28 years old and was supposed to be the number one option for the team.
Instead, Davis has been absent for the majority of the season with James forced to play a primary role instead of preserving his legs for a postseason run. Not to mention, when Davis has played, his shooting has been an all-time low (18.2% 3-PT FG and 70.95 FT). Davis’ absence and lack of consistency when healthy has greatly hurt the Lakers all year.
4. Frank Vogel Is Not Uniting The Troops
Frank Vogel is a great coach, and he has earned respect for making the Indiana Pacers a defensive force in the early 2010s and also being the man to lead LeBron and Davis to the championship in 2020 with the Lakers. A great defensive mind, Vogel has proven to be an excellent choice by the Lakers organization. But this year, when things have been falling apart, Frank Vogel needs to take his share of the blame. For whatever reason, Vogel has not been able to unite the troops and get them to buy in.
A Frank Vogel system is built on defense, and unfortunately, he has not been given the tools to succeed. For that, he is devoid of some blame. Alex Caruso, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Danny Green headline the list of capable defensive players that were let go. Instead, Vogel is left with veterans past their prime and defensive liabilities to buy into the system. Even if Frank is not the main reason why the Lakers are losing so many games, he simply has to do better and he knows it.
The way the Lakers have been playing, no coach would have kept his job by the All-Star break. For some reason, management decided to keep Vogel and the coach must perform. Again, it is not entirely on the coach for being given bad tools to work with, but he simply has to coach the team better. The players look unmotivated, disinterested in playing any defense, and lacking in desire to improve. In the NBA, some of that should fall onto the coach.
3. The Russell Westbrook Trade Was A Mistake
There is no doubt that the Lakers’ acquisition of Russell Westbrook was one big, fat mistake. The former MVP has clearly lost some of his athleticism, and the fact that he cannot shoot well enough has been a major cause for the Lakers’ poor season. Even when admitting this, the media have seemingly taken too many shots at Russell Westbrook. While he is a major reason, he is not the only reason and the 9-time All-Star has been unfairly made the scapegoat.
Westbrook is not a good shooter, and everyone knows this. The point guard is only nailing 28.4% of his three-pointers, a very poor number for a man playing over 34 MPG and handling the ball as the point guard. The Lakers would have been better off with Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Buddy Hield who were all trade targets last year and during the offseason. Instead, management along with LeBron and Davis deserve blame for recommending the point guard to join their ranks.
Russ does not fit with the team, because he cannot space the floor alongside LeBron James. The duo has been a disaster together, with Westbrook forced to take a myriad of jump shots that are clanging off the rim and backboard – much to Lakers’ fans’ demise. Even when Westbrook has not been a good fit, his comments and mentality have also been greatly questioned. The media is buying into Westbrook’s comments as “Anti-Laker”, but the man is simply broken mentally. He is frustrated by getting traded 3 times in the last 4 years, and his postgame comments are simply a defense mechanism.
The Lakers should have gone for DeRozan or Hield because they choose the wrong player to pair with LeBron James. Westbrook does not fit alongside The King, and his declining athleticism has meant the lack of jump shooting could spell the end of his career as a star player. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they seem to be stuck with the point guard and that also means almost all the blame will continue going to Russ when there is a multitude of factors for the team’s poor season.
2. The Roster Is Old, Slow, And Lacks Shooting
While media members will point fingers at Russell Westbrook most of the time, the fingers should be pointed mainly at Lakers management and the atrocious roster that was put together. The NBA is a young man’s league, and having the oldest roster in the NBA will not cut it. At the start of the year, there were doubts about the age of the roster but these were swept aside due to the “superteam” image of James, Davis, and Westbrook together.
The roster cannot keep up with the young talent in the league that can shoot, run the break, and compete defensively at maximum effort. The Lakers lack shooting, are old and slow and do not defend. That is a recipe for disaster in the modern NBA, something Lakers fans are becoming more aware of.
Carmelo Anthony is having a great season, putting up 13.6 PPG on 39.1% shooting from deep. Anthony has been the team’s most reliable shooter, but he is 37 years of age and is a defensive liability. The rest of the veterans fall in the same boat: Trevor Ariza, Bradley Beal, Dwight Howard, Wayne Ellington. None of these guys can play heavy minutes or keep up with young players on defense.
There is a reason why Malik Monk and Austin Reaves are getting more minutes: youth. They are capable of scrambling on defense and hustling for loose balls, even if they lack the necessary star power to make the difference. Relying on Monk and Reaves will not cut it for a championship team, but Frank Vogel is finding he has no choice. Not to mention, LeBron is 37 and Westbrook is 33, adding to the list of old players who are defensive liabilities on the Lakers roster.
1. LeBron James Is Older And A Defensive Liability
When James was younger, he was able to make up for a lot of his team’s mistakes and carry them to strong seeding in the conference. Even if that was mainly done in the relatively weaker Eastern Conference for most of his career, James was normally capable of carrying subpar talent deep into the playoffs and even to the NBA Finals. In fact, he did that often with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But at 37 years old, James does not have the capabilities to carry a roster that is not suitable for championship contention. The pieces of the roster do not fit well together, and The King does not have it in him to cover for the team’s lack of shooting and legitimate offensive threats. A young LeBron James will be able to cover for the absence of Anthony Davis and average an incredible number of points to get the job done. Not to mention, LeBron might have been able to play both ends of the ball at an elite level.
So far this season, there is no doubt that LeBron has been a defensive liability. He simply does not have it in him to carry the offense and trackback on defense in transition, something that has hurt the team at times. The Lakers sorely miss the presence of excellent perimeter defenders including Alex Caruso, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Danny Green. With James incapable of playing decent defense and also lacking the stamina to do everything on offense every game, the Lakers are in a mess that possibly cannot be fixed without a time machine.
