of los angeles lakers After losing 49 last season, finishing 11th in the Western Conference, and failing to upgrade their roster in the offseason, why should anyone be surprised by their poor start to the season?
Why the Second Year Surprises No One Russell Westbrook The experiment was no better than the first, and probably worse.
This is the Lakers of today.
The only person who’s surprised by the state of the Lakers is managing partner Jeanie Buss, who gave Rob Pelinka general manager. contract extension In the midst of this plummeting from grace.
Now you know everything there is to know about how the Lakers got here.
The Lakers didn’t own a first-round pick in June after trading a decade’s worth of 2020 championship-wielding Anthony Davis. new orleans pelicans We’re licking their chops considering we get three straight top 10 picks from LA, including a potential swap Victor Wenbanyama Sweepstakes 2023.
With no picks for remodeling around Davis, lebron jamesHaving just received an extension to hit his 40th birthday, the Lakers turned to free agency where the $6.5 million taxpayer mid-level exception was their best chance to add talent. They used it to sign Lonnie Walker IV, his 3-and-D player who neither makes threes nor plays Ds. San Antonio Spurs They wouldn’t even put out a qualifying offer.
The Lakers used their only mid-tier deal to acquire the 34-year-old guard after trading a collection of non-conforming role players in free agency for another player. Patrick BeverleyWestbrook’s beef has been one of the juiciest in the league for almost a decade. they publicly mock each other’s achievements.
Oh, and the Lakers also re-signed Dennis Schroeder after his 2020-21 stint with the Lakers.”I don’t think it matches 100%Schroeder may have accepted Pelinka’s four-year, $84 million contract offer and eaten cap room for the next few seasons.
Not only did the Lakers retain a player who thwarted playoff prospects last year, they traded him the least favorite player in the NBA and signed another player that could make his job even worse.
The Lakers touted head coach Durbin Hamm as the biggest addition of the offseason. it may be true. He is also the first head coach to replace the head coach who led the Lakers to a championship two years ago. Even if Hamm proves better than Frank Vogel, there’s only so much a coach can do to turn a 33-win team into a winner.Not a team made up of good shots.”
As you may know, shooting is a prerequisite for successful team building in today’s NBA. Especially when the offense is going up against one of the greatest passers in league history. James’ 20-year career supports this. Pelinka’s tenure is a master his class at deconstructing title contenders into laughter.
Everyone knew, except the Lakers, that Westbrook was mistakenly cast as the third star of James and Davis. He’s trying to avoid putting a 2029 first-round pick in Westbrook’s contract. That’s the only play that improves this roster, it may still not fix.
The Lakers now have Westbrook and two first-round picks with Myles Turner. Buddy Healdor a few months from now, chicago bulls Other fringe playoff teams could decide to buy veteran stars demar derozan.
James has done things that no one thought anyone could do in a 20-year career. Davis is still he’s 29, but neither is to be feared as the league’s elite, and neither has finished his full season in nearly five years. , which provided a four-month hiatus before the playoffs.
One or two players, even high-end players, couldn’t turn the NBA’s worst offense through the first week of the season (nearly 6 points per 100 possessions), finishing in the bottom 10 last season. cannot be changed. To a championship-class defense. The Lakers have gone too far.
Bass promoted the documentary “Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers,” which she executive produced for Hulu, and told USA Today in August that the decision was made to fire her brother Jim in 2017. said:Thanks to the team we were building a great home at the bottom of the rankings year after year. It wasn’t the brand [their father] Doctor [Jerry] A bus was created. No one has a formula for winning a championship, but you have to stay relevant, participate in the conversation, and give yourself a chance to win. ”
Jeanie Buss doubled down on her brother’s decision-making in the documentary. This felt like a way to explain how she restored her glory to the franchise her father built into her dynasty. Genie cited Jim’s incompetence Years after Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to titles in 2009 and 2010. Jim Bass handed Bryant a major contract extension in his 2013 season. A playoff drought before James arrived.
“Looking back at some of the decisions Jimmy made, did he make those decisions to undermine my authority to run the organization and the team?” “Or did he just make a poor decision?”
Is she asking herself the same question now that the script has been flipped and the Lakers are reliving past mistakes? She hired Lakers legend Magic Johnson to run the team Bryant replaced him as a rookie shotcaller with Bryant’s agent before the surgery became too much of a burden for him. There are many other things to suggest.
