Demise Of The Big 3
Had injury issues not popped up during the season, the Lakers should have at least made the NBA Finals at least once through the possible seasons they played together. Unfortunately, the basketball gods decided that was not to be the case.
Dwight Howard rushed too quickly from a back surgery the previous offseason, as his energy was on and off each night. Steve Nash almost right out of the gate injured his leg against the Portland Trail Blazers. Pau Gasol rotated in-and-out with both knees suffering from tendonitis.
Finally, injuries nailed Kobe Bryant a basketball death sentence when his “Mamba Mentality” pushed his body too far, thus rupturing his Achilles tendon against the Golden State Warriors. In turn, starting the almost-immediate decline to his career. The core of Nash, Kobe, Gasol, and Howard missed a combined total of 80 games.
Chemistry issues kicked in as well, most infamously with Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard. In the documentary “Muse,” Kobe told the true story of what actually happened with the Dwight tenure.
"“I tried teaching Dwight. I tried showing him. But the reality is that when you have a perception of what it is to win a championship – and most perceptions of what it’s like to win are a very outgoing, very gregarious locker room where you pick each other up and you’re friends all the time. That is the perception. But when he saw the reality of it, it made him uncomfortable. And it’s very tough to be able to fight through that, and to deal with that challenge. And I don’t think he was willing to deal with that uncomfortable and combative nature.”"
As for the Howard trade, each participating team lost. Dwight would leave Los Angeles to team up with James Harden in Houston. Philadelphia received two players who would never play a game for them (bringing in Sam Hinkie to start “The Process“). Denver would eventually trade Andre Iguodala to the Warriors, where he would be a critical key to their success and evolution. And Orlando would never fully recover (and still hasn’t) from the success of the DH12 years.
In that same season, former Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown went through problems of starting 1-4. Kupchak fired Brown in an instant, and the Lakers hired Mike D’Antoni to save the franchise.
Brown’s coaching style lacks an offensive system. His last season with the Cavaliers was the same where LeBron James won his first MVP award. LeBron often made plays on his own, and Mike Brown was criticized for not helping his star player, possibly leading to the infamous decision of 2011.
The case of D’Antoni is interesting. D’Antoni has a system that helps his playmakers excel. (Watch the “7 Second Offense” in Phoenix run by, you guessed it, Steve Nash, or today’s Houston Rockets with James Harden and Chris Paul)
D’Antoni never got a chance to fully develop a relationship with his players or have a training camp. D’Antoni never received the pace or place to fully envelop his system with the Lakers.
In a Hornets game, Mike benched Gasol for Antawn Jamison to match up against Ryan Anderson, who, coincidentally, would be one of his players in Houston. Gasol was outraged, and Mike at least tried to explain why he did so. Nevertheless, his former point guard and the Lakers franchise suffered as a result.