Los Angeles Lakers: Predicting the playoffs if they started today
The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping that the NBA Playoffs kicks off at some point in the future.
If the playoffs were to begin today, the Los Angeles Lakers would have the number one seed in the Western Conference, and they would play the Memphis Grizzlies in round one. The rest of their path to the title is uncertain, but if the season did skip to postseason play, they could not really ask for a better draw.
When LeBron James made an appearance on his former teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye’s podcast Road Tripping about a month ago, he voiced an opinion about resuming the NBA season. James offered up a solution to NBA restarting the season, and he said,
"“A one- to two-week training camp followed by five to 10 games to finish the regular season. Less training might work if the only goal was to finish the regular season, but players’ bodies would need time to adjust before the playoffs.”"
Another argument could be made that 63 games is more than enough for those teams to have made their case to be in the playoff picture, and a mini training camp should be enough to get the players ready to go. Right now, three and a half games separate the Grizzlies from the Portland Trailblazers for the last playoff spot, and even though that margin is not that comfortable, it is clear enough to say they earned the eighth seed.
The NBA could look back in its history to see that 63 games passes the precedent for a full season. For example, the 1998-1999 season was shortened by a lockout and that season they were forced to only play 50 games. No one puts an asterisk by the San Antonio Spurs’ first title with Tim Duncan and David Robinson, who won that title against an improbable eight-seeded New York Knicks team.
More recently, the 2011-12 season was also cut short due to a lockout and they could only fit 66 games into the schedule that year. That is a tiny detail mentioned in the narrative when they talk about the Miami Heat big three’s first championship run.
That means LeBron has won a championship when the season was cut to less than 70 games, so his objection to skipping right to the playoffs is slightly peculiar. Obviously rust and physical conditioning is the major factor in his reasoning and starting the playoffs after this long of a layoff would be something that has never happened before.
It is easy to argue to start the playoffs sitting as the number one seed, but this is not Michael Scott faking an injury because his team has the lead, to ensure a victory in a warehouse pick up game.
Starting the playoffs would be a fair plan, over 60 regular-season games have been played, and If rust is the only other argument, then the season should skip right to the playoffs, especially if they have to start sometime in the mid-summer.
Since the NBA has decided to open up some team facilities to start practicing on May 1st, it seemed like a good time to analyze the playoff scenarios, in case the league does decide to skip right to the playoffs when and if play resumes.
There will be no perfect solution, so let’s start the postseason, and take a look at what the Los Angeles Lakers’ path to the Larry O’Brien trophy might look like if the playoffs started today.