2. The Los Angeles Lakers chemistry
If you follow my work here at Lake Show Life then you know that I really value on-court chemistry and there is a chance that the Los Angeles Lakers never find the chemistry that they are looking for on the court together.
This was a big reason why I was so confident in picking against the Los Angeles Clippers two years ago as they did not play much together and why the Lakers struggled so much with Anthony Davis out last season.
While LeBron was banged up, it was clear that certain guys (Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, Andre Drummond) simply did not know their place on this team, had not developed that chemistry with their teammates and suffered as a result when the stage was the biggest.
Bringing in so many new pieces risks having the same issues with the chemistry. The hope is that the team can mostly stay healthy and everyone can get ample playing time with each other in order to build that chemistry, establish the roles and squash any potential egos.
But that is far from a guarantee from happening. Does that mean the Lakers are destined to have bad on-court chemistry? Not at all. But just because LeBron and Westbrook are working out and LeBron is friends with Carmelo doesn’t mean that they’re bound to have this fantastic chemistry, either.
It is something to keep tabs on as when the Lakers get to the playoffs something as small as on-court chemistry can swing a serious.