The Last Chance: Remaining hopes for the Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers have been going through an awful season and this is no surprise for anyone. What began as a triumphant era promising glory and success quickly derailed in a desperate fight for survival.

Things are so bad that the play-in tournament currently represents more a chance than a threat for the purple and gold’s playoff hopes.

The Los Angeles Lakers have now reached the point of no return.

The All-Star Break is the last possibility for the Lakers to turn around their season and put together a more convincing second half. The 75th anniversary celebrating weekend provides some faint hope to the franchise for a postseason run.

The break gives LA a chance to rest, recover from injuries that have plagued the team all season long, regroup and get a fresh start, making the most of what they have learned from the first part, consolidating chemistry, rotation and cohesiveness.

Through the last two games, they lost by two to the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco and beat the Utah Jazz allowing just 101 points to the (then) best offense in the league. Frank Vogel’s players have been building a good momentum going into the All-Star weekend and there is optimism they might be able to keep building on it as the season resumes.

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Consistency is what the Lakers have missed the whole year. Consistency in health, consistency in defense, consistency in taking care of the ball. Some games they have been really awful, incapable to stand up even to ridiculous teams like the depleted Portland Trail Blazers a week ago. Other games they have looked great, apparently having figured out everything. Hence, the point remains. Consistency.

Given the good template of what they are capable of the up times provided, most of the inconsistencies appear to be caused by one major thing: effort. Each time it had a very bad game, the team answered with a great performance the following match (or the following half). But the effort never lasted enough to provide any accountability.

It seems they cannot maintain that level of play they proved is in their cards. They miss a sense of urgency. The feeling that in order to be a championship-caliber team (but at this point more basically to qualify for the playoffs) they need to go out every night and give that maximum effort, play defense, not to be sloppy and careless with the ball.

Continuity means also continuity in the rotation. As much as unfair criticism Vogel has received, he has now to stop tinkering with the starting lineup. Besides the big three, Avery Bradley and Stanley Johnson are the definitive starters for the Lakers. They provide the defensive effort on the perimeter needed to put up a decent resistance to the opponents’ best players.

As tough as a season Russell Westbrook has been experiencing, he usually gets better in the second half when he has figured out his teammates and the system. Last year in Washington his numbers improved dramatically post-All-Star. He moved from averaging 20.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 9.8 assists to 23.6 points, 12.8 rebounds and 13.1 assists. More significantly, he had a stunning rise from -6.3 plus/minus to 1.3. We hope it will be the case this year as well in Los Angeles. It is worth remembering that this is his fourth different team in the last four years. With such little continuity, it is hard to be the best version of himself and it might take some time.

Another reason that should have provided some hope is how Anthony Davis had been playing monster basketball as of late. Since his second game coming back from the MCL sprain he is averaging 24.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3 blocks on 60 percent shooting. LeBron James at 37 years old is playing one of the best seasons of his career getting the team going night in and night out. You always have a chance when you have James and Davis on your team playing at this level.

Unfortunately, injuries got in the Lakers’ way again and AD is set to miss at least four more weeks for the foot sprain suffered against the Jazz.

However, with the passing trade deadline, a shadow looming on the team is gone, something that can affect mightily the performance of players. Even Frank Vogel claimed that now that everyone is safe a sense of relief has hit the team and there is a new vibe.

Adding some piece through the buyout market is also another possibility that could help the Lakers improve their chances. A mentioned reunion with Dennis Schröder (if bought out) would make sense, much more than Goran Dragic. The German point guard would provide a valuable contribution off the bench both on offense and defense, something that cannot be said about the aging Slovenian.

Finally, the tough remaining schedule of the purple and gold could be their final doom or a forging experience that helps the players definitively figure out their chemistry, push their game and turn them into a fearful team ready to make a run in the playoffs. Which one of the two only time will tell.

This latest setback in AD’s season is a tough way to start the second part of the season, but the All-Star break allows at least to steal a weak from his recovery timetable.