The Los Angeles Lakers have finally, actually fallen out of the play-in picture into the 11th spot in the west. It came in a pretty inevitable 128-110 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks minus one LeBron James, nursing an ankle injury.
Considering they’ve fallen out of the playoff picture and hit rock bottom… Yet again, which seemed impossible after blowing a 23-point lead to the freakin Pelicans in a loss the other night, it’s only appropriate to hand out the season’s blame pie to the entire Los Angeles Lakers organization right now.
The full reasoning behind one of the greatest disappointments in league history. There’s certainly more than one party to blame, so let’s start right at the top.
Los Angeles Lakers blame pie:
Rob Pelinka/Jeanie Buss: 30%
Obviously, the most difficult component of this list is deciphering blame between the actual front office and general manager-LeBron, or “LeGM” in the social media sphere. Current Laker and NBA legend Carmelo Anthony publicly called LeBron the GM straight up for example.
Though it’s also been reported that the front office was unwilling to give a third year to sign Demar Derozan, to LeBron’s chagrin. Which is terrible optics considering the way the Russell Westbrook trade has evolved, while Derozan has had a career year and shot really well with the Chicago Bulls.
Couple that with the fact that the free agent you had that you should’ve prioritized in hindsight, Alex “Carushow” Caruso, thrived in Chicago as a solid two-way role player in his first year with Derozan. As I’ll bring up in a future slide, LeBron obviously completely signed off on the Russell Westbrook trade as an alternative and deserves blame on the GM side for that.
But Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss were unwilling to commit to Derozan. They missed out on Buddy Hield, someone who would’ve filled a glaring need in terms of perimeter shooting. And, though more difficult to execute, failed to acquire Kyle Lowry. A champion, leader, and far greater team fit than Westbrook.
Between that and not trading Talen Horton-Tucker away while his stock was highest, who he has leveled out, to say the least and disappointed this year while losing Caruso, it’s safe to say it’s been a massive failure of a season for Pelinka and Jeanie Buss. It’ll be intriguing to see what their futures hold as LeBron is yes, still amazing, but aging and may want out of this mess.
And although I believe head coach Frank Vogel doesn’t deserve much blame as I’ll discuss later, LeBron also wanted Tyron Lue, an elite coach, originally. That was a few years ago, but it’s another “LeGM” denial that facilitates the power Pelinka and Jeanie Buss have had.
Anthony Davis: 26%
We’ll get to “GM” LeBron for sure for those who want it. And we’ll get to Russell Westbrook, who I know everyone wants to see. But I think Anthony Davis deserves slightly more blame. Some might say this is unfair given the time he’s missed. Fair or not, him missing time with consistently minor injuries at such an alarming rate has to be a huge knock, for a former top-five performer league-wide.
But more importantly, pertaining to the quarter-of-the-blame, he began the season very pedestrian for his standards while fully healthy. Many including me said this team goes as he goes as it pertains to title hopes. As a former top-five league-wide performer as I mentioned, to regress like this in your age 28 to 29 season is just brutal.
His pedestrian and at times even bad play early in the year set an awful tone for this team, and he and Russell Westbrook’s general chaos jump-started this embarrassing campaign of a season.
To AD’s credit when he’s been healthy in the second half of the year he’s shown flashes of that top five player we once saw. But on cue, he’s been out with an injury yet again in recent weeks while they’ve needed him most. Now their time is running out, and his odds of being a legitimate franchise cornerstone are still bleak to completely unhopeful.
General Manager LeBron James“LeGM”: 22%
Here it is. Despite some aforementioned roadblocks created by Pelinka and Jeanie Buss, LeBron encouraged the Russell Westbrook acquisition. Who, yes is soon-to-be on this list, but has received far too much individual blame for the Los Angeles Lakers’ poor season.
Sounds kind of crazy to say with how detrimental he is on the offensive end, but ultimately the roster construction facilitated this mess. Westbrook is who he is. Jjust because he’s playing alongside a top two player ever doesn’t mean he can just smooth over his fatal flaws at age 33. Between that and no ancillary offensive presence outside of Malik Monk and Carmelo as a spot-up guy, it’s a recipe for disaster with Westbrook’s game handling the ball.
MUST-READ: One word to describe each Laker this season
We can’t heap all the praise on LeBron when he completely flips a reeling Cleveland Cavalier team at the trade deadline that later miraculously makes the finals in 2018. But then absolve him for what this roster has become. Which is headlined by being outdated, poorly constructed, and having an awful, untradeable Westbrook contract. Coupled with a bunch of veteran minimum contracts surrounding it giving you, Rob Pelinka, or Jeanie Buss, zero trade leverage to salvage it.
Although the lowlights on the court from Westbrook and others are pitiful, the brunt of the blame goes to the front office in this particular case. Having said that, though part of that falls on LeBron, it doesn’t even a tad as a player obviously, as he’s putting together another historically great season.
Russell Westbrook: 17%
Despite being set up for failure, there’s no way it completely absolves this individual. Russell Westbrook has had about as bad a season for a former MVP in this league on and off the court that I can remember. Sadly for the first time this year, some postgame comments have matched his crazed abundance of mistakes on the court. He’s really unraveled to a degree.
But more importantly and tangibly on the court, his jump shot has become detrimental. He never had the motor skills or body control with that athleticism to be a great or even good all-around shooter. But a short time ago, at least he could hit a mid-range pull-up somewhat routinely.
Now he’s sending balls at the top of the backboard or on the other side of it routinely. Westbrick is more than appropriate don’t get me started on that. The lack of self-awareness and inability to swallow pride on the offensive end is what the fair criticism comes down to. If the front office had brought in more capable ancillary pieces and he was still playing this inefficiently and hurting the team this much, he’d share close to 40 or maybe even 50% of the blame perhaps.
But alas he’s up against it and still giving 18 points, seven boards and seven assists a night given the obstacles. In fairness to him, he’s actually put together a stretch of efficient shooting nights in recent weeks. He’s a somewhat similar player as a few years ago except now it’s really pulling teeth for him trying to accumulate points. And, it’s becoming practically impossible at times in the half court which is awful as you’re an aging point guard. Combined with being a free throw liability.
He has a 47 million dollar base salary next year and you have to move him after year one. Sadly for the hometown kid, this trade has been a sucker punch to the organization and facilitated a fall from grace after winning the title just two seasons ago. You can’t get a thing, a smidge of real NBA value back with that cap hit. Though he’s a free agent in 2023 and a basement dweller could take him on I believe.
We’ll see, but frankly either way the partnership has been a massive failure. There were far better alternatives out there as aforementioned. Namely Kyle Lowry in terms of his position, whose style is the antithesis of Westbrook’s fiasco show.
Frank Vogel: 5%
At certain points in the season, Frank Vogel has received fair criticism. But it’s been overwhelmingly unfair criticism given what he has to work with outside of the greatness of LeBron James.
I firmly believe Vogel solidified himself as at least an upper-half coach in the 2020 title run. The head coaching depth may not be the most impressive in this league after the obvious top guys, but still, I’m not sure if firing him ensures helping the cause at all.
When Vogel is heavily criticized I think people forget the overachievement in those Indiana Pacer teams of nearly a decade ago. Yes, they had a rising Paul George and a solidified frontcourt but not one superstar and a team that was predicated on playing great team basketball. Alla: needed sound coaching.
He goes to the Los Angeles Lakers after many others are considered and passed on first. And as aforementioned, like LeBron wanted it should’ve been a superior Ty Lue at the helm. He’s having an incredibly impressive season across town, another personal Lakers blow of 2022. But, he took the job with a lot of skepticism and a lot more eyeballs on him than in Indiana. Then he won the title immediately.
Vogel took a lot of you-know-what this year and maybe made poor adjustments at times. But overall when passionate Laker lovers have been showering hate during these embarrassing failures, unnecessary strays at Vogel don’t seem right with everything else systematically and internally wrong with the organization right now.