The six deadly factors holding back the Los Angeles Lakers
By Ed Schrenzel
Despite their win over Brooklyn Sunday night, the Lakers are off to an abysmal start this season. Their 3-10 record is the fourth-worst in the NBA. In the Western Conference, only Houston trails them. LA ranks 29th in the league offensively, 18th on defense and 28th overall.
It appears that the franchise has hit rock bottom. Is there any realistic hope they can salvage this season?
Let’s look at the factors contributing to their lack of success to start the season.
The six deadly factors holding back the Los Angeles Lakers:
1. Lack of Continuity
For the third straight year, courtesy of GM Rob Pelinka, the roster has undergone a huge makeover. Only four players returned from last season’s squad: LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and Austin Reaves (not counting Wenyen Gabriel, who had a small role in 19 games).
Pelinka also hired a new coach, Darvin Ham. It is Ham’s first head-coaching job in the league although he was an accomplished assistant coach, most recently with Milwaukee.
It takes time to adjust to new teammates and a new system, especially on defense. So it was predictable that the Lakers would get a slow start out of the gate.
2. Tough Schedule
It was also easy to project that the Lakers’ tough early-season schedule would cause problems. Of their 10 losses so far, 7 have come against teams widely expected to at least battle for the playoffs: the Warriors, Clippers twice, Nuggets, Blazers, T-wolves and Cavs. They also suffered two defeats against the surprising Jazz, who so far are surpassing everybody’s expectations.
The other loss came against the Kings when the Lakers melted down the stretch both offensively and defensively. It didn’t help that LeBron sat out the game with a sore leg.
Five of their next six games are against beatable teams with losing records: Detroit, Indiana and San Antonio three times. That should provide a fuller opportunity to properly judge this team.
3. Early-Season Injuries
Every team suffers some injuries and the Lakers are no exception. Ham has had to improvise these first 13 games without several players in his projected rotation.
Both center Thomas Bryant and point guard Dennis Schroder have yet to suit up due to hand injuries. James has been out for 3 games, Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker and Troy Brown have each missed 2 and Davis and Russell Westbrook 1 apiece. The only Laker to play in all 13 games is Reaves.
The eventual return of Bryant could enable Davis to move back to his more natural power forward position. That, in turn, should help the team on both sides of the ball.
Schroder is a quality player but just where he fits into a crowded backcourt along with Westbrook, Beverley, Walker, Reaves and Kendrick Nunn is uncertain. At least one of that group could be traded once Schroder comes back, perhaps for a much-needed shooter.
Should fans expect that once the players get accustomed to one another, the schedule eases up, and injured players return to the lineup, the Lakers should reverse course and start competing for a title? Well, not exactly. The team still has some major obstacles.
Here are three more factors worth noting:
4. Outside Shooting
Anybody who’s watched the Lakers play knows that the lineup is not exactly filled with Stephen Curry’s. After a dreadful start, their three-point percentage has climbed all the way up to 30.7%, which is progress but still ranks dead last in the league.
Nobody should be surprised. One look at the roster assembled by Pelinka before the season began revealed that the Lakers severely lacked shooting.
But some of the numbers are simply atrocious. James and Beverley are both shooting just 24% from beyond the arc, Davis 25%, Nunn 23% and Juan Toscano-Anderson a whopping 18%.
What is a surprise is that Westbrook is among the team leaders in three-point percentage at a fairly respectable 34%, close to his career high. The challenge for him is to maintain that throughout the season.
Yes, the Lakers might still trade for a marksman but overall three-point shooting will likely never be a team strength this season.
5. Projected Injuries
James, Davis and Beverley have each missed at least 20 games the past two seasons. Can they stay on the court longer this time around?
Probably not. LeBron will turn 38 next month and is already on track once again to miss 25% of the season. At his age relatively minor injuries will likely be the norm.
AD has been injury-prone his entire career, playing over 70 games just twice in 10 seasons. He’s been playing with a tight lower back, and nobody will be surprised when he’s forced to sit out multiple games.
PatBev continues to play a risky style, throwing his body all over the court without regard to the consequences. At age 34 he doesn’t bounce back as quickly as he did when he was younger.
If you’re placing bets you should probably take the under on any of them to playing more than 60 games this season.
6. The Two Superstars
Ultimately the success of the Lakers is dependent on the performance of their two best players, James and Davis.
Just two years ago, in October 2020, the Lakers captured the NBA title because of the duo’s outstanding play. But so far this season, neither has been nearly as dominating.
AD had his best game against the undersized Nets on Sunday. But prior to that, he hasn’t been as stalwart as he was just a few seasons ago.
His numbers- 24 points, 11 rebounds and nearly 2 blocks a game- are certainly still strong. And his 54% shooting percentage represents a career-high. Most NBA players would kill to have those stats.
But he just doesn’t seem to have the same commanding presence he had during his first year in LA or his final three seasons with New Orleans. That guy took over games while averaging 26-28 points. He was “the man” inside, blocking over 2 shots a game, intimidating at least that many more, and getting to the free throw line 8 times.
The current AD is still very good, but he just hasn’t been the same dominant star on the court. The Lakers will need more of what he did against Brooklyn (37 points on 15-25 shooting and 18 rebounds) to achieve any success this season.
LeBron is still remarkable considering his age. Although he’s averaging 25 points, he’s shooting just 45% from the field, his worst percentage since his rookie year. His free-throw mark, 67%, is nearing his 20-season career low. And so far he’s shooting a career-worst 24% from deep.
There’s also the eye test. LBJ looks a tad slower and less mobile. And he’s gotten beaten off the dribble more than we’re accustoming to seeing.
James has defied Father Time more often than any other pro basketball player. And maybe he’ll do it again when he returns from his groin injury. It’s too soon to say that his star might actually be starting to fade. It’s a long season so it’s wise to hold off rendering a final judgment.
The same can be said about the Lakers. It’s a safe bet that their final winning percentage will far exceed their current 23%. But how good can they truly be?
Ten teams in each conference will at least reach the play-in game. The West looks reasonably well-balanced with only about five teams fairly certain to reach the playoffs- the Warriors, once they straighten things out, the Suns, Clippers, Nuggets and probably Grizzlies. The remaining five spots are still up in the air.
If it will take a .500 record to qualify for the postseason, the Lakers would have to win 55% of their remaining 69 games (38-31). That sounds like an achievable goal. But it’s probably not a good idea to count on this Lakers team doing much more than that.