Sports fans in Los Angeles haven’t had a lot to cheer for over the past few months. The USC Trojans are coming off their most disappointing football seasons in recent memory; despite being ranked the #1 team in the country at the beginning of the year, the Trojans finished with a mediocre 7-6 record while racking up several heartbreaking losses in the process (most notably a loss to long-time rivals UCLA.) The NHL has only recently ended a lockout, denying hockey fans of their world champion LA Kings for far too long. And finally, the team that has become not only the biggest let-down in the LA sport scene, but the entire nation, has undoubtedly been the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers were deemed by many to be the favorites for the NBA Championship this season, and was considered a consensus top 3 team along with last year’s finalists: The Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat. The expectations were high, however their window was small. With a Roster full of aging stars that features a backcourt of a 34-year old Kobe Bryant and 39-year old Steve Nash, they were labeled by many as a ‘championship or bust’ team. I felt that it was asking a bit too much for a team with zero experience or chemistry to come in and dethrone the Lebron James-led “super team” Miami Heat.
The fact of the matter is that LA sports fans are spoiled, partially because the Lakers have been by far the most winningest franchise in the NBA for the past 30 years, as well as the most discussed. With all the pressure, media scrutiny and the burden of having a bullseye on their backs, I expected the Lakers to fall short of expectations. Just how high were these expectations? People who predicted the Lakers would finish with the 5th or even the 4th seed in the West were deemed ‘haters’. To be fair, the Lakers do sport a roster that contains Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, who are considered by many to be the best shooting guard and center in the NBA, respectively; as well as top 5 players at the point guard and power forward position in Steve Nash and Pau Gasol. To call this team ‘talented’ would be an understatement.
This team is absolutely stacked, loaded with star-power, and has arguably the best starting five in the entire league on paper. Lakers’ Small Forward Metta World Peace even went so far as to say this team could challenge the 1996 Bulls’ 72-win record. Some fans thought this team would be ‘unfair’ to the rest of the league. However, no-one could’ve predicted the turmoil that lead to what can be described as both a shocking and fascinating collapse. Other than Kobe Bryant’s scoring average, not a single thing has gone well for the Lakers this season. Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash have all struggled to stay healthy, having missed 36 combined games while posting career lows across the board.
Mike D’antoni, who replaced Mike Brown as the head coach in November, has been appallingly bad, showing an inability to control, communicate with, or utilize his player’s strengths while proving to be too stubborn to make adjustments to his ‘seven seconds or less offense’. He refuses to post the ball despite having three of the best post-up players in the league in Bryant, Gasol and Howard, and instead insists on fast breaks and 3-pointers despite the Lakers being neither athletic nor a prominent 3-point shooting team.
Meanwhile, there have been recent reports of bickering between the Lakers’ star players, most notably between Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, which have been reminiscent of the last years of the ‘Kobe and Shaq’ era in which the two superstars had disputes over who was the ‘alpha dog’ of the team. Several players have voiced their displeasures towards D’antoni’s system, with Kobe, Dwight and Gasol all calling to post the ball more. D’antoni instead has relegated Gasol to the bench and turned him into a spot-up jump-shooter, even though he has been one of the best post-up players in the league for over a decade.
Finally, the Lakers’ defense has been shockingly bad despite having two former NBA defensive first team members and a former defensive player of the year. Here is a breakdown of the Lakers’ collapse by the numbers: The Lakers are 29th in the league at Transition defense, allowing 15.5 fast break points per game. The Lakers are the 2nd worst team at defending the picking roll, allowing their opponents 1.08 points per possession in such situations.
Remember to follow us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport
