{"id":49331,"date":"2023-02-21T10:29:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T15:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=49331"},"modified":"2023-02-21T10:29:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T15:29:38","slug":"the-state-of-the-los-angeles-lakers-post-all-star-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/02\/21\/the-state-of-the-los-angeles-lakers-post-all-star-break\/","title":{"rendered":"The State of the Los Angeles Lakers: Post All-Star Break"},"content":{"rendered":"

The end of the All-Star break signifies a renewed push for most teams as they try to either maintain their top status or claw their way there.\u00a0 For the Los Angeles Lakers, the situation is dire.\u00a0 After moving on from Russell Westbrook<\/strong><\/a>, LA hopes to rebound, led by LeBron James<\/strong><\/a>, Anthony Davis<\/strong><\/a>, and a young and hungry supporting cast.<\/span><\/p>\n

The State of the Los Angeles Lakers: Post All-Star Break<\/h2>\n

Making Moves<\/h3>\n

It’s no secret the Lakers struggled through the first half of the season, thanks in large part to a lack of chemistry, injuries, and being unable to keep up with the competition.\u00a0 As a result, they have attained a 27-32 record and are sitting at 13th in the West in February\u2014even with two superstars at the helm.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the <\/span>trade deadline masterclass<\/span><\/a> by General Manager Rob Pelinka gave the team new hope.\u00a0 The new-look Lakers handed the Golden State Warriors their seventh loss at home on February 11, 109-103, and dominated the New Orleans Pelicans four nights later, 120-102.\u00a0 For transparency, they were also blown out by the Portland Trail Blazers because they could not guard the three-point line.\u00a0 Still, however, the potential is there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Breaking things down further, here is a look at how each acquisition has impacted the Lakers so far and where the team goes from here.<\/p>\n

The New Guys Are Alright<\/h3>\n

Since the trade deadline, D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/strong><\/a> has led the charge among the new additions.\u00a0 LA\u2019s lottery pick in the 2015 draft has shined in his return home, averaging 17.3 points and 5.7 assists per game while shooting 45% from the field, 37% from deep, and 77% from the free-throw line.\u00a0 He had 21 points, seven assists, and one steal last Wednesday–his first Lakers home game since 2017.\u00a0 His chemistry with James and Davis has not gone unnoticed either, as he noted in a postgame interview<\/a> after the victory over New Orleans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[When] LeBron and AD are going like that, it\u2019s easy to follow those guys. I can only imagine what the future looks like,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the Role Players<\/h3>\n

Aside from Russell, the impact of the other new Lakers cannot be overstated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jarred Vanderbilt<\/strong><\/a> has quickly become a fan-favorite among the Lakers faithful with his effort on both ends of the floor.\u00a0 He\u2019s averaging eight points, nearly eight rebounds, three assists, and one steal for LA while shooting 71% from the field.\u00a0 He made a great first impression in his purple-and-gold debut against Golden State, garnering 12 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.\u00a0 Since then, he has continued to make a dent in multiple categories, being an overall positive factor on the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veteran Malik Beasley<\/strong><\/a> has shown flashes of potential in his short time as a Laker, tallying 22 points on 6-12 shooting from deep in the team\u2019s loss to Portland.\u00a0 He has not been much of a factor in their two wins, though, shooting 5-18 from the field and 2-13 from deep in the process.\u00a0 However, don\u2019t give up on him for that reason alone.\u00a0 Beasley has proven his worth at each destination in his career.\u00a0 Surely he can get out of the shooting slump and be the high-impact role player the Lakers need him to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mo Bamba<\/strong><\/a> made his Laker debut against the Pelicans, putting up four points, six rebounds, and three blocks before fouling out in 15 minutes of action.\u00a0 However, he showed out every time he was on the floor, finishing plays at the rim with ease and defending it just as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Davon Reed<\/strong><\/a>, who the Lakers acquired from the Nuggets, has made a negligible impact so far; however, his solid three-point shooting (38% for his career) could prove useful in a plug-and-play situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adjusting the Lineups<\/h3>\n

With those new guys come major questions with regard to lineups and the overall rotation. <\/span>Lonnie Walker IV<\/strong><\/a>, who had once been a consistent starter for the Lakers, has fallen out of the rotation with how deep the team has gotten on guards and wings.\u00a0 Dennis Schr\u00f6der<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s starting job appears to have been taken over by Russell, which, <\/span>Schr\u00f6der says<\/span><\/a>, is fine by him.\u00a0 With the new pieces starting to carve out roles for themselves, that leaves many of the current Lakers to find ways to adapt and help the team succeed. Sacrifices from Walker and Schr\u00f6der are prime examples of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Head Coach Darvin Ham appears to have found a starting group that works for him. \u00a0Russell, Beasley, Vanderbilt, James, and Davis were the first five on the floor last Wednesday.\u00a0 They tallied an offensive rating of 134.6 and a defensive rating of 100, in addition to boasting a perfect assist percentage, according to NBA Stats.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether that starting group remains is, of course, up to Ham.\u00a0 But given how well they performed together, it is hopefully a sign for him to start those guys more often.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers Going Forward<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s no doubt the Lakers will need to be playing near perfection to get a shot at the playoffs.\u00a0 <\/span>Dennis Schr\u00f6der said via Instagram<\/span><\/a> that the team\u2019s goal is to win 16 of their remaining 23 games, and LeBron appeared to agree in the comments.\u00a0 James doubled down on the importance of the Lakers\u2019 schedule during All-Star weekend, saying they are <\/span>\u201c23 of the most important games of my career for a regular season.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not enough that they should succeed; others should fail.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Lakers to get into the Play-in at minimum, fans should be praying on the downfalls of the #7-12 seeds in the West, which include the Pelicans, Warriors, Jazz, and Timberwolves.\u00a0 They sit a mere two games behind the 10th-seeded Thunder and are three games behind the Pelicans, who occupy the seventh seed at the time of writing.\u00a0 If they want to shoot for the moon, the Mavericks are at 31-29 and sixth in the West\u2014four games better than LA. Beyond that–barring a cataclysmic collapse–there is no shot that the top-five seeds falter in the remaining 20-30 games.<\/span><\/p>\n

The point remains, the Lakers have begun to turn things around.\u00a0 Heading into the home stretch, everything will have to go right for them in order to get back into the conversation for the playoffs\u2014and maybe even the championship.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The end of the All-Star break signifies a renewed push for most teams as they try to either maintain their top status or claw their way there.\u00a0 For the Los Angeles Lakers, the situation is dire.\u00a0 After moving on from Russell Westbrook, LA hopes to rebound, led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and a young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":49337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62],"tags":[240,307,38],"class_list":["post-49331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-dangelo-russell","tag-lebron-james"],"modified_by":"Kevin Nivek","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}