The Los Angeles Lakers just still can’t seem to put everything together this season. As it stands right now, the Lakers are currently 28-36 on the year. They are heading into a matchup with the lowly Houston Rockets tonight for a chance to try and inch closer to that somehow elusive 30-win mark. However, they lost their last game to the San Antonio Spurs. Before that they picked up a big win over the Golden State Warriors, but that was only to stop a four-game losing skid. They have also dropped 12 out of their last 16 games, which isn’t good whatsoever. So why can’t they turn this thing around? And better yet, will they ever turn this around?
First of all, Anthony Davis is still just not there. He is currently out with an ankle sprain after returning from a few previous injuries earlier in the season. Bottom line, the man can’t seem to stay out on the court right now. The Lakers haven’t been able to rely upon him given his availability. Plus, he doesn’t like to play the center position, and opts to take jump shots far more often than he probably should when looking at his size. He was shooting the worst percentages of his career before these injuries and just isn’t having a good season all around.
Next, we have to mention these lineup changes. They don’t have any identity on either end of the floor and opposing teams don’t even know who will enter the starting lineup when they go up against them. A lot of the blame has fallen upon the shoulders of Russell Westbrook, who admittedly had a very bad start to the season but lately has been far better and they keep on losing. He is one of the guys that keeps getting moved around. This has attributed to the Lakers using 31 different lineups in about 60 something games on the year.
Finally, and most obvious, it is their defense that is holding them back. Los Angeles made horrible offseason decisions by trying to add as much known offensive talent as possible to support LeBron James and become easy Championship favorites. What has happened instead is that the team is just full of three-point shooters who don’t contribute anywhere else on the floor. It also hasn’t helped that their head coach Frank Vogel can’t seem to stick with a good gameplan on that end of the floor. He has made numerous weird rotations and is flipping back and forth between small and big lineups.
All of that is just a brief picture of this confusing puzzle that is the Los Angeles Lakers. At the moment, I would be surprised to see Vogel returning as the teams’ head coach next season and may even be fired during the year if they can’t somehow muster a playoff spot. LeBron James is doing everything he can but at his age, he can’t carry this team on his back. I know everybody keeps waiting on this team to turn it around. I will just be honest here, I don’t think it’s happening this year.