We’re past the halfway point of the 2022 NBA season, and the Lakers are still looking like a team that is play-in tournament at best.
When they brutally lost 133-96 to the Nuggets, LeBron James tweeted to Lakers fans an apology and a promise that they will improve.
Yes, they may have beat the Jazz 101-95, but that was followed up with two losses in their last four games, including another bad loss to the Pacers, in which it involved the 4th quarter benching of Russell Westbrook, and another crusher, a 113-107 defeat in Miami, at the hands of the Heat.
Even though they beat the Nets 106-96, Kevin Durant sat out with an injury and Kyrie Irving is not allowed to play in games inside of New York because of his vaccination status.
When the Lakers laid that egg against the Nuggets, it opened the door to the idea to a fact the franchise was hiding all season long: The problems go beyond what is happening on the floor. It’s a total dysfunction around the franchise.
When the Nuggets’ Davon Reed, a player who no one knows outside of friends and family, challenges LeBron and knocks the ball out of his hand, it shows a symbolism that nobody is scared of the Lakers, and LeBron’s invincibility is evaporating with each loss.
The championship season for the Lakers is all but done. Not only that, but their playoff run is in danger too. They’re continuing to waste LeBron’s valiant efforts. They are sorely missing Anthony Davis. And they are still not finding the right chemistry with Westbrook and a handful of role players.
But that’s just a small part of what is wrong with the Lakers. What should be looked at is the dissent in the ranks of the Lakers. For example, take Magic Johnson taking on social media to express his frustrations on the Lakers and Westbrook’s answer.
“We as Lakers fans can accept being outplayed but we deserve more than a lack of effort and no sense of urgency,” tweeted Johnson. “Owner Jeanie Buss, you deserve better.”
“Everybody is entitled, in this world, to their opinion. Regardless of what that is,” answered Westbrook. “You can either take it and run with it or you can take it and put it in one ear and out the other or you cannot respond to it. Magic’s entitled to his opinion. And he’s not here every day. He’s not around us every day. He’s not aware of what’s going on internally with us and trying to figure things out. But I have no response to that.”
Whether it be Westbrook’s 19 points with his first three-pointer in 2022 that gave him the courage to blow off a Lakers icon that brought the team five championships and cleared enough salary cap to even get his $44 million salary in the first place, no matter the reason, based on how he was playing this season, it’s just as bad as his failed tough guy act on Aaron Gordon.
While his poor play has been a problem for the Lakers, it has not been THE problem. While people are pointing to him and head coach Frank Vogel, NBA on TNT’s Charles Barkley is not buying it.
“The Lakers are such wussies,” said Barkley. “The way they have tried to throw Russell Westbrook and Frank Vogel under the bus is just pissing me off. The people up top who put that trash together are running and hiding like cowards saying, ‘Oh it’s Frank. It’s Russ.’ You put all of them old geezers out there—whoever running that trash out there... it’s ridiculous.”
And Barkley has a point. The Lakers are a massive disappointment mostly because of poor roster construction by general manager Rob Pelinka and the ownership’s unwillingness to go deeper into the luxury tax. Yet Westbrook and Vogel are two of the biggest scapegoats to deflect the blame towards.
Yes, they brought in Stanley Johnson on a 10-day contract, but that is part of the problem as well.
“Listen,” Barkley continued. “The best guy other than LeBron [James] in the last month has been who? Stanley Johnson. And for y’all to bring in a guy who was on the street and he becomes your second best player... it’s ridiculous.”
Vogel was the target of rumors of him being on the hot seat, but that attention shifted to Westbrook and his benching against the Pacers.
Yes, the point guard has had an extremely down year, but the rationale for the benching didn’t help matters either. Dave McMenamin of ESPN said that Westbrook did not follow the scouting report on Caris LeVert:
The coaching staff had repeatedly emphasized the scouting report to take away LeVert’s right hand, and Westbrook, guarding LeVert at the top of the key one-on-one, didn’t angle himself properly to thwart the drive and allowed LeVert easy access to the paint en route to the hoop.
The likely play in question was found by former NBA assistant coach and video coordinator Steve Jones Jr.: In the 4th quarter at around the 7:20 mark.
LeVert had a big game, putting up 30 points. Additionally, Westbrook’s defense on that play was really bad, but he was not the reason why LeVert went off against the Lakers.
The play in question was the only one where LeVert scored with Westbrook as his primary defender. LeVert was guarded the majority of the game by either Avery Bradley, Stanley Johnson, or Talen Horton-Tucker. Other guys like Austin Reaves and Carmelo Anthony had defensive breakdowns leading to easy scores for LeVert.
Yet Westbrook is getting singled out for his lone error on LeVert, despite stripping him a few possessions later on a help assignment.
Jones also noted other inconsistencies in the coaching staff’s benching explanation. Westbrook was allegedly pulled for not keeping LeVert from going to his right.
But when looking closer, some of the Lakers’ defensive coverage throughout the game looked to be intentionally pushing LeVert to his right hand.
LeVert was also wide open at times because of questionable defensive schemes, such as not switching screens. During times when other players like Bradley pushed LeVert to his left, a lack of ball pressure allowed LeVert to get wherever he wanted.
Westbrook was benched for the final four minutes, and LeVert went on to hit all three of his shots in that span. The Lakers’ defense also was worse without Westbrook in that portion of the game.
Yes, it is fair to question Westbrook’s defensive intensity. He is not a plus defender. Part of the team’s drop from the 2nd-ranked defense last season to the 16th-ranked defense this season can be attributed to him.
But the whole team has not played good defense. Look at 28 of LeVert’s 30 points as proof. To single out Westbrook is missing the point.
Westbrook has been a net neutral by on/off numbers, per Cleaning the Glass. The advanced stats, like estimated plus-minus, put him as an average NBA player in terms of impact at this point of his career.
Where the Lakers are getting gashed at is having to play so many of their minutes with Pelinka-chosen players who have not contributed anything to the team.
The biggest reason why the Lakers are broken is because of the lack of depth on the roster, and the pieces are not fitting well. There are other options too, but this is the route Pelinka chose.
Pelinka shipped Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma and the Lakers’ 1st round pick to the Wizards to acquire Westbrook. Kuzma improved his all-around game. Caldwell-Pope continues to be solid. Harrell has re-established himself. The Lakers needed this depth badly.
The offense has been constantly underachieving, ranking 23rd in the league despite having four players recently on the NBA’s list of the 75 greatest players of all time. The defense has been completely unrecognizable from the defenses that were a key staple to their last two playoff teams.
And that was also in display in their loss to the Heat. The final score, where the Lakers lost by six points, doesn’t tell the full story.
The Heat led by around 20 points for almost all of the 2nd and 3rd quarters, with the margin even getting as large as 23 in the early stages of the 4th, before the Heat understandably let their foot off the gas pedal while the Lakers were pushing for a desperate comeback.
Once again, it left the Lakers to regret their lack of effort and urgency throughout their first three quarters of the game.
“We just started off a little... a lot too slow,” said Westbrook, deciding that “a little” wasn’t going to cut it. “We picked it up a little too late. Our sense of urgency was a little late. We just weren’t playing hard enough. When we decided to play hard, you saw the difference. It doesn’t matter in this league what a team runs. If a team is playing harder than you, then you’ll know it right away. And that’s that.”
Westbrook said that the Heat were playing much harder than the Lakers for most of the game, but there were schematic reasons for the Lakers erasing most of the 23-point 4th quarter deficit. After a mix of on-ball and off-ball screen coverage on defense, the Lakers went on with a lot of switching late in the game.
“We were able to switch 1-5 and I felt like it made the game easier for us,” said Avery Bradley when asked on what allowed them to nearly make a comeback. “We were able to make easier reads on the defensive end, and were able to get stops and get out on the offensive end and make plays.”
But even with the schematic changes, Bradley agreed with Westbrook on the team having an effort problem.
“I think a big part of it is just our effort, from night-to-night,” said Bradley. “On this team we have a lot of talented players and we all have to buy into our roles. My role is to go out and play hard on defense every single night. There’s nights I feel like I’m not and I want my teammates to be able to tell me. I think we have to understand what we all can bring to the team, and bring that every single night, and put that energy to each other. I feel like we can turn this season around. We can win games, play better, more consistently, but it’s going to take that.”
It’s that same song and story time and time again. Those who have been following the Lakers this season have seen multiple instances of a lack of effort and urgency being referenced by the players and coaches this season.
The Lakers beat the Kings by 25 on November 30th, but that was not without a 59-50 deficit at halftime. In that game, DeAndre Jordan was first benched, not playing in the 2nd half. That helped big time; however, a fiery Frank Vogel at halftime helped as well, admitting he had to “light a fire” under the team to play with more effort.
Before that, LeBron said the Lakers have to figure out how they would keep a “sense of urgency for as close to 48 minutes as possible” after their embarrassing 130-108 loss to the Celtics on November 19th.
If that’s not enough, there’s also the Timberwolves routing the Lakers 107-83 on November 12th. After that game, Anthony Davis sounded off on the team.
“We have to decide who we want to be,” said Davis. “A championship team? That’s not us right now. We’re not winning a championship the way we’re playing. We have to be better. We got to care more for our wins at home, wins in general. That was embarrassing.”
Yes, Bradley is right. The media, and, by extension, Lakers fans, have been hearing this same song and story before.
Pelinka’s moves have also been baffling. Malik Monk, and, to a lesser extent, Carmelo Anthony, were good signings. Stanley Johnson played well as a hardship exemption addition. But keeping Horton-Tucker over Alex Caruso ended up being a huge mistake.
They also needed to nail on their veterans’ minimum signings. Instead, they flopped on them. Jordan and Kent Bazemore are out of the rotation. Rajon Rondo was traded to the Cavaliers. Management even believes that playing Jordan more alongside Dwight Howard will fix their problems. The reality is that it won’t.
The roster is also destined to stay the same because every trade scenario concerning the Lakers is basically impossible. No team wants what the Lakers want to offer without multiple first round picks.
The idea that the Lakers will have a “full team” is becoming a pipe dream. The roster is the oldest in the league, Anthony Davis is injury-prone, and LeBron is getting overworked. Neither LeBron, Davis, nor Westbrook can make up for the Lakers’ problems, either singlehandedly or as a trio.
They had the hope that their three star players will be consistent playing time together. That hope is when Davis returns, but given LeBron’s workload and age, he is becoming more vulnerable towards wearing down. Westbrook hasn’t lived up to the Lakers’ expectations.
They’re not wrong for changing the roster outlook from their championship season in 2020 and their first round exit in 2021. They had the right pieces to win a championship, but they did not retain a lot of the supporting cast in the hopes of having a younger roster that could get them through the 2021 season.
Although it’s not a wrong philosophy, they were wrong with who they chose for their replacements.
When they acquired Westbrook, it came at the cost of their depth and youth. And even though they fulfilled perimeter defensive and outside shooting needs, they did so by committing one great sin: Filling it in with way too many veterans with greater risk of having an injured roster.
They’re getting very little from DeAndre Jordan, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore and Wayne Ellington, not enough from Horton-Tucker, and nothing from Kendrick Nunn, who has been sidelined since the start of the season. They even let Caruso go because they were not willing to pay additional luxury taxes.
So now they’re in a hole that they are digging themselves in, and there is not going to be a market before the trade deadline for their damaged goods. The only thing that can save their season is if LeBron and AD are playing at their best and healthiest levels. It worked in 2020, but that also coincided with the right personnel with them.
And even if they stand at 24-24 and 9th in the Western Conference, Frank Vogel is expected to keep his job. The Lakers are not prepared to fire Vogel because “no one believes changing the coach will yield dramatically different results.”
This follows reports back in January 18th from Bill Oram and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that Vogel’s job was in “serious jeopardy” and was “being evaluated on a game-to-game basis and is at risk of being fired if progress doesn’t continue.”
Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times said that the Lakers have “no current plans” at a coaching change, however.
There has been another LeBron-led team that fired its head coach midway through the season. Despite having a 30-11 record and having the top seed in the Eastern Conference in the 2016 season, that season’s Cavaliers were looking listless under David Blatt, and replaced him with Tyronn Lue, which was a key factor to their championship run.
The main difference is that LeBron was playing for a team that was playing below its potential with the 2016 Cavs. The 2022 Lakers are a dysfunctional franchise all-around.
The return of Davis is nice and all, as he played for the first time since the Lakers lost to the Timberwolves on December 17th. In the span without him, the Lakers went 7-10.
But his absence led to the Westbrook problem, where he is averaging 18.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game on 43.8% shooting and 29.3% from three. There have been constant concerns on how the 33-year-old would do as he was slowly losing his explosive physical tools that was seen when he was with the Thunder.
One Lakers insider even summed up the whole dilemma by saying, “There is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
Another source alluded to Westbrook’s $44.2 million salary for this season and his $47.1 million player option for the 2023 season, and saying making it work with him, LeBron and AD is “the only option.”
Horton-Tucker is averaging 10.5 points but shooting at 25.3% from the perimeter. If the Lakers were hoping he would serve as a trade asset for a big midseason deal, that plan is not working.
The Westbrook trade looks to be Rob Pelinka’s last chance at him at shaking up the roster. Assuming he won’t fire himself, his last shot could be of the idea of a new coach with new ideas to the Lakers’ roster.
Others are more patient, leaning on Westbrook’s long history of improving his play throughout the season as he adjusts to his teammates, pointing towards the 15 games that the star trio have spent on the court together because of injuries.
But whatever people’s stances are going to be, there is no denying that LeBron, AD, and Westbrook all wanted to play together, and there is no other option but for them to figure out how to get things going.
“It’s not like [Westbrook’s] a tradable player where if it’s not working out you just move on; everybody in the NBA knows that,” said a team source. “So it’s got to work. This is the only option. There is no Plan B for this season.”
For those who know Westbrook, even in the different contexts, they tend to say that he gives it his all game in and game out, putting his heart into the game.
“As a coach, I never took for granted that you never have to worry about that guy coming ready to play. Ever. He’s ready,” said Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, who coached Westbrook for four seasons with the Thunder. “There’s going to be more positives than negatives. Sometimes when he’s playing with new guys, some of the turnovers and things like that, [are] just a product of him getting more comfortable with people he’s playing with and figuring out where he can kind of do what he does. But you want him aggressive, you want him attacking; that’s who he is and what’s made him the player he is.”
Donovan can say that because he knows Westbrook well. But nobody on the Lakers has had a lot of history with him. They played against him at his peak, but that’s different than the bond and the trust that comes with playing together.
It’s also fair to wonder how much adding Westbrook’s longtime coach, Scott Brooks, to Vogel’s staff could help the 33-year-old’s acclimation to the team. Brooks ended up getting a more rewarding offer with Chauncey Billups with the Trail Blazers.
Those who know Westbrook well say that he thrives in environments where he feels he has a sense of control.
His best seasons came when his team and the organization revolved around him and adapted to him. He liked the pressure that came with it. In a way, it was easier to have everything on him than share responsibilities with another superstar, something he cannot control.
In the past few seasons, he has not had that control. He joined someone else’s team and had to learn to coexist. It was first with James Harden on the Rockets, then with Bradley Beal on the Wizards, and now with LeBron and AD on the Lakers.
After Westbrook’s benching against the Pacers, Pelinka knew the situation was very much a fork in the road, so he met with Westbrook for nearly two hours when the team landed in Orlando, per team sources.
Vogel has also met individually with Westbrook several times throughout the season to try and find ways to help him feel more comfortable and succeed on the court, per team sources.
LeBron and AD also speak to him regularly, as well.
At this point in the season, everyone was hoping that those conversations would be more productive.
The ones with LeBron and AD have been going on since the summer. The recruiting meetings among the star trio have been well-known by this point.
After last season’s first round exit, LeBron and AD were wanting in for a new co-star. Both suffered serious injuries during the 2021 season, and it felt like it was paramount on adding a third star to help the team out if one or both went down again.
Also, LeBron turned 37 this past December and there was the notion that he would want a secondary playmaker to ease the heavy load on him.
Outside of Westbrook, they also met with Damian Lillard and DeMar DeRozan.
Westbrook was the most aggressive suitor and the most realistic star for the Lakers to acquire, and also said the right things when LeBron and AD asked him on how he would approach a new role.
Statistically and individually, Westbrook said to them that he felt he accomplished everything in his NBA career, and the only thing missing was winning a title. Doing this in Los Angeles, where he could see his family every day, would mean a lot to him at the current stage of his life.
Before the season started, the three of them understood that it was on them to have this ship float.
The options were endless: Have Westbrook be the secondary playmaker when playing with LeBron and the primary playmaker without him. He could cut when he was off the ball, taking advantage of all the space created by the pull generated by LeBron and AD. He could play pick-and-roll with both of them.
Several problems emerged very quickly.
First, there was not enough spacing for the Lakers played non-shooters in Westbrook and both centers—DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard.
Second, the perimeter defense became drastically worse when Caldwell-Pope was dealt to the Wizards and Caruso signed with the Bulls, and outside of LeBron and AD, they didn’t have the type of versatile defenders to make up for this.
Third, LeBron missed 10 games in the first month, then AD missed 20 games, each time forcing Westbrook to adapt to a different style.
And fourth, Westbrook has not been as effective with the non-LeBron lineups as expected, leading to the decision to cut his minutes with the bench groups.
This led up to the listless losses throughout the season, putting the onus on Vogel at some points, even getting to complementing on if they should move on from the head coach or not, ultimately deciding against it, because no one believes changing the coach will get different results.
Still, LeBron, AD, and Westbrook are supporting each other publicly. There were occasional comments about too many turnovers and inconsistent defense, but there has not been any finger-pointing.
If they can keep up the level of play that they showed when they beat the Jazz and Nets, they could make noise in the playoffs. If they revert to the team that got blown out at Denver and lost to a Pacers team that was without Domantas Sabonis, Caris LeVert, Myles Turner, Malcolm Brogdon and TJ Warren, they might not even make the playoffs.
So, what do they need to do to have a shot, albeit a distant one, at hanging their 18th banner? It comes down to five things.
1: Anthony Davis Stays Healthy
Most of the woes are simply because of Davis’ absence, who missed 15 games before his return in the Lakers’ win over the Nets, because of a sprained MCL in his left knee. Injuries have been a recurring theme over his career; he has never played more than 75 games in a season and has played 60+ games just twice in his last four seasons: 2018 (75 games) and 2020 (62 games in the shortened season).
Not only is he the team’s most important defender—he leads the Lakers in rebounds and blocks—he is also their second-leading scorer. However, his 23.3 points per game average hides the fact that even when he has been available, he hasn’t been the same player he was since the 2020 season.
This season, 161 players have attempted at least 150 jump shots. In that group, Davis ranks dead last in shooting efficiency with a dreadful field goal percentage of 35.8%. Lineups featuring both him and Westbrook get opponents to pack the paint and dare both players to shoot the kinds of shots that result in more failed possessions for the Lakers.
In an era where jump-shooting efficiency and perimeter firepower are key, Davis and Westbrook don’t check the box. When they share the floor, it’s hard to see the team getting healthy offensive marks, even from the perimeter.
But there still is no question that he is needed on the lineup. Ever since he went down, the Lakers went 7-10, including 4-8 against teams at .500 or above. In that stretch, they suffered some embarrassing losses, including that shellacking against the Nuggets, in which their 37-point defeat marks the second-worst margin of defeat in LeBron’s 19-year career, but it shows the key issue with them: Without Davis, they can’t reliably stop anyone.
2: Fix the Defense
The Lakers’ defense was the most underrated component of their championship team in 2020. That season, they had the best defensive rating in the Western Conference and the 3rd-best defensive rating in the NBA. This season, they rank 10th in the West and 16th overall.
When Davis got hurt, the Lakers’ defense became a defensive laughingstock, ranking 26th in that span—they were 9th before Davis’ injury.
Before their win against the Jazz, the Lakers gave up at least 100 points in 15 consecutive games, allowing at least 115 eight times in that span.
After Magic Johnson’s tweet and LeBron’s vow for the team to improve, the Lakers had their most impressive defensive performance of the season, limiting the Jazz, which has the league’s best offense, to 95 points on just 31 made shots.
It’s just one game, but that’s the kind of night a Frank Vogel defense is known for, and they did it without their best defender.
With Davis back, it should boost the defense right away, but it won’t fix everything, especially considering they have the hardest remaining schedule in the West. If they want to keep LeBron’s promise to improve, they have to regain their defensive form.
3: Fix the Offense
When the Lakers won the championship in 2020, they ranked 11th in offensive efficiency. This season, they rank 23rd. They’re scoring slower than losing teams like the Pacers, Spurs, and Kings.
One reason is that they are struggling to score that it wastes possessions. They are tied for 25th with the Pistons at turnovers per game, at 14.9, which would then contribute to defensive problems, as teams are scoring 14.0 fast break points per game against the Lakers.
Another issue is movement. The Lakers are arguably the most stagnant offense in the league. Per Second Spectrum tracking, they are the slowest in miles traveled per game (15.2), time spent walking or standing still (74.2%) and average speed on halfcourt sets this season (3.78 mph).
This is not surprising given that they are the oldest team in the league. After trading for Westbrook, they went all-in on vets, filling the roster with aging players like Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Avery Bradley, and Wayne Ellington.
In the win over the Jazz, the team’s young players got the job done—the quartet of Stanley Johnson, Malik Monk, Austin Reaves, and Talen Horton-Tucker combined for 44 points off the bench in the win. If that core can provide the Lakers with youthful energy and reliable bench scoring like this, the offense could get better in the second half.
4: More Consistency from Russell Westbrook
Westbrook’s dunk on Rudy Gobert seemed like it could be the turning point for what has been a disappointing season for him, but he followed it up with getting benched for the final four minutes of the loss to the Pacers.
That single play against the Jazz captures how great Westbrook can be at his best. He can be an elite rim attacker who can collapse defenses before either scoring at the rim or finding an open teammate with a well-timed pass. He can also be a bad jump shooter with a bad trigger finger and a proclivity for turnovers.
Because of injuries, Westbrook has taken more shots than any other Laker this season. The results, however, have not been good.
His 18.6 points per game average would be his lowest since the 2010 season. Of the 58 players who attempted at least 500 shots this season, Westbrook ranks 54th in shooting efficiency, with an eFG% of just 46.8. The league average is 52.3.
This is familiar territory for him, who continues to stubbornly rely on jump shots that don’t connect often enough. This season, 61 players took 300 or more jump shots. Westbrook ranks 57th in efficiency among them, averaging just 0.88 points per jump shot. The league average is 1.01.
He also continues to turn the ball over too often, leading the league in that category—something he has done four times in his career previously.
However, ever since he said “I can turn the ball over, too. I can do that,” after committing nine turnovers against the Timberwolves, he has seven turnovers in his next seven games, including three where he didn’t turn the ball over once, before those problems came back, having had eleven turnovers in the Lakers’ last three games, including a five-turnover game against the Nets.
If Westbrook can play like he did in the seven-game span where he didn’t have a turnover, the Lakers’ offense will get better. He can also contribute to an offensive improvement by playing how he did when he won Western Conference Player of the Month in February 2020 when he was with the Rockets. He scored 35 points per game on 54.9% shooting that month, largely in part by getting into his rim-attacking skills and toning down on the ill-advised jumpers.
Westbrook can be strong in the paint. In his only season in Houston, he ranked 3rd in the league by averaging 15.0 points per game in the paint, converting 55.8% of his paint shots—only Zion Williamson and Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged more. But this season, Westbrook ranks 30th in the league at 9.5 points per game in the paint, converting 51.3% of his paint shots.
The Lakers need to get the best version of Westbrook in the second half of the season, and that starts with his shot selection.
One key issue is that the trio of LeBron, AD, and Westbrook love to score in the paint. Each of them rank among the top six most prolific paint scorers in the last five seasons. The problem is that there isn’t one basketball—there is only one paint.
When Westbrook put up those numbers in February 2020, he did so in Mike D’Antoni’s spacey small-ball offensive system, which opened up driving lanes for him to attack every time down the floor. With key rotation players like Howard and Davis, the Lakers don’t do that.
But finding a better version of Westbrook the scorer is huge for everything to come together for the Lakers. Whether it means staggering his minutes, or even going as far as asking him to come off the bench to run the floor with his young teammates, he needs to be more efficient if the Lakers offense is going to improve.
5: Get Comfortable with Each Other
It’s past the halfway point in the 2022 NBA season and everyone on the Lakers still doesn’t know each other that well.
The most-used five-man lineup is LeBron, Westbrook, Bradley, Johnson, and Monk. They shared the court for just 68 minutes—every other team in the NBA has at least one lineup play a minimum of 100 minutes together this season. Johnson wasn’t even on the roster until Christmas Eve, and only signed because of a COVID outbreak that sidelined four Lakers guards.
The Lakers have used 21 starting lineups so far this season, and LeBron, AD, and Westbrook were all together for just 15 games, in which they are 8-7.
Championship teams find ways to become greater than their individual parts, but that takes time and reps. This team hasn’t had the continuity needed to coexist as a group. They must find a way to do so in the second half if they want to compete with teams like the Suns, Warriors, and Grizzlies—teams that have solid brands already this season.
Realistically, it’s still unclear how they will play this season. Much of it starts on the frontcourt. Who is their starting center? LeBron? AD? Howard?
LeBron has done it all in his career, but without AD, the LeBron-at-center lineups have been a trainwreck defensively. With Davis now healthy, the duo of LeBron and AD in the frontcourt along with a trio of floor-spacers could show the scariest iteration of the offense while also being able to get stops and rebounds on defense.
But those kinds of lineups lean towards Howard, who has been solid this season. With him on the floor this season, the Lakers managed some of their most efficient numbers, especially when compared to Davis.
In Howard’s 527 minutes on the floor, the Lakers have a net rating of +1.1, an offensive rating of 111.2, and a defensive rating of 110.1. With AD on the floor, the net rating decreases to -2.5 and the offensive rating worsens to 105.4, but the defensive rating improves to 108.0.
So further diminishing AD’s role might not be the solution.
LeBron has made it to nine of the last 11 NBA Finals, but both of the missed Finals have come in the past three seasons. If he wants to make his 11th trip to the Finals this season, he has to keep that promise to the fans—that this team improves in the second half of the season.
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