On disaster. It’s an objective way of defining the Lakers’ horrendous season, a constant catastrophe motivated by the summer mistakes that made up a squad that was not worth, the coronavirus, the constant injuries but, above all, the horrors of the protagonists themselves. Structural damage that goes from the board to the players through the coaching staff. There is nothing to rescue in a season that has not yet ended and whose end, surely, will be eternal for the Los Angeles team, who is looking forward to everything being over, going on vacation and waiting for the wind to blow more favorably and do not come face to face in full ascent of the Tourmalet.
The situation has many explanations. It is true that there have been physical problems ad nauseam, qthat bad luck has struck the entity and that every time they have tried to emerge and become anything that could resemble a basketball team, has passed something. But it is also true that the limitations of the workforce are the result of the decisions of the board (and company), which are a group of veterans throwing old, vain for no reason, longing for their past and without any possibility of justifying a present that shines by its absence and that the only thing he has been able to do is bring together a huge number of old glories in the same photo that they left their best moment far behind and that they have neither achieved redemption nor, of course, vindication.
Those identified are many, maybe all of them, but there are always culprits who stand out among the others. The extremely free attitude of some has been mixed with the debauchery of others, and neither LeBron’s reign is all-encompassing nor is the quality of the rest of the group eternal. Everything ends, also for those elderly veterans. And in the summer there will be substantial changes that will put the direct to what will be the last year of LeBron’s contract … and we will see if also, of course, the last one to play in the purple and gold franchise. Until we get to that, here are the big five picks from the Lakers’ debacle.
LeBron James
Without being the main culprit, you have to put it first in a list that does not intend to go in order of importance, only as a mere enumeration. The king he has been left without a crown and without arguments in a very powerful course individually speaking (almost 29 points, 8 rebounds and more than 6 assists per game), which has contrasted with the umpteenth example of his character. It was already seen in the All Starwith his darts at Rob Pelinka and Jeannie Buss, the door that was ajar and now wide open in the Cavs, the future with his son and the incomprehensible compliments to Sam Presti, General Manager of the Thunder, only made so that the managers at your side realize your discontent. His relationship with the Lakers, just like it was with the Heat, is purely professional. and he has no problem modifying everything at will to find his benefit, something he has never lied about, it must be said. With Karl Malone just around the corner on the scoring charts, he will overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the very near future as well. But he is left with a season of defensive indolence, dramatic numbers (not effective) and 37 years that will be 38 in the middle of next year (December 30) the 20th of his NBA career. His meddling in managerial affairs and his insistence on bringing in Russell Westbrook and not fight for the permanence of Alex Caruso, also in the spotlight.
Ron Pelinka
Another of the great victims, and this without knowing the degree of guilt he had in the signing of Westbrook and how much pressure he received from LeBron and Anthony Davis. Pelinka was left tied hand and foot after the arrival of the point guard, he let Kyle Kuzma escape to Washington and Caruso to Chicago and has run out of room for maneuver. Nothing to do at the close of the market, bad decisions with the 10-day contracts when the last big coronavirus outbreak appeared (Isaiah Thomas), and zero moves to improve the situation. He has the support of Jeannie Buss and both decided to support Frank Vogel until the end of the season, but have given in to sign Westbrook, a beautiful story in the base’s return to Los Angeles, and they have collided head-on with the evidence. He bet on Talen Horton-Tucker instead of Caruso and he has not seen it explode, and he will have to correct the situation in the summer to please LeBron and justify why it was he, and not Magic Johnson, who was left with the power of Directive. Something he already did when he brought in Anthony Davis. But of course, what happened in the past stays in the past. This team knows a lot about that, without a doubt.
Frank Vogel
It wasn’t the problem, but it wasn’t the solution either. Everything went to hell for Vogel when, in February of last year and with a 21-6 record for a Lakers that had put the direct to the back to back Anthony Davis was injured. Since then, gradual collapse and absolute impossibility to raise an impossible situation and a constantly incomplete template. He did not want Andre Drummond and they imposed him as a starter, while this course he already complained that the squad was not the one he asked for at the time. Dwight Howard is not the one from two years ago, Rajon Rondo, who was not transferred either, does not have a defensive center of his profile (we are not even talking about DeAndre Jordan’s passage through the franchise) nor does he have a squad that does what he wants on that side of the track. They have all gone away in that aspect: Caldwell-Pope (another one that Pelinka let slip), a Bradley who has returned without pain or glory, a Rondo who did defend in the bubble, Danny Green, Caruso… And Schröder has arrived last year, Malik Monk in this one, Carmelo Anthony and not much to have the obligation to cover the maximum continent, the minimum content. Impossible mission, but zero solutions and fatal advice from David Fizdale, the theoretical offensive coach who has been more attentive to the press leaks that gave him the position of head coach, than to do his job. His dismissal now makes no sense, but he will be safe in the summer.
Anthony Davis
Some will say that he has simply been injured. But doubts are beginning, with increasing legitimacy, about this man’s future. The legendary bubble playoffs have been replaced by a myriad of injuries just when the inside player signed an extension until 2025, at a rate of 190 million dollars. Since then, everything has been physical problems for the Lakers player, who last year played 36 games out of a possible 72 and in the present he has played 37 out of 62. It is true that the year he has been healthy, the Lakers have won, but constantly beginning to doubt the continuity of a historically good player who, however, collides again and again with the constant disaster of injuries, something inherent in the career of a man whose talent is beyond doubt. After playing the first 19 games consecutively (and far from his best version) everything has gone in a row. Last year, there were 11 games that he managed to add in a row. In short, a crystal player whose doubts are not, we insist, regarding what he can contribute. They are rather referred to the fact that he does not provide them … simply because of a perfectly verifiable fact: that is almost never.
Russell Westbrook
The jewel in the crown of failure, the most distinguished man, the character reviled by public opinion who returned to his hometown in search of the ring and redemption, and has achieved neither one thing nor the other. He is the same player he has always been and everyone saw him except the Lakers. Now, his is worse because of the irrational fear of error that has permeated every atom that makes up his being. Insecure and very psychologically crushed by constant criticism, the Lakers will look for an unlikely exit for him in the summer, something difficult for a player who will earn 47 million dollars at 34 years old and who has, since Kevin Durant left the Thunder, playing in a way that was previously justified with the triple-double and mere statistics, and that now does not even have that. A good guy in a bad place and a story that has had the only ending it could have. A shame and a really sad season for Russell Westbrook. The puchimbol, the target of all criticism. But also a consequence of everything that the people who precede him on this list have been able to do wrong. Russell Westbrook, the starry star. It is its best definition.
