NBA – The Lakers rush into the wall: can they still avoid it?

The Los Angeles Lakers are supposed to be able to do no worse – if not better – than last season, when they finished 11th in the Western Conference, missing the playoffs and even the play-in. It’s gone very badly. LeBron James and his partners still haven’t had a win to celebrate after a week of competition. Three matches, so many defeats. And an already palpable frustration around a group constantly under the spotlight. Three defeats in a row, for a franchise so exposed to the media, for a team driven by one of the greatest players of all time, it’s a crisis situation. The treatment would likely be different if it was the Grizzlies, Hawks or Raptors. But the Lakers are the Lakers.

Even remaining measured in expectations, it is difficult not to be disappointed with the performance of Los Angeles. It seems certain that this team will not play for the title this season. But from what she shows so far, and without drawing too hasty conclusions, even the playoffs do not seem within her reach. Which would be catastrophic for an organization towed by James and Anthony Davis, with a former MVP in the person of Russell Westbrook and a staggering payroll estimated at more than 170 million dollars, the seventh most expensive team in the league.

Worst 3-point team in the NBA

What emerges first from the three consecutive defeats of the Angelenos is obviously their catastrophic address. Basketball being a sport where the goal remains to put a ball in a basket, it becomes complicated without any successful player. The statistics are frightening. 6 of 33 three-pointers against the Blazers on Sunday night. 9 of 45 against the Clippers and 10 of 40 against the Warriors at the start of the season. That’s a total of 25 out of 118 behind the arc. 21%. It’s cataclysmic. LA is one of the teams that tries the most three-pointers while being the most clumsy. The worst being that most shots are open. But that may just be because the Lakers’ opponents don’t expect to be sanctioned, as LBJ pointed out after Game 1 against Golden State. He also took the opportunity to slip a small tackle in his direction. “Our team wasn’t built around great three-point shooters. It’s just the truth.“A mistake already made last season. The King has almost always been surrounded by long-range shooting specialists during his career. Because these are profiles that complement him well, because of his ability to attract defenses, fix them and to create play for him or for others.

The Californians have spaces to shoot but they have no more to attack the basket. Because the opposing defenses do not hesitate to regroup in the racket, thus depriving Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the two best players in Los Angeles, of their favorite area. They also do not hesitate to let a pivot get stuck on Russell Westbrook. Ivica Zubac “defended” on the point guard in the final minutes of the game against the Clippers and the Blazers did the same by placing Jusuf Nurkic in the marking in the money time. In reality, the interiors simply take advantage of this to stay in the paint and come to the aid of a pick-and-roll involving James or Davis more quickly. Westbrook is left free, in an effort to entice him into shooting. What he does. Without success, thus justifying the whole strategy.

Like last year, the ex-MVP is at the heart of criticism. He is not the only problem of the Lakers, far from it, but he is the embodiment of the basic problem: a lack of compatibility between the different parts of the workforce and a recurring clumsiness. He scored only 11 baskets in 3 matches, all in 38 attempts (29%). With a terrible 1 in 12 behind the arc. His coming was a mistake that the leaders tried to fix all summer long by trying to transfer him. For now, the staff has no choice and done with it. But Darvin Ham did not hesitate to leave his leader for long minutes on the bench against Portland and he will not hesitate either to bring him out of the bench, or even from the rotation. This may be the only solution. The worst part is that it won’t change everything.

Reasons to be hopeful…

Behind this very gloomy picture still hides some bright spots. In the game anyway, it’s already more solid than last year. Especially in defense. Los Angeles is second in this aspect in terms of points against 100 possessions (more telling than points against per game) with an index of 103.4. When the shots don’t come in, defending well is an obligation. The players of Darvin Ham have the merit of giving themselves to the side of the field, where they were sometimes pathetic last season. A sign that the coach’s message can get through. The Lakers are also first in interceptions. They pose difficulties for their opponents with Davis in charge of the defense, supported by athletes like Westbrook and James or even tenacious players like Patrick Beverley, Austin Reaves or Juan Toscano-Anderson. The staff now have to find the right rotation to keep this defensive desire without being too penalized in attack.

Even there, not everything is to be thrown away. The base formed by James and Davis remains solid. The two stars combine well and they bring the bulk of California baskets. Again, the problem is what (and those) are around. Except that in the game, it’s getting better and better. With movement and ball circulation on certain sequences. “I like the way we are playing at the moment. We really share the ball. There is movement. I think we’ll end up putting our shots“Says LeBron. It’s a certainty. Since 2012, no NBA team has finished a season with less than 30% success behind the arc. The Lakers may get closer to this sad mark but they will do better than their current 21%. James, Beverley, Reaves, Davis, Westbrook, Walker or Kendrick Nunn all have percentages below their career average. Open shots will eventually come in. In any case, the coach expects that let his players keep taking them.”If our opponents want to give us those shots, we’ll accept them with good hearts. (…) The worst that can happen to us would be to hesitate when a shot is opened. It would break all our offensive rhythm. I want our guys to be confident. I want them to know that I believe in them.“

… But inevitable changes

Despite this clumsiness, the Lakers finally lost narrowly against the Clippers and the Blazers, two great teams. The calendar is not in their favor with upcoming clashes against the Nuggets (twice), the Cavaliers or the Timberwolves. They will progress. Now, to really climb into the race for the playoffs, we will have to make some changes in the workforce. It lacks one or two confirmed rotation players to really turn the corner and aim for the top-6. It could go through a transfer of Russell Westbrook – the Pacers would be willing to take him in exchange for two future unprotected draft picks in 2027 and 2029 – or through adjustments during the season.

The good news is that good shooters are easier to find than good defenders. Add an Eric Gordon, a Buddy Hield or Jordan Clarkson to this group and he would already have a different look offensively. What would be almost the most disturbing is the body language of LeBron James, whose flattering statistics partly mask the lack of desire and the irregularity between the various quarters. The King is probably annoyed by the situation, too. It would be better if the Lakers did not lose hope or explode before they even had the opportunity to renew their workforce. There is still room to salvage this season which has only just begun. But time is already running out.