The situation has reached the limit in South Los Angeles. With the exception of LeBron, nobody is up to the task in a Lakers team that has started the season 0-3, confirming the bad omens that had been hanging over them in the pre-season. The crisis was accentuated by the palpable bad feeling that exists between Russell Westbrook (33) and the rest of the squad.
With the decision to keep the number '0' in the team, the problems began. A star in decline, while also unable to analyse his mistakes and work to improve them. This has been compounded by Anthony Davis (29) who is going through the worst form of his career. Neither is able to guarantee good shooting percentages and that, in an NBA increasingly focused on scoring, is synonymous with digging your own grave.
They have ridden the 'Failtime' wave. They are one of the franchises with the worst shooting stats in the NBA and are constantly appearing in the videos of the day's worst misses. These are questionable honours for a team that are always expected to be among the best in the league.
They have killed 'Showtime' and that is very hard to forgive. The men led by Darvin Ham (49) are 20th overall in assists per night in the NBA. They neither pass nor entertain the Crypto.com Arena crowd. The rest of their numbers don't stand out in a positive way either. A 21.2% three-point shooting rate drops them to 28th in points per night. They have become the opposite of what you imagine when you think of the Los Angeles Lakers.
A big three stuck in the past
While LeBron James and Davis are capable of scoring a lot of points from mid-range, they are lacking accuracy from beyond the three-point arc. That, in tight finishes, is a liability that will cause them to accumulate too many losses. While the player from Akron (Ohio) has so far a discreet 25.9% effectiveness in this area, 'La Ceja' barely reaches 20%.
A separate case is that of Westbrook, to whom some are beginning to give the nickname of 'Westbrick'. The Long Beach point guard is seeing his shooting get worse and worse each season. So much so that he has only scored one of his 12 attempts from the three-point line, which is 8.3%. He, unlike the other two leaders of the Los Angeles team, is not consistent in two-point shots and that leaves him with a disastrous 28.9% shooting from the field.
A flight forward
Franchise management knew that the hiring policy they were following this summer was not the best. Even so, they decided to go for additions that would bring more intensity than spectacle and that, little by little, would take them away from the 'Showtime' culture. A mistake that they are paying dearly for given the team's performance and the vibes they transmit on the court.
To give us an idea, Patrick Beverley (34) and Kendrick Nunn (27) should be in charge, along with Westbrook, of getting the spectators out of their seats. However, they are currently doing anything but that. The former stands out for his 12 fouls and three baskets in three games and the former Miami Heat player for his +/- of -44 in as many minutes of play.
A difficult crossroads to solve for the Lakers, who have subscribed to 'Failtime' and are doomed to throw one more season away. At least they will be able to celebrate the fact that the NBA's new all-time leading scorer is playing for them.
