Author: Joe Siegal
Despite the lofty expectations for a team featuring four bonafide stars in the starting lineup, the Lakers are mired in mediocrity. Sitting under .500 and in ninth place in the Western Conference, the Lakers’ squad of skilled but aging players now find themselves looking up at younger teams like Houston, Denver and Golden State. The common perception is that the Lakers are playing below their talent level, but the harsh truth is that the Lakers as they are currently constituted are not a championship team. This season’s struggles show that the Lakers are being eclipsed not only by upstart teams in the West, but also by their L.A. rivals, the Clippers.
The Clippers, the third place team in the West, are setting the new pace for L.A. basketball. Since the bizarre Chris Paul trade saga, the Clippers have supplemented Paul and Blake Griffin with shrewd signings and draft picks that make fewer headlines than the Lakers’ moves, but have positioned the team at the top of the conference going forward. Jamal Crawford, Caron Butler, DeAndre Jordan and Eric Bledsoe don’t garner the same attention as Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, but they fit the team’s identity and style, which hasn’t been the case with the Lakers’ additions.
The Lakers’ struggles arise from a coaching philosophy that doesn’t fit the personnel, not a clash of egos on the court. The abrupt firing of Mike Brown five games into the season disrupted the team, and Mike D’Antoni was hastily brought in as head coach.
D’Antoni’s system requires speed in transition, something the Lakers are not built o do. Last Monday’s drubbing at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, in which the Lakers were outscored 33 to three on the fast break, shows that the Lakers need to stop trying to play D’Antoni’s preferred style becuase they can’t keep up with the younger, faster teams in the NBA. It’s no coincidence that the more sustained offensive success displayed in recent Lakers wins was coupled with a slower pace.
There is a parallel in the way the potentially deadly front court of Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol has struggled to adapt to D’Antoni’s court-spreading, three-point shot favoring style. Kobe Bryant, in turn, bears a heavier load than even a superstar can consistently carry at this point in his career. D’Antoni’s system neutralizes play in the paint in favor of a fast pace and quick scoring, taking away what should be one of the Lakers’ biggest strengths.
The ways in which the Lakers and Clippers are developing is also emblematic of the current NBA landscape. The Lakers, more set on the Miami Heat-style “big three” construction of a team, have de-emphasized depth, tying up their finances with Kobe, Pau Gasol, Howard and Nash, leaving them with a weak bench. The Clippers, who have supplemented their two stars with less financially burdensome players, have one of the strongest benches in the league. In today’s NBA, where the top teams like Miami and Oklahoma City show that depth and speed are key, the Lakers are getting left behind while the Clippers are adapting.
If the Lakers continue to play with a disjointed philosophy, the gap between them and the new generation of NBA powers will only continue to widen and what started off looking like one of the most compelling Lakers seasons in years will have to be considered an abject failure.
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