Who is the blame for the Lakers poor start ?
by Andrew Williams
As I prepare my New Year’s Eve drink with my wife, my eldest daughter reminded me it’s that time of year, LeRevamp Season. Now since you are not in the Williams household you may not know how important a season this is but let me explain. LeRevamp season is the time of year shortly after the Christmas Day game when LeBron James looks at his roster around him and see what’s not working. In the Williams household we speculate who it will be, and we are pretty good at it. This year is different we looked at the numbers watched the games and wondered who’s the villain, who’s the drama and who will be out on this episode of LeBron Survivor.
First let’s go ahead address the fact that the ageless king LeBron James (in his 19th year in the league and 37 years on the planet) has scored 30 or more eight times in the last ten games. With that said as we have seen every championship prior it will take more than that to hoist the Larry O’Brian trophy at the end of the year. So, who is at fault for the Lakers rocky start, who is falling short of their expectations? Let’s take a look at the numbers to see who has to go.
At first glance I think as a Lakers fan and hearing the chatter I must first look at the obvious lightning rod Russell Westbrook.
I listen to fans, and they say “Westbrick gotta go!!!”, but is he the reason? Ok I understand that statistically he is producing some of his lowest numbers in every major category (19.5 pts / 8.2 rebs / 8.4 ast) in the past five years. I also am aware that he was analytically better in the year he was in Houston, and that was not an ideal season for him. On the other hand, I also know his shooting percentage is higher this year than in his MVP season. Not to mention Russell is no different a player than he was prior to him reaching the Lakers. Westbrook is still getting triple doubles. He is what we expected. Yes, he is scoring 3-8 points less than he was over the years, but he also didn’t have LeBron as another scoring option.
We also have to explore the fact that once again Russell Westbrook’s trade value can be directly tied to a John Wall acquisition. So, are we looking at a possible LeViction here or another half of season of as the Lakers fans refer to Russell as "Westbrick"?
Another possibility would be to follow the sentiments of Charles Barkley and put the blame on an underperforming Anthony Davis. Let’s be honest with ourselves Davis is not doing that bad compared to his last 2 seasons in the purple and gold. As a matter of fact, prior to his injury his numbers were trending towards bubble AD. Let me play devil’s advocate for a moment Davis prior to the injury was falling the eye test. LeBron was supposed to be passing the torch. This year was to be the year AD dominated the league. He was projected to rival the Greek Freak and shine with the All Star cast he had around him. One can say that since Davis really has not had a chance to mesh with that supporting cast (playing at most 6 games with a given line up). Let’s add to the fact that Wayne Ellington is not allowing the space that was needed to make AD a factor. With Ellington 6.4 ppg ppg in 21.4 mpg the defense is not seeing him as a threat causing the lane to remain clogged, but that can’t be it. Rondo is delivering a very prosaic 3.1 ppg and 3.7 apg, but is taking no blame but is being shipped out for Stanley Johnson possibly a good start to right the ship.
A good amount of role players on the roster does not seem to be doing their role. Carmelo is playing far better than he should at his age. I feel changes will be made but the real villain has to be injuries and Covid protocol. Those two things though not specific to the Lakers has robbed the team of cohesiveness. Now that we know who the villain is, just remember nobody is safe once LeRevamp season begins, except the king himself ask Rajon Rondo.
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Andrew Williams is a Sports Analyst and Host of BallCourt - The World of Basketball with Coach Drew and Let's Kick It - Courtside.
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