By now, we are all well aware of the plight of the Lakers. The Showtime Lakers have turned into the No-Time Lakers, as in no time for defense, teamwork, or winning. People from ESPN to radio talk shows have been searching to find a solution or root of the problem. In my opinion, it's very simple and it boils down to one person and one person only; Mike D'Antoni.
Now, it's easy for me to say this retrospectively but I don't believe they should have fired Mike Brown in the first place unless Phil Jackson was a lock to coach. It's not so much that I am endorsing Brown as the coach that would lead the Lakers to multiple titles, but unless you can find a coach significantly better, why change? It's a bit like the Mark Sanchez situation in New York. The Jets kept him on the roster (so far) going into next season, even though he has struggled recently and has drawn the ire of the Jet fan base. The probable cause is not confidence in his skill, but rather the other QBs that are out there? Mike Vick? The injury machine at the end of his career. Alex Smith? The guy who lost his job to a rookie and was a bust until Harbaugh got there. One of these rookies? In a very weak QB draft class. No, unless you have a proven, significant replacement, I think it is wise not to rock the boat. Regardless, the Lakers brought in D'Antoni primarily based on the work he did in Phoenix (he did improve the Knicks, but nothing compared to his Phoenix days). On paper, it looked like a great fit.
Steve Nash, his point guard and maestro of his offense, would be reunited with him. He would be coaching the best player in Kobe Bryant, that he ever got to coach in the NBA. He would also inherit All-Stars Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard. Formula for success right? Wrong. For starters, this isn't Phoenix and although Nash is there, the other Suns are not. Dwight Howard is not Amare Stoudemire, Gasol is not Shawn Marion, and Bryant is not Leandro Barbosa. Are those three Suns players better than those three Lakers based on raw skill? No, of course not. But within D'Antoni's system they become better than all three, expect Bryant. Take the Chicago Bulls for example. I love the Bulls and I love the players they got. But without Tom Thibodeau's scheme of strong defense, emphasis on rebounding, and solid half court offense, I think the Bulls would be a middle of the road team, possibly a team not in the playoffs. I've always been a believer that any group of players can be successful, it's just how they are utilized that determines that. At this point, the Lakers players are not being used to their full potential.
There are a few other theories out there that try to explain the Lakers' problems that I think are ridiculous. The first of which is Kobe Bryant. The main complaint here is he takes too many shots. For one thing, he has to. He is undoubtedly the best player and shooter on that team, HIS team, and he feels personally responsible for the success and failure of the Lakers. As a Laker fan, would you rather have Kobe shooting the ball or Earl Clark? Wait, time out. That's not nice to take a shot (no pun intended) at Earl Clark. A guy who never gets in the game. Oh wait, he totally does. Clark played 35 minutes against the Bulls on Monday and started. He played more minutes than Howard, Gasol, and only one less than Nash. If these are the players Kobe is forced to play with then yes, if I'm a Laker fan, I have no problem with him leading the league in shot attempts. By the way, he was second in the league in shot attempts during the Lakers' last two title seasons, behind only Dwayne Wade in 08-09 and Kevin Durant in 09-10. The Black Mamba is not the problem.
Another point of emphasis during this Laker slide has been Dwight Howard. Now, a part of me wants to blame him. He was brought in to follow in the footsteps of the Shaquille O'Neals and the Kareem Abdul Jabbars of the world. So far, he hasn't lived up to that billing. He's already missed a few games with an injury and has an absolutely awful free throw percentage (50.4). His chemistry with Kobe has been questioned due to his playful personality clashing with Kobe's professional, serious demeanor on the court. Despite all of this, he still is averaging a double double with 16.7 PPG and 12 rebounds per game. He's also averaging more blocks per game (2.5) than he did during his past two seasons. He's accomplishing all of this while being asked to play within a system that does not fit him.
D'Antoni's system relies heavily on the jump shot and agile big men. You could argue that Howard is neither. He is most comfortable getting low in the post and using his big frame to dunk it or shoot an easy baby hook shot for two. His defensive stats are even more impressive given D'Antoni's lack of knowledge in defense and Nash's poor defending. It's much easier for the talented point guards in the NBA (there are a lot nowadays) to slash into the lane where Howard has to make a play on them, as well as watch his own man. His numbers in Orlando speak for themselves and before D'Antoni was hired, he put up point totals of 19, 33, 13, 28, 19, 6, and 23. By comparison, his most recent games have seen point totals of 22, 31, 13, 5, 8, and 2. If they keep D'Antoni, I actually think it would make sense to trade Howard just to get better pieces for the offense. Having said that, the team that they do trade him to will be getting one hell of a player. Put Howard back in an offense he is comfortable with and I think the outstanding offensive and defensive numbers he put up in Orlando will start to show again.
The last person people are trying to blame is Jim Buss. Buss is an owner of the Lakers and was the deciding factor on who the coach would wind up being. While Buss deserves some of the blame for not analyzing the problems a D'Antoni system would bring to LA, he can't be blamed too much because of the glossy surface it presented. As mentioned before, this looked like a fairly good fit. D'Antoni had won out in the desert and made the Knicks relevant again. Some blame him for not conceding enough to get Phil Jackson, but Jackson turned down the New Jersey Nets job later in the year. Given the prestige and roster of the Lakers, as well as the promising talent and hype around the Nets, you would think one would take either of those jobs. Clearly he doesn't want to coach at this time so the Jackson turn down was more a matter of circumstance rather than Buss directly causing an opportunity to slip away. Buss still had Kobe and Gasol, then went out and acquired Nash and Howard from free agency. He did all in his power and within financial limits, that he could to make this team a contender. He doesn't coach the team, he doesn't shoot the shots, and he doesn't play the defense that the Lakers don't play. In this case, the owner is not the problem.
So what now? Well, there are two options. Hold onto everyone, ride out the season, and hope for the turnaround of all turnarounds. The other option is to accept your fate of missing the playoffs and start firing and/or trading people away to build for the future. I suggest they go with the latter. I think everyone is simply waiting for that moment when everything clicks and they turn it around. In fact they did click this year. For a five game win streak! Unfortunately, three of those five wins were against the Wizards, 76ers, and Bobcats. By the way, they gave up 100 points to the Bobcats! Some defense. At some point you have to accept that you are either a good or bad team. I don't think they will make the playoffs which is unheard of for a team with their history and the skill on this roster. They remind me of the Philadelphia Eagles the past couple years. Their teams on paper looked unstoppable but the product on the field left much to be desired.
The good news for Laker fans is it's not even the All Star Break yet. I admit, there is a good chance this could backfire on me and this whole article could look silly by April and May. If they get the right pieces in a trade for Howard and/or Gasol, I actually think this team could be quite good. As it stands right now, though, the experiment has failed. Superman + Black Mamba + World Peace ≠ World Title, though it might equal a good tagline for a movie. So while other teams get asked questions about how many titles they will win, the Lakers will get asked how many points they will give up a game. To which Kobe should respond in typical Lebron fashion, "Not 70, not 80, not 90, not 100....."
Matty O
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