Mediocre, Average, Underwhelming. And it perfectly describes this team and frankly this entire organization right now. Besides Luka’s individual stats, there is no meaningful area where we are truly “elite”. And being in the middle is the absolute worst place to be in the NBA.
But we might see a 5 game win-streak on the immediate horizon while we’re playing a bunch of mid & sub-mid teams and folks will be claiming that the Lakers have turned the corner heading into the end of the season. Then reality will set in when we start playing actual contenders again.
The fact is this team has a lotta soft players and a stubborn coach. The defense is awful, we’ve stuck with the same, predictable scheme for just about 2 years now. The zone we use is so much better than our switching, not sure why that’s not the go-to. Vando may be a negative offensive player but he plays twice as hard as just about everyone else not named Smart or LaRavia on D. Yet he barely sees the floor. Not really expecting much more out of the season , at this rate I’ll be astounded if we make the conf. Finals but you never know. No way we best Boston or Detroit in a 7 game series so it all feels kinda moot.
I’m hoping there’s a sign and trade in some of our players future. Ship the dudes out for better suited Luka helpers. I’m sure that’s on the white board somewhere…super sure…
19 of the 26 games left are against teams with winning records. After 15-4 start, Lakers went 19-18. If they lose 19 of the next 26 games, they will finish at 41-41, the ultimate .500 team.