In the 20-21 season, in the context of thick eyebrows and James's injuries, the Lakers simply could not find a player who had the ability to lead the team and support the overall situation; so that the team eventually fell to seventh in the West and needed to pass the playoffs to barely squeeze into the playoffs.
Falling seventh in the West also led to the Lakers having to face the Suns, who were ranked second in the West, in the playoffs, in advance, thus losing enough room for adjustment and recovery. After all, if the Lakers were second in the West at that time, against the seventh team in the West, even if the thick eyebrows were injured, James had a very good chance of leading the team to advance, and they also had enough time to wait for the thick eyebrows to recover...
This is also the flaw in playing against strong teams in the first round of the playoffs, otherwise the teams that aspire to win championships over the years will not care about the regular season record. After all, if you can easily break through in the playoffs with seventh and eighth, the regular season record and home advantage seem to lose meaning.
And last season's Lakers did not achieve the expected results + James's peak decline, the "glass attribute" of thick eyebrows, the unusable use of Schroeder and others, completely made the Lakers management make up their minds to form the big three in the offseason - because if it is only a small repair, the Lakers will be difficult to win the championship even if they can break through in the West.
In the end, the Lakers management took "Kuzma, Pop, Harrell and 21 Year 22 Sign" as a chip, through a multi-party transaction, got a number of average triple-doubles Wei Shao, forming a "Zhan Wei Mei" super big three combination.
From the title favorite to the sixth place in the West, the Results of the Lakers' Big Three have not met expectations
After the Lakers formed the league's only two "super big three" lineup, they naturally became the team most likely to break out of the West, and one of the league's biggest title-contending favorites. Unfortunately, so far in the new season, the Lakers' big three have not been able to lead the team and play a dominant force.
At the beginning of the season, the Lakers lost to the Warriors and Suns, who did not change much in the lineup and had the blessing of superstars, which was not difficult to accept. After all, the Lakers are almost a brand new team in the offseason except for James, Thick Eyebrows, and Tucker.
And the huge changes in the squad also mean that they need a certain amount of time to adapt. However, in the following period of time, the Lakers also lost to the Thunder (2 times), Timberwolves, Knicks, Kings, Grizzlies (Morant is absent) and other teams, resulting in the team has been hovering in the playoff area...
The sixth record of the Lakers in the West in the new season + consecutive losses to the "weak team", which is a huge gap with the expectations of the outside world, and because of this, after a third of the schedule, some fans believe that the Lakers have been kicked out of the championship ranks, and the new season to compete for the championship is the Warriors, Nets, Suns, Bucks and other teams have more opportunities.
But even if the Lakers' performance in the new season does not meet expectations, only the sixth record in the West, and even some think that they have been kicked out of the championship competition. But in fact, there are still many fans who have great expectations for the current Lakers, believing that even if they fall to the eighth place in the West, they have enough strength to compete for the championship.
So, obviously the performance can not meet expectations, why is the Lakers still worth looking forward to?
1, thick eyebrows are far from adapting to today's role, far from reaching the upper limit. So far in the new season, due to the need to play the fifth position and end the attack in a way that is not good at, there has been a certain struggle for the personal performance of thick eyebrows. He averaged "only" 23.8 points, 10.2 boards, 3.0 assists, 52.0% shooting and 18.2% three-point shooting per game.
In the 19-20 Lakers championship season, when thick eyebrows could average 26.1 points, 9.3 boards and 3.2 assists per game, 50.3% shooting rate + 33.0% three-point shooting rate of personal performance; and as the first core of the team's defensive end, thick eyebrows also played a fairly good defensive efficiency, helping the Lakers build a strong defensive system.
Today, thick eyebrows not only perform worse on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end. Although this has something to do with his personal state, I believe that it is more that the thick eyebrows have not yet adapted to the new role today. I believe that with the passage of time, he will be able to do better in the new season...
2. Suffered serious injuries and illnesses. At the beginning of the season, new signings such as Ariza and Ellington missed many games due to injury problems, resulting in nervousness in the Lakers' employment. But this is not the most important thing, the most important thing is that James has also missed many games due to injury.
So far this season, James has been injured or banned, and has missed 12 games for the Lakers. James, as the team's home star, his absence has an impact on the Lakers can be imagined. Imagine if Curry missed 12 games, relying on Green, Wiggins, Poole and others, even if they broke out, how far could they lead the Warriors?
3, the state, running-in is getting better and better Wei Shao. Since the new season, Wei Shao seems to have become the most disappointing star, last season he was able to contribute to an average of 22.2 points, 11.5 boards and 11.7 assists of the triple-double performance, but after joining the Lakers, Wei Shao played a very struggling personal performance. The main reason is that Wei Shao led the league with 4.62 turnovers + poor COSG projection, which made it difficult for him to help the team score and control the court at key moments, so as to show his superstar value.
Fortunately, with the deepening of the season, Wei Shao's personal performance has improved a lot. For example, in the recent Lakers vs Lone Rangers game, although Wei Shao's performance was mediocre throughout the game, he played a very bright performance in overtime.
In the Lakers vs. Lone Rangers game, Westbrook shot 2 of 4 in the overtime quarter, got 5 points, 1 board and 3 assists, and helped the team shoot a three-point shot in the final moment, reversing the Lone Ranger 107-104 and ushering in a 3-game winning streak.
It can be said that if this is the Westbrook at the beginning of the season, with his "mistake + brainless projection" attribute, in the case of James or thick eyebrows without a "super god" to play, the Lakers simply cannot win. But now, after gradually adapting to the Lakers, Wei Shao is playing more and more rationally, and the more he fights, the better...
In summary, "thick eyebrows have not yet adapted to the new role, there is still room for growth, James is getting better and better after the return, coupled with the gradual improvement of Wei Shao", it seems that after a third of the season, the Lakers' big three began to slowly react. Coupled with the assistance of Anthony, Howard, Ellington and other veterans, today's Lakers are indeed not yet to the point of being "kicked out" to compete for the championship, and they are still worth looking forward to in the playoffs next year...