The Lakers first carried out a drastic reform in the offseason, the Lakers got three doubles through the trade, Weisbrook, plus James and Davis, the Lakers successfully upgraded to a super team with the big three as the core, for a while, the Lakers will make a comeback this season, becoming the slogan of winning the championship again.
But this season is almost halfway through, the Lakers have only achieved 17 wins and 18 losses, the worst record of the seventh place in the West, no one can imagine that the performance of the Lakers with the big three will be so bad, so who should be the pot of the Lakers' poor record?
Wesbrook became a back-and-burner
Christmas vs Lakers lost to the remnants of the Brooklyn Nets 115:122, Westbrook in this high-profile game 20 shots 4, three-point shooting 3 shots 0, only 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists of embarrassing data, offensive efficiency is extremely low, -23 The lowest positive or minus of the whole game is simply hot eyes, after the game depressed Weisbrook refused to be interviewed by the media, but the media did not want to put Wisbrook a horse, and soon Wisbrook was scolded to the front page of the United States.
Objectively speaking, Westbrook's performance this season is not bad overall, this season Wesbrook averaged 19.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 8.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game, including 45.1% shooting, 30.4% three-point shooting, 45.1% shooting rate higher than the personal career average, 30.4% three-point shooting rate also reached the personal career average, 48.5% effective shooting rate and 51.9% shooting rate True shooting percentages are normal for individual careers, so Westbrook's personal performance this season has been normal overall, with no significant decline.
Speaking of this, I believe that many fans will think that the author is whitewashing Forsbrook, in fact, this season, Westbrook's offensive efficiency is not high, the middle and long-distance shooting is unstable, and the defensive end of the leaky defense loses people from time to time, but we must understand that Westbrook's performance is not a phenomenon that only occurs after the Lakers, looking at Westbrook's entire career, he is not an efficient and stable scorer, and the fascination with data and ball rights is easy for Westbrook to make a wrong judgment, thus losing the defender.
Since we all understand that Westbrook is such a pros and cons player, the Management of the Lakers cannot be unaware of the stakes in introducing Westbrook, as I mentioned in the previous article, the main purpose of the Lakers' introduction of Westbrook is to see The ability of Westbrook to use speed to easily score points in the conversion offense, the ability to connect the team and the ability to ignite the whole field with passion, obviously these three points Westbrook have done, but now Westbrook is scolded by the dog bloody head, Because in Los Angeles, because of playing next to James, Westbrook's shortcomings are infinitely magnified, and it is obviously unfair for the Lakers' poor pot to let Westbrook carry it.
A variety of reasons have led to the Lakers' poor record
There are many reasons for the Lakers' poor record this season, summed up to four reasons, first of all, It is difficult for Westbrook and James to form an effective chemical reaction, James and Westbrook's playing style is very similar, all belong to the big core of the ball, you need to have the ball in hand to exert the greatest energy of the individual, James is so, Westbrook is the same, but James's ability to play without the ball is obviously stronger than Westbrook, Friends who have watched the game can find that Westbrook without the ball is very blind on the court, the offensive efficiency is extremely inefficient, and Westbrook needs to hold a lot of balls to find the feeling of the game, which is one reason for the Lakers' poor record.
The second reason is the decline in the state of Lakers pillar Davis, although the Lakers have James and Westbrook two superstars, but Davis is the key figure in the Lakers' attack and defense, this season Davis although he can still cut 23.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 2 blocks per game, but this is not the level that 28-year-old Davis should have, people expect that Davis should be ruling the league, but Davis did not do it.
Friends who always watch the Lakers this season will find that Davis is trembling on the field, completely unable to play at full strength, afraid that there will be sports injuries after exertion, which can not blame Davis, this is Davis's physique, this is not, Davis fell because of injury, without Davis' Lakers Even if James averages 30+ points per game, the Lakers are still five consecutive defeats, which is The important role of Davis.
Third, the Lakers' overall defense has experienced a serious decline, this season's Lakers' defensive efficiency is 108.6, only ranked 12th in the league, which is the same as the Lakers' performance on the defensive end last season is simply a judgment of two teams, can not attack, can not prevent the Lakers' record how to be good. The main reason for the serious decline in the overall defensive level of the Lakers this season is not only Davis's poor form, the main reason is the sequelae of the Westbrook trade.
The Lakers gave up Harrell, Kuzma, Pop and Caruso in order to get Westbrook, Pop and Caruso can be the lakers' outside the defensive gate last season, Harrell and Kuzma although the defense is average, but the fist is afraid of less, the enthusiasm of the two is a valuable asset that all teams in the league need, it is worth mentioning that harrell uh uh attack and defense efficiency at both ends of the league this season is high in the league, second only to Jokic and Alphabet Brother, higher than Durant and Curry.
The fourth point is the Lakers' overconfidence in Davis. The Lakers have always let Davis as the starting center of the team, thinking that Davis can completely support the inside line of the Lakers, Davis' strength can completely support the inside line of a team by himself, but Davis's body does not allow him to do this, the intensity of the movement is easy to make Davis have injury troubles, in fact, last season's Lakers is this situation, Davis stopped, the Lakers did not have a good record, the Lakers introduced Howard again in the offseason, I thought the Lakers would give Howard plenty of opportunities to share the pressure on Davis on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, but this season Howard has been abandoned, I really don't know what the Lakers management thinks, this no, Davis is injured again.
In summary, the four reasons for the Lakers' poor performance this season are: 1, James and Westbrook do not call, 2, the Lakers' home star Davis's dominance declines, 3, the defensive end is useless, 4, the interior line abandons Howard, the above four points are the main reasons for the Lakers' poor performance this season.
If you want to carry the pot, management is the culprit
Earlier we analyzed the reasons for the Lakers' poor performance this season, then the culprit of this phenomenon should be the Management of the Lakers, let's start with the lineup of last season, in the offseason of the 18-19 season, Lakers General Manager Pelinka took the lead in the lineup transformation of the Lakers who just won the championship, the main role players Howard and McGee have been cleaned up, replaced by Schroeder and Harrell, Schroeder and Harrell have won the best big six awards, On the surface, the Lakers' lineup is significantly improved.
But how embarrassing the Lakers were last season we all saw, it was reduced to the need to grab a place in the playoffs, although entering the playoffs, but in the first round it was simply out, last season offseason many fans were for the Lakers, thinking that the Lakers abandoned Howard and McGee is the biggest failure, so in the offseason Pelinka invited Master Huo again, originally thought that Davis would return to the fourth position he preferred, but this season Davis is still fighting in the No. 5 position, Howard is only the team's substitute center, Eventually Davis fell again.
Last season offseason Pelinka once again made a drastic reform of the team, Harrell, Kuzma, Pop and Caruso have been abandoned by the Lakers, replaced by a three-double macho Wisbrook, the author believes that the Lakers to make such a lineup adjustment must have made careful preparations, and must also think that getting Wisbrook through a trade will be a trade that will outweigh the disadvantages, so this deal will happen.
So we don't have to follow the crowd of Sovisbrook is the main reason for the Lakers' poor record, the Lakers management knows better than anyone what kind of player Westbrook is, because in the 18-19 Lakers championship season, the first round of the playoffs Lakers opponents are Harden and Westbrook led by the Rockets, the Lakers by using the Waysbrook outside shooting, wrapping Harden's strategy, let the Rockets struggling, and finally the Rockets lost to the Lakers 2:4, In this series, Wesbrook averaged only 17.9 points, seven rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, shooting only 42.1% from the field and a pitiful 24.2% from three-point range.
So the Lakers are one of the teams that know Westbrook the best, the Lakers through the trade to get Westbrook will definitely think of Westbrook's unstable mid-range shooting, and Westbrook's poor defense, but what the Lakers need is The efficient scoring ability of The Westbrook offensive and defensive conversion and the ability to drive teammates, obviously Wesbrook is doing well in both of these points, so in the final analysis, the culprit of the Lakers' poor performance this season should be the Lakers management led by Pelinka.