Los Angeles Lakers fans were excited this summer when general manager Rob Pelinka introduced three future Hall of Famers— Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard—to the lineup. In addition, he signed a brilliant outside defender Trevor Ariza, top scorer Wayne Ellington and two outstanding young outside attackers, Malik Munch and Kendrick Nunn, while re-signing the promising young player Talon Horton Tucker.
In theory, the Lakers have more offensive firepower this season, which will make them less dependent on the two superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis than in the past two years. However, as the middle of the season approaches, the Lakers have only achieved a record of 17 wins and 19 losses, ranking seventh in the West, and more and more fans are disappointed with the team's position in the West. Of course, some people will say that it is mainly injuries that affect the stability of the team, and even the star James has blamed the team's current problems on injuries, but in the current serious epidemic, which team does not have injuries. It's clear that the Lakers' roster composition is also flawed, especially since the Lakers lack the elements necessary for the winning team to succeed — there are players who are willing to do dirty work.
Think back to the Lakers during the "Show Time" era in the 1980s, when the team's core lineup consisted of "Sky hook" Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy, but they also needed to be willing to do the dirty work like Michael Cooper, and muscle-type big forwards like Mark Ranzberg, Kurt Lambis and A.C Green to win the NBA championship.
Without players like Rick Fox, Robert Holly and Derrick Fisher to do the dirty work, the Lakers led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal might not have won three consecutive championships in 2000-02. Also when the Lakers won two consecutive championships in 2009-10, they also had Fisher, Ariza and Ci Shiping at their peak.
In recent years, the Warriors have dominated the league with scoring from stars Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, but without dirty players like Draymond Green, André Iguodala and Kevin Looney, the team would not have reached the Finals for five consecutive years. Take the season the Lakers won the championship two years ago, and they also relied on tough guys like Caldwell Pope, Danny Green and Alex Caruso.
But when the Lakers' training camp started, there were very few tough guys on their roster who were willing to do dirty work, and Ariza was one of them, but he was injured quickly. Anyone else? Howard may be left, but his peak is long gone, and his influence is now limited, and no one can fill the void until the Lakers sign Avery Bradley.
Losing draft Austin Reves also said he was willing to go the extra mile, but recently Ariza, Bradley and Reeves were all unable to play because of the league's epidemic prevention and safety agreements, leaving the Lakers with no one to do dirty work.
Stanley Johnson joined the Lakers with this attribute, and the reason why he became a fringe player in the NBA was mainly because of his unstable offense, but he was a good defensive player, and his specialty was to do dirty work. For this reason, the Lakers gave him a short 10-day contract, and as a result, he has proven himself to be the key factor that the Lakers are missing.
So far, the Lakers have been struggling, and of course everyone who knows basketball expects Westbrook not to be a good partner with James. Wei Shao is Wei Shao, he can't change and won't change, he will go all out to play every game and every offense, and he will play some wonderful performances, but he will also often make fatal mistakes, be careless on the defensive end, and miss the shots he should hit.
There are also thick eyebrows, which don't look quite right this season, even when he's healthy. In the 2019-20 season, he shot 33% from outside the three-point line and improved to 42% in the playoffs, but before he was injured this season, his three-point shooting rate was only 18%, and what was worse, his mid-range shooting suddenly lost his target. No one knows why thick eyebrows have dropped so badly, but if he can regain his shooting feel after returning from injury, it will certainly help.
If, I mean if, the Lakers can get back to health this season, they'll once again fall into the old path of relying on James and thick eyebrows to prop up the team. But if they want to make the playoffs, they still need players to do the dirty work. If Pelinka is smart, he would need to cut Jordan Jr. to make a roster void for Stanley Johnson and leave him until the end of the season, and he may be exactly what the Lakers need most, what do you think?