When the Lakers, who wanted to complete the defending title last season, only got the result of "seventh round of the regular season + playoff round trip"; it was thought that in order to make the team more competitive, the Lakers management would introduce DeRozan or Hield, who was more suitable for the Lakers system and had certain projection capabilities.
Unexpectedly, with the opportunity to get Westbrook, the Lakers management did not choose DeRozan or Hield, who seemed to be more suitable for the team system. Instead, with "Kuzma, Pop, Harrell and 21 Year 22 Pick" as a chip, he chose the more famous Wei Shao...
The "Zhan Weimei" combination joined forces, but the Lakers could not even enter the top eight in the west?
Originally, after the introduction of Wei Shao and the forced formation of the "Zhan WeiMei" big three, the outside world had great expectations for the Lakers in the new season. After all, in the 19-20 season, with the combination of "James + thick eyebrows", they were already able to play the first record in the West + win the championship. Give them another superstar, and who knows what kind of dominance they can play?
However, as the saying goes: "the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment" - the Lakers, who are considered to be able to play at least the top three in the West in the new season, have not played the dominance of the big three as desired.
On the contrary, at the beginning of the season, they lost to the Warriors and the Suns, two potential opponents in the playoffs; and when they urgently needed victory to stabilize the record, or even to make the team rank further, the Lakers have "inexplicably" lost to "weak brigade" teams like the Thunder, Timberwolves, Knicks, and Kings...
The big three can't play dominance when they join forces, coupled with the new season James + thick eyebrow injury stop, which has led to the Lakers' poor record - so far, the Lakers only have 24 wins and 27 losses, ranking ninth in the West. Today's Lakers, not to mention as expected, rely on the superstar advantage to stabilize in the top three in the West, and they can't even squeeze into the top eight in the West.
Lakers vs Eagles: Munch blasted 33+ 10 + 5, thick eyebrows + Wei Shao state rebounded significantly
Recently, for the Lakers, the worst news is that James, whose personal state is hot, has suddenly "stopped injured"; but the comeback of the thick eyebrows and the recovery of Wei Shao's state have also disguised a shot of "cardiotonic agent" for the Lakers.
After James' absence, Wei Shao scored 20 points, 4 boards and 3 assists on 9-of-15 shooting in a single game against Philadelphia; Thick Brow also had 14 of 21 shots, 31 points and 12 board performances in a single game; but it is clear that when James is absent, the data performance of Thick Brow + Westbrook is not enough to help the Lakers win the game.
So in the last game of the Lakers vs Hornets, in the absence of thick eyebrows + James, Wei Shao completely entered the "let go" mode - 12 of 23 shots in a single game, bombarding the personal performance of 35 points, 4 boards and 5 assists, in an attempt to bring a victory for the Lakers. However, in the end, the "single-core" Wei Shao still missed the kill at the last moment, leading the team to lose to the Hornets 114-117.
In the recent Lakers vs Eagles game, Thick Brow ushered in the second game after the comeback, and he was still able to contribute 27 points, 5 boards and 4 assists in a single game, and 50% of the personal performance of shooting. Even compared to the slump of less than 25 points in five consecutive games before the injury, the thick eyebrows after the comeback have returned to the offensive state they once were.
And Wei Shao did not continue to "pull the crotch", in the Lakers vs Eagles game, there are also 20 points, 7 boards and 12 assists, 53.3% shooting rate performance; compared with the first 10 games in January, the average of 14.3 points, 7.9 boards and 6.0 assists, 34.9% shooting rate performance, the recent performance of the Offensive end of The Westbrook has undergone a significant "qualitative change" - has been five consecutive games, the overall shooting rate has reached more than 50%.
Wei Shao + thick eyebrows, who thought that the state was gradually recovering, would have a very large probability of winning against the Eagles who ranked tenth in the east. But in this game, even if the thick eyebrows + Westbrook joined forces to play a good performance, Munch also broke out of a single game 19 shots 12, bombed 33 points, 10 boards and 5 assists of the "James-style data", and finally played three good quarters of the Lakers or can not escape the fate of the collapse of the last quarter, 121-129 lost to the Eagles, helpless to usher in 3 consecutive defeats...
So, why munch "broke out", thick eyebrows + Wei Shao state rebounded, the Lakers still can't win the Eagles?
1. The deformed lineup has led to an imbalance in the overall attack and defense of the Lakers. When James and Westbrook are on the floor at the same time, their "ball-holding big core" style of play will indeed affect each other, resulting in them not being able to play 1+1 greater than 2 effects. This flaw can be clearly seen in the game, but in fact, many people ignore the impact of lineup deformity on the Lakers.
In addition to the Big Three, although Munch has a certain offensive ability and can even play a giant-level personal performance from time to time, his performance on the defensive end is "not flattering".
In contrast, Stanley Johnson can make a good contribution on the defensive end, but the performance on the offensive end is difficult to say, and the season so far has only 6.2 points. Horton Tucker, on the other hand, has a decent breakthrough ability and can maintain a certain contribution on the offensive end; but his 24.8% poor shooting percentage from the outside line, when he plays with Westbrook, the enemy team can almost directly ignore the lakers' mid-range projection on the guard line.
In fact, the most lacking auxiliary players around the Lakers' big three are similar to the "3D type players" like Danny Green in that year. Bradley would have been a good choice, but now his state at both ends of the attack and defense has deteriorated seriously, and it is difficult to play the past offensive and defensive performances.
It can be said that the current Lakers lineup - can not be defended by stable scores, and can not provide stable scores; so it always leads to the Lakers chasing points or locking in the victory at key moments, there is a situation of weak defense or offensive stagnation, watching the upcoming victory hand over to people...
2. The wrong center choice led to the disadvantage of the Lakers' internal line in the connection section. In the case of having the three superstars of Wei Shao, Thick Brow, James, as well as Munch, Anthony and others can also provide a certain amount of offensive firepower, in fact, the Lakers center position does not need much offensive firepower, especially after the introduction of Wei Shao, it has long been doomed that only the "space-type interior line" can improve the strength of this Lakers team.
Even though the Lakers are planning to let thick eyebrows play the fifth position this year, it is enough to have a traditional interior line like Howard as a supplement. They should focus more on finding the right "space-based interior line" than on the Nets abandoning Jordan Jr. when he is introduced as a "reinforcement task."
Nowadays, the consequence of the Lakers choosing Howard and Jordan At the same time is that when the thick eyebrows are retired, or the rest is off, or plagued by fouls, the Lakers' internal line will directly lose its advantage, or even become a disadvantage. Just like in the Lakers vs Eagles game, if the Lakers had a better choice of interior line, they would not lose the advantage on the inside line when the thick eyebrows were plagued by fouls...
After all, Howard and Jordan Jr. are slow to defend and are easily misplaced for "military training"; and when they are on the field, it will also greatly affect The efficiency of Westbrook's offense. Therefore, in order not to be misplaced "military training", in order to have more room for breakthrough and play a better offensive performance, Vogel can only use Howard and Jordan Jr. as little as possible.
3, James's absence, resulting in the Lakers at a critical moment difficult to score. Why did Thompson make him starter as soon as he returned after two seasons out? Even in the case of his overall poor performance and the team's record continuing to decline, still insisting on Thompson to start?
The main reason for this is that Thompson has already proven himself in the key playoffs and has played a stable and efficient scoring performance many times. Although Poole played well in the new season, the playoffs are after all the stage for superstars, and the Warriors did not dare to pin their hopes entirely on Poole, thinking that he would be able to maintain an efficient offensive performance in the playoffs.
The same is true for the Lakers today, when the Lakers vs Eagles game, only 5 points were scored in the last quarter of the thick eyebrow 5, and 1 of 3 was only scored 2 points by Westbrook, who else can the Lakers expect? Although Munch played a James-style stat of 33+10+5 in this game, his offensive stability and containment power with James are far from each other.
In the face of high-intensity defense, they can neither score themselves nor assist their teammates, otherwise the Lakers simply cannot score a point in the last quarter of 1 minute and 52 seconds, watching the Eagles win the game.
In summary, in the case of "overall lineup deformity + no good center selection + James's absence", even if Munch blasted 33 + 10 + 5, thick eyebrows + Wei Shao's state rebounded significantly, the Lakers could not win the Hawks is not surprising at all.