Beijing time on February 5, the Los Angeles Lakers will meet the New York Knicks at home tomorrow, for the Lakers, the current situation is very unoptimistic, currently they only rank ninth in the West with a record of 25 wins and 28 losses. There is a 1.5 win difference from the eighth Clippers in the West, and according to the latest news, James and Anthony will most likely not play this game, and if the Lakers who lack major generals continue to lose, it may be really difficult to catch up with the Clippers, which means that the Lakers may have to play the playoffs in the ninth or even tenth place in the West.
In fact, the Lakers actually have the opportunity to overtake the Clippers recently, if they beat the Clippers head-on in yesterday's game, then the rankings of the two teams will be immediately reversed, but the Lakers lost this key battle, more importantly, after winning the Los Angeles derby, the Clippers immediately carried out the most important reinforcement upgrade of the season, according to ESPN reports, a number of sources revealed that the Clippers will guard Eric Bledsoe, forward Justis Winslow, Guard Keane Johnson and a future second-round draw to the Blazers were made to guard Norman Powell and forward Robert Covington.
There is no doubt that this is a perfect reinforcement deal, Bledsoe, Winslow and Johnson do not play much in the Clippers, and the value of second-round draft picks is not much, but Covington and Powell are very perfect championship puzzles, which means that the Clippers get 2 players with some scraps, and when Leonard and George return, the Clippers' lineup will be very scary, especially their forward strength is almost the strongest in the league.
In this regard, many fans are also amazed by the Clippers' Jerry West again, the NBA logo man in recent years can be described as a frequent operation, after leaving the Lakers, in just a few years he single-handedly created the Warriors' championship-winning lineup, helping the Warriors win 3 championships.
After leaving the Warriors, West quickly helped the Clippers introduce Leonard, George and other stars, so that the Clippers suddenly became the favorite to win the championship in 2019, although the Clippers did not win the championship in the past two years, but it is undeniable that under West's operation, the Clippers are already a strong force in the NBA, and as long as they stay healthy next season, the hope of winning the championship is even greater than that of the Lakers.
At this time, I believe that many people should be more aware of how important a good team manager is to the development of the team and the prospect of winning the championship, looking at the various operations of West's grandfather over the years, there is almost no mistake, in contrast, the Lakers management after forcing him away, these years in the operation of reinforcements is a disaster, if it is not the Magic in 2018 to recruit James, and then because of James's reasons to attract Davis, the Lakers' team management over the years is simply mediocre, This season, because of the insistence on introducing Wei Shao, many fans angrily criticized for stupidity.
If the Lakers had not forced West away, but chose to let him continue to manage the operation and operation of the team, perhaps the Lakers would have won more championships, at least not in such a passive situation this season, and when the Clippers continued to strengthen, the Lakers did not even come to a decent transaction. Not long ago, Jerry West revealed that the Lakers have canceled the lifetime season pass that Jerry Bass promised him many years ago, and the Lakers' move has once again been criticized by the outside world.
Poor reinforcements, too bad treatment of the team's meritorious stars, these behaviors have made people more aware of the stupidity and short-sightedness of the Lakers management, as many people have said, the biggest gap between the Lakers and the Clippers, is not the players, but the management, this key difference, may be in the next few years, determine whether the two teams continue to become a strong team, or become a weak team in the reconstruction.