At the beginning of the 21-22 season, we probably couldn't have imagined that the champion's favorite Nets and Lakers would fall into such a situation, and the record has fallen out of the playoffs. You know, the Lakers have 7 players who have been selected as All-Stars, and the cumulative number of All-Stars selected is 59 times, occupying the first honor in history. However, even if the lineup is healthy, it still can't play the dominance of the field that it deserves, so that Wei Shao has repeatedly become the center of gravity of the whirlpool of public opinion, and the record has fallen to the ninth place in the West and the playoffs are in jeopardy. The star-studded lineup team should not theoretically play such a bad record, what is wrong with the Lakers?
The Lakers have reached a critical juncture again, but it is a "leak in the house that rains overnight", and the inside superstar Davis suffered an injury attack in this game against the Jazz, and is expected to be out of the game for up to four weeks. We all know that the Lakers' ability to re-reach the Finals in the 19-20 season and win the championship is inseparable from Davis's strong strength on the inside. But now that the team has lost this main player, how to cope with the strong opponent of the West, the Suns? You know, there are tall players like Ayton and McGee on the other side.
The stars are shining but the record is stretched, why did the Lakers fall into such a situation? Perkins, a former Thunder center and now a famous commentator, broke the reason in his own show and told the truth about the Lakers' dilemma. Perkins said that the person most to blame for the team is not the players themselves, the culprit is the Lakers' current general manager , Rob Pelinka. As the general manager of the team, Pelinka has played a good hand into the current defeat situation, and it is tantamount to a fool's dream to impact the championship with the current record.
However, he is also meritorious to the Lakers, after all, the team won the championship in the 19-20 season is inseparable from his shrewd operation, but the Lakers' reinforcements in the offseason are somewhat incomprehensible. The team gave up the champion Heroes Kuzma, Pop, Caruso, etc., and did not focus on recruiting the middle throwing king DeRozan, but instead operated a trade to come to Wei Shao, similar to James's style, making the Lakers lose the defensive hardness of the outside and the ability to shoot three points. I don't know how I was thinking about it at that time, how did a group of experienced veterans compete for the championship? Young 3D players like Caruso and Pope shouldn't let go.
Not only that, but before the deal deadline, while fans were looking forward to the birth of a blockbuster deal, the Lakers were too calm to stir up a ripple. Perhaps out of the pressure of public opinion, Pelinka later released a statement saying: "The team will focus on the buyout market." But a high-quality veteran like Dragic will not wait for anyone, and after reaching a buyout with the Spurs, his ambition to win the championship cannot be contained, and the champion favorites such as the Warriors and Bucks are also his best belonging.
Doesn't Pelinka have a chance to reinforce the Lakers? Not really! After the Lakers lost Davis, they did not reuse Howard, and if they want to go further, they must introduce a new signing in the buyout market to alleviate the offensive and defensive pressure on the team's interior line, and the 37-year-old James is old after all, and cannot always count on his play. Isn't that? According to US media reports, sources revealed that after the injury of the thick eyebrow brother, the Lakers will add a center in the buyout market, and former Warriors center Cauley Stein has become the target of reinforcements.
With a height of 213cm and a weight of 109 kilograms, and having played for the Warriors for a time, Cowley Stan has his own understanding of basic blocking and card positioning. However, there are also some shortcomings and deficiencies, that is, the playing style is soft and easy to lose control of emotions, which is the risk that the Lakers need to know in advance when recruiting him. But if you can communicate properly and play next to a veteran like James, maybe he has a chance to prove his strength again. With such a height and weight, Cowley Stein is really a relatively cost-effective reinforcement at the moment, which is expected to help the Lakers fill the loss when Davis is absent.