Waking up in the morning, the Lakers are another defeat.
James was injured and the Lakers lost to the Nuggets, swallowing a six-game losing streak. The Last Six-Game Losing Streak for the Lakers was in 2017-18, when James hadn't yet arrived.
The roof leaked in the overnight rain, and the Spurs beat the Blazers. The Lakers, who are ranked 11th in the West, have pulled apart two wins away from the Tenth Spurs in the West. The Lakers and Spurs have played 2-2 this season, and their record against The Western Conference team is not as good as the Spurs, and once the regular season results are the same, the Spurs are ranked high. This means that the Lakers want to return to the tenth, only the regular season win rate to suppress the Spurs, but there are only 4 games left in the regular season, two wins behind, James's injury is undecided, and the Lakers chasing the Spurs is a "difficult" word.
If you consider that the Lakers will play the Sun and the Warriors on the road next, and the away game at the end of the regular season, perhaps Mr. Lu Xun's meaningful ending in "Kong Yiji" can be applied.
"About the Lakers are indeed dead."
The Lakers are gradually pulling away from the playoffs, which is closely related to their record after the All-Star Weekend. During the Cleveland All-Star period, James, who returned home, was interviewed by a well-known Cavaliers reporter Lloyd, and the elder Jan seemed to have pointedly praised the Cavaliers management and said that the door to his return to Cleveland was not closed.
After the All-Star, James averaged 33.5 points per game, surpassing Carl Malone in total and reaching the top of the scoring average this season. Contrary to James's personal data, the Lakers are the second-to-last team after the All-Star, worse than the two bad teams rockets and thunder, only better than the Blazers.
Such a scene can make "Zhan Hei" excited, and it is easy to conclude that James is a data brush, and he brushes it coolly, and does not care about the Lakers' life and death.
Does James care, or can't really manage it? The 4 games the Lakers won after the All-Star, James a 56 points, a 50 points, a 36 + 9 + 7, a 38 + 10 + 12, without James's so-called "brush" data, the Lakers are afraid that these 4 wins are not.
However, now James, has passed the career stage of single-handedly leading the team to obtain good results, he has been faintly painful knees, injured ankles on both sides, limited physical grooves, can not support the attack and defense of both ends of the force at the same time, and only care about saving the Lakers a few games, but it is difficult to save the Lakers throughout the season.
The Lakers' embarrassment this season is shown in the collapse after the All-Star, but this result has already planted seeds as early as the offseason.
Westbrook is a topic that cannot be circumvented, and many years later, when recalling the Lakers' 2021-22 season, that question may still come to mind, who decided to change to Westbrook?
Wei Shao is a former MVP, is the history of the triple double king, you say that his dish is definitely not right, those honors are Wei Shao played out, how can there be no strength? Wei Shao is also very hard, he lowered himself to adapt to the needs of the Lakers, reduce the shooting efficiency, calmly deal with the ball control errors, these attempts did receive some effects, the All-Star shooting rate of 46%, the average of 2.9 mistakes per game, can not say how good, but not bad.
However, these self-corrections by Wei Shao do not help the Lakers much, because fundamentally speaking, both sides are not suitable. Wei Shao is difficult to match a team with a big core of giant stars with balls, and the most conducive team environment for him to play is a single-core ball holding, surrounded by a group of young people who are full of vitality, allowing him to play freely and freely, and perhaps to guarantee the playoffs, which the Lakers simply do not have.
The experiment of introducing Wei Shao was undoubtedly a failure, but it was also unscientific to throw all the pots to Wei Shao. The Lakers have done this season, and the root cause is that they deviated from the law of success verified by the championship.
How did the Lakers win the championship in 2019-20? From the perspective of lineup configuration, it is a healthy Zhan Mei basic disk, tall, 3D assisted, the attack relies on the shooter to provide space, zhan mei talent breaks the game, and the defense can be directly suppressed inside and outside.
Look at the Lakers in the 2021-22 season, after some summer maneuvers by management, they became the shortest and oldest team in the league on average. The Lakers sent away Pope and Kuzma in the Westbrook trade, leaving Tucker to let Go of Caruso, self-deprecating in defensive resources, good defensive players are gone, the once-opposing body size advantage is lost, coupled with poor age and physical fitness, the Lakers defense line is fragmented.
As the season progressed to the post-All-Star stage, the teams began to sprint for the rankings, and the short and old Lakers were already weak, the defensive end was particularly decadent, and the defensive efficiency was the third-to-last after the All-Star, making it difficult to imagine that this team was the most defensively efficient team in the league a year ago.
The "root of the Lakers' disease" lies in the lineup construction, and the "symptom" presented is that the defense is useless, and the attack is unstable because of the unstable projection of Wei Shao, which requires thick eyebrows and old Zhan to play center, resulting in an increase in load. Coupled with bad luck, Zhan Mei injury stops are in 20+, Nunn has not played this season, and the Lakers have made it worse.
James's superficial praise for the Cavaliers' operation during the All-Star period is actually a subtle expression of dissatisfaction with the Lakers' management, he can't accept Pelinka's two consecutive years of team breakup after winning the championship, doing nothing before the trade deadline, and publicly saying that this is the result of consultations with the team's stars. There are also rumors that Wei Shao joined the franchise by James, and the Lakers management reluctantly made it difficult.
James's career is used to carrying the pot, but not all the pots are back, there is also a bottom line, and the words and deeds of the Lakers management have stepped on the line for the old Zhan.
However, Pelinka also has bitterness, the Lakers have spent a lot of resources around The Construction of James, the first-round pick they can now use for trade is as early as 2027, wait until this summer to add the 2029 first-round pick, and there is no young player who can arouse the interest of other teams, mid-season trading is indeed somewhat difficult, and the offseason operation space can be slightly larger.
Under normal circumstances, when a team can't get into the playoffs, at least there are lottery draws to use, not to lose both now in the future, and the Lakers are just not ordinary, their 2022 first round signing top ten to the Pelicans, 11 to 30 to the Grizzlies, in short, it has nothing to do with them.
The blow is a series of blows, the Lakers' home attendance this season has hit a new low since 2006, the fans' disappointment with this team is getting stronger and stronger, once the Lakers do not even have to play the playoffs, the damage is not only the ticket market, but also related product sales, local broadcast contracts and a series of benefits, which is only 26th among the 30 team owners, and also has to bear family infighting Jenny Bass is not a big setback.
Cutting off people's financial roads is like a bloody sea of vengeance, and once the Lakers leave the playoffs, someone must be held responsible. Considering that Pelinka is a member of the jenny Bass core circle, Jenny in the family palace fight, have to rely on trustworthy people, Pelinka is not very likely to leave, Vogel as the coach back to the pot off the class probability is higher, although Vogel has the helplessness of the clever woman, but the Lakers must have an account for the fans, sponsors, broadcasters in the face of failure, the directly responsible person is also, the scapegoat is good, in short, there must be such a person, the head coach is not "hell", who goes to "hell"?
The fried coach is to throw the pot out first, but it is not a prescription for the fundamental solution to the Lakers' stubborn disease, and the Lakers need to send away Wei Shao, who is not compatible with the team, even if it is necessary to take the first round of signings in 2027 and 2029, they have to untie the salary before they can make room for the next operation. There are shooting skill packs of interior lines, 3D attributes of the flanks, these are the Lakers around the Zhan Mei team of necessities, and do not move Wei Less, these necessities are basically not available.
If the Lakers' end of this season is locked in the play-offs, Pelinka's manager resume will add a "black history", he will bear great pressure in the offseason, Jenny even if nepotism is limited, and the Lakers will face a very difficult problem.
James' contract expires in 2023, and if he doesn't renew his contract early this summer, there really isn't much time left for the Lakers.
Don't forget what Old Zhan said in the All-Star, that's not necessarily a joke.