On April 6, Beijing time, the 2021-22 NBA regular season is in full swing. In today's Western Conference showdown, the Lakers lost 110-121 to the Suns. While the Lakers suffered seven consecutive losses, the record became 31-48, and they had no chance to surpass the Spurs, completely losing hope of impacting the playoffs.
Obviously, for this team that was formed last year to target the championship, it is difficult to end up with such a result. In this regard, James and others have been criticized a lot. However, in the midst of criticism, one person stood up for James, and he is NBA legendary shooter Reggie Miller, who believes that management is the one who needs to carry the pot the most.
Miller said: "I can't blame James for wanting to play with Westbrook. It's not fair to take Vogel out of the way, the person who should be held responsible is Pelinka, he's the Lakers general manager, he's the president of operations, it's not James's fault, it's not Vogel's fault. We need to look at the higher management, we need to look at Jenny Bass, who are the ones who put together this lineup. At the end of the day, management could have said 'no' to everything, they could have gotten Hilde, they could have vetoed the Deal and said, 'We're going to get DeRozan.' So instead of taking James out and taking the blame, let's look at the top, like Bass and Pelinka. ”
Miller continued: "Look at James's technical characteristics, what does he need? He needs teammates who can shoot three-pointers, teammates who can hit empty shots, such as DeRozan, he's probably the best mid-range shooter, and he's a good match for James' technical characteristics. So, someone in the Lakers management should say to James, 'Okay, I know you want to play with Westbrook, but his technical characteristics don't fit the way we play.' So there have to be mature people in the Lakers management. So don't always blame James for everything. ”
Either way, for the Lakers and James, they need to revisit the team's operations last summer and then straighten out the mess and prepare for next season.