The Paper's reporter Ma Zuoyu
Can James and Westbrook still work together next season?
When the Phoenix Suns played the best single-season record of 63 wins in team history, they made the Los Angeles Lakers the most embarrassing "background emperor". With 31 wins and 48 losses, with the last three games left in the regular season this season, the 11th-placed Lakers and the 10th-place Spurs are a full 3 wins apart. This means that the Lakers completely missed the playoffs.
Half a year ago, the Lakers, who formed the "Big Three", were the biggest favorites after the Brooklyn Nets in terms of championship odds, but now they are the first team to rank second in the championship odds since the concept of pre-season championship odds was first introduced in the 1984-1985 season, but did not make the playoffs...
"Bad" and "disappointed" are the two words that the Lakers mention most often when they say goodbye to the playoffs. But despite these sentiments, how did the giant, which sits on four NBA 75 superstars, become the "most disappointing team" of the season?
Because of an ankle injury, James could only watch from the sidelines.
Scoring king, mileage sad
The NBA's television broadcast has a habit that when the game has lost suspense, the TV broadcast camera will find a substitute for the losing side, and then shoot the "faces" of all players and tell the story with the different expressions of the players themselves.
At the end of this game between the Suns and the Lakers, when the game has no suspense, the camera finds James on the Lakers bench. Due to sore ankles, James wore civilian clothes as a wall watch.
During the full 9 seconds of "close-up" time, James held his mouth with his hand and watched the game, because he was wearing a pair of sunglasses, James's expression at that time did not reveal too much emotion.
But judging from his and his teammates' pre-match remarks that "this is a victory that must be won" and the result of losing 11 points after the game, disappointment and helplessness are inevitable.
This is James' fourth season in the Lakers' purple jersey and the second time he missed the playoffs. Compared with the last time, the 37-year-old James has played a "nother spring" of his career - averaging 37.2 minutes per game, ranking third in the league; scoring 30.3 points, temporarily ranking second in the league; in addition, he can also grab 8.2 rebounds and give 6.2 assists.
If it weren't for the 76ers' Embiid", who "swept" 45 points in a game he just won, James would still be at the top of the scoring list.
James hugged and congratulated good brother Paul after the game.
In fact, this is the season in which James averaged the highest points per game in his career, and the last time he averaged 30 points per game was in 2007, when he was still in Cleveland as his "little emperor."
As it stands, James, who has played 56 games, needs two more games to qualify for this season's leading scorer, and he has every chance to "compete" with Embiid in the final few games.
In addition, James has written the following records this season:
Surpassed Carl Malone to become the second player in NBA history to score totals in the regular season; to become Mr. 37,000 points in active service; to become the only player in NBA history to score 36,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists in the regular season; and the only player in NBA history who can still score 35 points in a single game after the age of 35.
But these honors have become "mileage sadness" against the background of the decline of the team.
Davis, Westbrook and James have played only 21 games together.
Will the "Big Three" disintegrate?
In fact, in the history of the NBA, the team that was optimistic before the season eventually missed the playoffs, which is also an occasional occurrence, but an important reason why the Lakers' exit today has caused such a big debate is that their "paper strength" is really a bit strong.
James still maintains his personal ability, coupled with westbrook and "thick eyebrow" Anthony Davis who joined in the offseason, as well as "melon" Anthony and Howard in the bench lineup, the Lakers are a "super team" with five regular season MVP titles, 4 NBA 75 superstars, 3 NBA champions, and the team's 43-time NBA Season Best Team.
However, the "Big Three" that the Lakers painstakingly formed before the season has become the target of everyone after the team is out. The focus of the outside world's doubts and accusations is Wei Shao.
He started in 78 games and averaged 34.3 minutes per game, averaging 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists from the field at 44.4 percent, a 33-year-old's report card for the Lakers' first season.
Statistically, that's not an ugly result, but 18.5 is Westbrook's lowest season score since 2011, and the efficiency value of -2.7 is equally glaring.
Putting aside the data, the offensive choices and defensive loopholes of those "low ball quotients" at both ends of the attack and defense are also the key to criticism from the outside world.
Westbrook has also had a performance of killing the Raptors this season.
That's why, after the Lakers lost to the Suns in this game, someone at the press conference asked Wei Shao "if you want to have more opportunities to play with James and Davis next season", and Wei Shao's answer was also quite cautious, "The plan is like that, but nothing is guaranteed." ”
In fact, in the middle of the season, the rumors of trading Westbrook have been very loud, but when the trade deadline comes, the Lakers still have no action...
The US media ESPN has analyzed the logic behind the Lakers' failure to choose a deal - one is that Wei Shao's contract is difficult for some teams to bear, and the other is that Wei Shao's performance in the Lakers' "disaster level" is difficult to get the trust of more teams.
"The Lakers must have action this offseason, except for James and thick eyebrows, everyone else should adjust." This is the advice given by Lakers star O'Neal in an interview with the American media CBS.
Davis's physique gradually "glass".
Are you all to blame for Davis' injuries?
O'Neill's idea, which is actually the key to most comments, is to break up the "Big Three" without chemistry.
However, Johnson, another Lakers celebrity who has participated in team management, has a different view, in his view, Wei Shao is not the "back pot man" of the Lakers.
In an interview with The Lakersdaily, a Los Angeles-based media outlet, he listed a set of data — the Lakers ' Big Three " played together in 21 games , and the starting combination including the " Big Three " had more than 20 sets , with the most played lineup playing 8 games , of which the longest used lineup was less than 50 minutes.
In his opinion, such a combination of time is indeed not easy to create the ideal chemical reaction.
In addition, Wei Shao also let his opponents see some "shadows of the past" in the closing stage. In addition to the 28 points against the Suns, he averaged 21.5 points per game in the previous 8 games, shooting more than 53% from the field and 35.5% from three-point range.
"James and Westbrook can find a way to coexist if we can play together for more time." Anthony Davis's remarks after the game more or less proved that even if the team is in a situation of consecutive losses, at least the "Big Three" does not have any internal contradictions.
Indeed, if it weren't for Davis' frequent injuries this season, perhaps the ending would not have been so tragic.
Next season, it will be the final year of James' contract with the Lakers.
Is it better to change players than to change coaches?
It must be admitted that in the 21 games in which the "Big Three" played together this season, they did not play a dominant performance - the record of 11 wins and 10 losses can only be said to be decent.
But if that's the case, today's Lakers should at least get a ticket to the playoffs and not even hover on the edge of the playoffs.
'We've tried more starting lines this season than we've ever won. Talking about the changes this season, Anthony Davis, who has returned from injury, has left such an emotion in front of the camera.
The main point that "Thick Eyebrows" wanted to express after the game was that if the team was healthy, their results would not be reduced to this. However, his statement actually contains more information, that is, the Lakers' current coach Vogel, seems to be unable to find the correct instruction manual for the "Big Three".
It is undeniable that Vogel is the meritorious coach who led the Lakers to win a championship trophy, but after helping the Lakers make history, the team management's decision to only renew his contract for one year more or less reveals the Lakers' management's distrust of the championship coach.
Perhaps for the Lakers, facing Vogel and Wei Shao, who also have only one year of contract left, it is easier to replace a coach with an annual salary of one million dollars than to trade a star with an annual salary of $44 million.
In fact, when the Lakers played a dismal record of 4 wins and 17 losses after the All-Star end, Vogel had already been questioned and criticized by many people - on the one hand, his combination of the team lineup, on the other hand, his use of several key players on the team.
The data doesn't lie, in the season when the Lakers won the championship, the team's defensive score ranked first in the league, but now, this data is only ranked 22nd in the league. Not only that, but the Lakers' offensive rating today is the fifth-to-last in the league.
If the change of the team lineup is an important reason why the Lakers' offensive and defensive ability is much worse than before, then Vogel's adaptability to the change of lineup can also be seen...
Vogel's dismissal seems to be a foregone conclusion.
In the future, who will be the coach?
In the gossip, the Lakers have long been thinking about the team's new coach candidates.
According to the US media Bleacher Report, the Lakers have circled several of their target candidates, including the current Utah Jazz coach Quinn Snyder, and the 76ers coach Doug Reeves.
"In addition to these two candidates who are already in the head coach position, the Lakers management also has many other options that can replace Vogel." One person familiar with the matter told Bleacher Report, "It also includes the Warriors' assistant coach Mike Brown, who was once James' manager at the Cavaliers, who understands the team's operations, and Steve Clifford." ”
Of course, whether it is a change of players or a change of coach, the Lakers must make changes. For today's Lakers management, the only thing they can console themselves with after they're out of the game is that they have more time to observe players from other teams in the league and coaches and then prepare for James' final season in today's contract.
"I'm disappointed for our team, disappointed for the Bath family. Look at who we're going to play in the last three games and we'll end the season with 'pride'. ”
This is Vogel's summary after losing to the Suns, and it is not known whether the coach, who has gradually lost control of the team, will become the first "back cooker" to be held accountable after the end of the season.
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Ding Xiao