Despite last season's Lakers in the regular season and playoffs, they failed to achieve "desirable results." But that poor performance was only based on the premise that Thick Brow and James were injured at the same time. It is precisely for this reason that fans and management have unlimited reverie - if the thick eyebrows were not injured in last year's playoffs, would the Lakers still be able to win the championship?
So last offseason, the Lakers dismantled most of the teams to introduce Wei Shao, nothing more than to use Wei Shao's ability to lead the team, reduce the burden on James, thick eyebrows, and help them maintain a better physical state...
21-22 season: The "Zhan Weimei" big three teamed up to be highly anticipated, but they led the team to miss the playoffs
At the beginning of the formation of the Lakers' "Zhan Weimei" big three, they became one of the only two super big three combinations in the league. Especially in the new season, when Irving could not play for a long time because of "refusing vaccines" and Harden had an epic decline because of "new regulations + injuries", the Nets' super big three were already "in name only" from the beginning.
But even so, relying on Durant's "super god" play, the Nets can force a squeeze into the top three in the East. The Lakers' big three, due to their repulsive playing style and always unable to play 1+1+1 greater than 3 effects, played extremely "crotch" from the beginning of the season, completely failing to show the dominance of the big three teams and championship-fighting teams.
Even after half a season, the Lakers fell to eleventh place in the West. Even if the thick eyebrows actively returned late in the season, James frantically cut points, and Wei Shao worked hard, they could not turn the tide and help the Lakers get a play-off place...
Although in the final five games of the season, Thick Brow had threatened to win all five games and lead the Lakers to the playoffs. But in the end, the Lakers did not lose to the Nuggets and the Suns as the thick eyebrows said, and when there were three games left in the season, they bid farewell to the playoffs early because they did not have a playoff.
In the end, even if they have the "Zhan Weimei" big three, the Lakers don't say the playoffs, they can't even get a playoff spot. And just after the Lakers were officially out, the outside world was mixed with their prospects for next season.
Some people think that the Lakers can still return to the championship race next season, James is always worth believing; others think that the Lakers have been "scrapped" and they will never be able to return to the championship race in the next few years.
So, will the Lakers be able to return to the championship next year?
In fact, the Lakers' team building idea last year is not wrong: the model of maximum salary (big three) + basic salary (strength veteran or young player) is indeed the fastest and most successful championship winning model in the league at present. It's just that they ignore the rationality of the lineup and don't take into account the compatibility of the Big Three.
1. Wei Shao simply cannot integrate into the team system and cannot play a super star performance. When Westbrook occupied the team's $44.21 million salary space, he had to at least come up with a triple-double performance of 22.2 points, 11.5 boards, 11.7 assists and 43.9% shooting percentage last season to help the Lakers play championship level.
But in fact, with Wei Shao's projection ability and large package of ball style, he not only could not integrate into the James system, but also could not play the personal performance of the superstar, and even broke the chemical reaction between the "Zhan Mei combination"...
2, blindly introduce veterans, the irrationality of rotating the lineup. After the introduction of Westbrook last year, because the Big Three occupied the team's salary space of 120 million, the Lakers management "crazy" introduced a number of veteran players - Howard, Anthony, Ellington, Bradley, Bezmore and others.
This also makes the Lakers in the new season, whether from the starting lineup or the substitute lineup, compared to the league's 29 teams are luxurious enough. But although the team's paper lineup is strong, it does not mean that the actual strength of the team can be equally strong.
Due to the serious aging of the rotation lineup in the new season, even if Anthony and Howard can still make a certain contribution, Vogel cannot rely on them to create a qualified defensive system. Because of this, the offensive efficiency of the new season is not the top Lakers, and under the defensive efficiency of "pulling crotch", it will lose more and win less...
So when the Lakers' big three can't continue to play a superstar performance, Ariza, Ellington, Bradley and other veterans can't play out, in fact, the "tragedy" of the Lakers not being able to play the playoffs this year has been planted as early as last year's offseason. In the new season, if the Lakers want to return to the championship race, they can only make a major change in the current lineup.
After all, in the current state of the Lakers' big three, even if they can stay healthy next season and let them join forces for another season, they will not play a chemical reaction. Instead, it may further decline as James's age increases, and his personal status will decline further, resulting in the team once again failing to get a play-off spot.
What's more, if the big three don't break up, where will the Lakers get the salary space to rebuild the championship lineup? Therefore, if the Lakers want to return to the ranks of the championship, the premise is to first break up the "Zhan Weimei" big three...
Ke Wei Shaoxin averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 boards and 7.1 assists per game, 44.5% shooting rate + 29.8% three-point shooting rate, completely sorry for his salary. In particular, at present, Wei Shao only has a one-year contract of $47.06 million, which makes the Lakers even more unstoppable - the weak team is not in a hurry to ask him, and the strong team does not look at him.
Therefore, if the Lakers want to deal with Wei Shao in advance, there is a high probability that only the road of buying out the contract is left, because the Lakers have no chips to send Wei Shao away. In addition, if the Lakers want to trade James, it is not an easy task.
Because James only has a one-year,447 million contract left, perhaps some weak teams will want James' traffic and expect James to lead the team into the playoffs. But as long as James does not have a multi-year contract, no matter which team in the offseason, it will not easily pay a lot of future chips to get him.
That is to say, at present, the most valuable of the Three Giants of the Lakers is actually the only one with thick eyebrows. After all, he still has three years left on his contract, and it is still in line with the scarcity of the small-ball era. Maybe thick eyebrows can't become the team's big boss, but no matter which championship team, as long as he stays healthy, he can greatly increase the upper limit of the team's attack and defense.
In summary, from the current situation, this offseason Westbrook and James, the Lakers are difficult to send out. But the thick eyebrows can not be sent away, because once the thick eyebrows leave, with the combination of James + Wei Shao, even if the rotation lineup is good, they cannot become a championship-level team. Therefore, as long as there is no "big wrong" in the offseason to take the initiative to pay for the Lakers, they will have no chance to return to the championship in the next few years...