The Lakers stink. This is not entirely Russell Westbrook’s fault, this is a poorly constructed roster that has no shooting on it and takes 3’s like they have shooting on it. The Lakers are 9th in the league in 3 point attempts per game at 37.0, but are last in makes per game in the league at 8.3, and dead last in percentage at 22.3% as a team. Orlando is 29th in 3 point percentage at 29.9%, a whole 7.6% better than the Lakers. That is disastrously bad. Last season the Thunder finished last in the league in 3 point percentage at 32.2%, 9.9% better than the Lakers are shooting to start the season. How do you build a roster around LeBron James that is this bad at shooting the ball? How do the Lakers improve or the more pressing question may be, can the Lakers improve?
Let’s start with the lack of a Westbrook trade this summer. The Kyrie Irving trade was never on the table, Brooklyn wanted to run it back and Kyrie needed to be a part of that in order to keep Kevin Durant in town so that was never happening. Other options were the Utah package of a mix of Bojan Bogdanovic (who is now a Piston), Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, and Rudy Gay, the Hornets deal, which consisted (and still can consist) of Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier, and finally the Pacers deal, which you have most likely heard of that includes Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. The Indiana deal has always been the most likely to happen because of the way Turner and Hield would fit next to LeBron and Anthony Davis. However, the deal would have to include both picks that the Lakers can trade right now in 2027 and 2029 (the NBA does not allow teams to trade picks in consecutive drafts which is why you see swap rights traded often). The Lakers can only trade those picks once, and is that the deal they should be making? Turner has missed 69 games over the past 3 seasons and Hield is a non-defensive player. While yes, Turner is the ideal center to play next to AD and Hield is one of the best shooters in the sport, there are risks when making this trade that need to be considered. Those picks are very far into the future and if there's one thing we have learned since 2010, it is that, besides 2020, the Lakers have been mismanaged for a while now, and that goes past LeBron. The Lakers issues are not LeBron James’ fault, sure he pushed for the Russ trade, and sure he played a part in building this roster but he was not the one who threw Frank Vogel under the bus when the whole world knew last season was not Vogel’s fault, and he is not the one signing the checks and making the final decisions. The Lakers have been mismanaged for years now, and Rob Pelinka was just signed to a contract extension.
The 2020 Lakers were built on the back of spreading the floor for LeBron and AD pick and rolls and playing great defense, they shot 35% from beyond the arc and had a defensive rating of 108.7 in the playoffs, they were elite on both ends of the court. Then they made a few moves adding Montrezl Harrell and Marc Gasol in free agency to replace the center rotation of JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard, and they traded Danny Green and a first round pick to the Thunder for Dennis Schroder. They, in 2021, were really good until LeBron and AD got hurt and the season went down the drain, being eliminated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns. Then they traded for Westbrook that summer, which made no sense at the time, signed a bunch of old veterans who couldn’t defend and finished 11th in the West at 33-49. Pelinka gutted a championship team and ended up with this mess and there was no reason to mess with it. The best 2 players from the championship team are still there and as the saying goes ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Why are you fixing something that worked so well you won the championship?
The Lakers are so bad because the roster is so bad. Surrounding James and Davis with Westbrook, Patrick Beverly, Austin Reaves, Lonnie Walker, Troy Brown Jr., and Kendrick Nunn has unsurprisingly not worked, what made anyone think it would work? Changing the coach has not fixed their problems either. Does making the Turner and Hield trade change this team into a contender, I tend to not think so. Now the question is does it matter, should the Lakers trade those 2 picks to acquire Myles Turner and Buddy Hield even if it does not put them at the top of the West, I think they should because I think it gets them close to a spot where they can compete in a conference where it might not be as good as many thought it could be.
The Lakers stink. They have been mismanaged for years and thus have stunk for years (besides one championship in 2020). It has been a problem for a while and there have been no signs of it changing anytime soon. Eventually everyone in that organization has to look themselves in the mirror, stop lying to themselves, and ask what has gone wrong. If it is not anyone’s fault, it is everyone’s fault and that starts with Jeanie Buss. The Lakers have been a mess for years, and if it wasn’t for one of the greatest players ever signing there and subsequently having another top 10 player demanding a trade there, it would show as such. The Lakers have stunk for years now, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
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