Rocio Robles
Officially devoid of any of chance of making the postseason, the Los Angeles Lakers‘ campaign in this edition of the NBA has ended in a resounding failure. With a 31-48 record so far, which places them within three games of the San Antonio Spurs, with only three games remaining in the regular season and with the Spurs holding the tiebreaker in their favor, there is no way the Lakers can qualify for the postseason by any means.
In addition to that, they also have their first round pick in the upcoming draft committed to either the New Orleans Pelicans or Memphis Grizzlies depending on their lottery positioning. Things really couldn’t get any worse for the Lakers, and in this list we bring you three reasons why the Frank Vogel-led team’s season was so disappointing.
3.- How the team is composed
Today, more than ever, we know for sure that putting three superstars together on an NBA team does not guarantee success. The Lakers are the perfect example of this: even with injuries affecting both LeBron James and Anthony Davis much of the season and even with both of them on the court, the team from Los Angeles was simply inferior to its opponents, especially in the second half of the season; despite sharing several instances on the court, the Lakers never gave the impression of being a team with a solid foundation to qualify for the postseason.
And claim that the chemistry with Russell Westbrook ”affected” the team’s performance even with LeBron and Davis on the court is an invalid excuse. The star point guard had the best moment of the season in the last month, and even so, not even with the three of them back on the court did they manage to form a consistently correct group to beat their direct opponents (the Pelicans, the Spurs, for example).
From the beginning, the Lakers did not even do a good job in putting together a starting five that complemented each other. This is what preseasons are for: to create a collective of players capable of giving the best level, especially when you were champion less than three years ago.
2.- The Russell Westbrook Debacle
It’s no secret that Westbrook’s season has been the worst of his career in the last 10 years, and the numbers make it pretty clear: 18.5 points (44.4% efficiency, 29.8% on three-pointers), 7.4 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 3.8 turnovers and one steal in 34.3 minutes through 78 games in the 2021-2022 season. We have to applaud the fact that such performance can be described as a player’s worst season, because if they had been averaged by someone like Talen Horton-Tucker, the narrative surrounding this club would be very different.
Of Russell’s biggest failures this season, many came off the court: the relationship with the coaching staff and Frank Vogel himself was fatal, as he refused to adjust to the needs of his head coach and refused to give up his starting job under any circumstances even though he was going through one of the worst performance streaks of his entire career. The chemistry in the locker room is also unknown, with a constant war of innuendo in press conferences and interviews.
And finally, as regards what happened off the field, the constant war with the team’s media and fans never had a break. While this sort of thing could get out of hand for Westbrook, the way he handled it wasn’t the wisest for a veteran of such trajectory either. The Los Angeles media environment was too much for him. On the court, his play was essentially the same, with absolutely erroneous shooting decisions, a limited capacity to work without the ball, and weak defensive play.
In his defense, Westbrook’s closing campaign was a step up from the first impressions he left us with, averaging the best numbers of the entire campaign and being one of the few reasons the Lakers weren’t a total mockery. Still, they failed to even secure a spot in the NBA playoffs.
1.- Lack of authority within the organization
Ultimately, these aforementioned points happen because of one very clear fault: authority was non-existent within the Lakers franchise throughout the campaign. Starting with Rob Pelinka: the vice president of operations and the central man in charge of all basketball-related moves in the team. Regardless of who made the final decision to acquire Russell Westbrook, and the slew of free agents that ended up populating the Los Angeles team’s roster, when everyone agrees and can see that your team doesn’t work at all, it doesn’t matter what it takes: you try to fix it.
Beyond a few minor signings, the Lakers never really went all in on a change to modify the fundamentals of the roster. Even though the market was against them for the majority of the season due to their early and mid-season inefficiencies, there is always business to be done in the NBA. There is no excuse for Pelinka not finding something to help the team in some way, knowing that continuing what was going on at present was not going to get them anywhere at all.
And on the other hand and no less important: Frank Vogel, head coach of the Lakers since 2019, did not have the authority to define a starting lineup, a bench rotation that would allow chemistry to be created and a collective game competent enough for his group to show themselves as competent, at least in its most critical points. The lack of a heavy hand in decisions such as benching Russell Westbrook, the constant scheme changes (which several players have been confused about) and probably, the influence of LeBron James over any decision about the game or team set-up (something invisible to us, simple fans).
Basketball is a team sport, where not only the players take part and contribute to build a winning team; all the members of the board, the coaching staff, even the medical staff are also essential for an organization to achieve the ultimate goal: to win a championship. The Lakers are the result of nothing in a team making a connection. No matter how many star names you have in the league; without the foundations and fundamentals of a winning project, you will not get anywhere.
