Anyone who has watched ESPN or is a basketball fan at all has heard something about the Los Angeles Lakers in the past two or three months, whether it be there their new acquisitions or their recent struggles on the court. Well ever since I was little, the Lakers have been “my team”, I guess because of my dad. My dad would always root for the Lakers, and I can still remember watching Fisher, and Kobe, and Shaq with my dad. Since Pittsburgh doesn’t have a team, my family loves basketball, and the Lakers were the best team when I was young, they became my favorite team.
To set the stage, from 2000 through 2002, the Lakers won three straight NBA Championships, and from 2009-2010 they won two more in a row, so you could say their organization and their fans have come to expect excellence on the court. This off season, the Lakers made huge headlines with two free agent signings: aging point guard and two-time MVP Steve Nash, and probably the best big-man in the league Dwight Howard. After the signings, the Lakers lineup looked stacked on paper, and even though many of their players are quite old, they still figured to be definite contenders to win the championship. Then the season started…
Through their first ten games, the team was 5-5 under head coach Mike Brown, an understandable start for a new team just learning to play together. However, then they fired their coach and instead of re-hiring their previous coach, 11 time NBA Champion coach Phil Jackson, they hired offensive-minded Mike D’Antoni. Since then, they are 12-20, and their chances of making the playoffs are not looking good. The apparent problem is that they play terrible defense and do not quite understand how to play as a team and to their strengths. Hopefully they can turn it around in the second half of the season, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Kevin, I love Kobe, and I think he’s amazing but over the past 10 years in particular the Lakers have asked him to do so much. Even as an aging player he continues to lead the league in scoring which he really shouldn’t have to do to carry his team. Still, he has a few good years left and I’ll eventually they’ll put it together for one more Finals run. D’Antoni has one foot out the door already… I think that was the worst hire they could have made. He’s an offensive minded coach with a system built around a young Steve Nash, not an old one. The Lakers are fine on offense but struggle on defense and D’Antoni just cannot help them with that. He should be gone next year if not sooner.
It’s crazy how stacked they are and yet……It reminds me of the “dream team” (I still hate that title) that the Eagles were given: great players, terrible unity and coaching. Let’s hope your Lakers turn it around!
Do you think the Lakers will make the playoffs this year? Do you think that Kobe will ever get back to the Finals? Personally, I don’t think Nash and Howard are going to get much healthier, and Kobe can’t quite carry the entire team by himself, so both of those things look less likely every day. I think D’antoni’s days in LA are numbered. What’s your opinion?
It’s amazing how much worse things can be switching things up, if a man has a plan you have to carry it out! Bailing half way and then trying something else (unless the first was totally way off) is just begging for disaster.