Even in the wins, the Los Angeles Lakers have been far from impressive to start the NBA season. It has taken some major heroics from LeBron James to their 3-3 record, with all three wins coming by five points or left. Needless to say, banking all hopes on a soon-to-be 39-year-old player doesn’t sound like the wisest idea.
The Lakers have been middle-of-the-pack in most stats this season; hence, it’s not much of a surprise to see them being a .500 team. They’re 16th in points per game (111.8), 15th in field goal percentage (46.7%), and 14th in rebounds per game (45.0).
Nonetheless, they’ve had some serious issues matching other team’s intensity on the glass. That was on full display in their latest loss to the Orlando Magic, as they were outrebounded 51 to 40 (19 to 10 on the offensive glass), which led to 36 second-chance points. Needless to say, coach Darvin Ham was far from happy with that:
“You can’t scheme rebounding,” Ham told the media when asked about the team’s rebounding issues and his game-planning. “You gotta wanna get the damn ball, plain and simple. There’s no play I can draw up to get more rebounds. There’s no play I can draw up to have more guys there.”
LeBron James Talks About The Team’s Struggles
James has been as efficient as usual to start the season. He was supposed to be under a minute restriction and play 28-30 minutes a night. However, he’s currently averaging almost 36 minutes per game, although that might be due to the team’s struggles when he’s not on the floor.
When asked about the team’s struggles, James also showed his concerns about the team’s lack of intensity on the glass and how careless they’ve been with the basketball at times, going as far as to compare the team with the Pittsburgh Steelers:
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Is this Lakers team good enough?
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“We got to try to figure it out because it’s definitely been a trend,” said James, per CBS Sports. “Offensive rebounds and points off turnovers. We’re like the Pittsburgh Steelers right now,” James continued. “The Pittsburgh Steelers right now have not out-gained or out-scored any of their opponents in this season right now, and yet they’ve got a winning record.”
The Role Players Need To Step Up
The Pittsburgh Steelers are, indeed, a good comparison for this ball team. They have a couple of superstars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who would be like T.J. Watt and Cam Heywardd. The rest of the supporting cast, however, has been less than impressive thus far.
D’Angelo Russell is averaging 18 points per game, but he’s taking wild shots, hence the 42% shooting. Austin Reaves was expected to take another leap in his development, yet he’s averaging 12.5 points per game and has regressed in almost every category.
There’s no reason the Lakers should be so overmatched on the glass. The offseason acquisitions of Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood were supposed to give them two strong presences in the restricted area and take some pressure off Anthony Davis. Instead, they’re allowing too many second-chance points and other teams to push the tempo and run on them after every defensive rebound.
Even so, it seems like coach Ham has failed to figure out the best way to use their backup big men and stagger their minutes. Davis has been up to the task with 26 points and 13 rebounds per game, but he can only do so much when everybody else isn’t boxing out. It’s still early in the season, but this team doesn’t seem like a good fit altogether.