The Los Angeles Lakers haven’t gotten off to the start of the season they expected. Despite being one of the most active teams in the NBA offseason, they’ve barely gotten a chance to see their team at full strength.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis have carried the load night in and night out, but the rest of the supporting cast has either been unavailable or less than impressive. Sitting on an 11-9 record, they’re currently on the seventh spot in the Western Conference.
Ironically, most of the team that made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals just months ago is still there, but they just don’t look like the same team they were when they were four wins away from the NBA Finals.
Even so, as much as James stated the team needs to go through a lot of changes to turn things around, he’s not urging the front office to make any moves. If anything, he still needs to see what the team looks like when they’re all at full strength.
LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron Says Lakers Don’t Know Who They Are Yet
“I have no idea what we are,” James said after the loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. “How? We don’t have our group yet. I know what some of us individually are, but as far as a team, we don’t have our group yet. I don’t know.”
The Lakers have had multiple pieces — such as Cam Reddish, Jaxson Hayes, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Gabe Vincent — missing time because of injuries, and it’s hard to develop chemistry that way:
“We haven’t had enough minutes with our group to be like, OK, this is the starting group, we got the guys coming in, we got a good rhythm,” added James. “I mean, we’re over .500. We’re 11-9 with literally not ever having our same group. That’s pretty impressive.”
Darvin Ham Blames Injuries For Slow Start
Coach Darvin Ham also lamented this situation, stating that injuries just haven’t allowed them to play according to their plan. Even so, he’s not going to take any chances or rush them back to the floor out of desperation:
Darvin Ham
“We feel like we got a solid plan and process in place. Whatever can be done extra, obviously, we’ll explore that. But right now, we’re comfortable where we are getting guys back to playing in a real game,” Ham said. “Unfortunate things happen; you get these knick-knack injuries, like Jaxson [Hayes] for example, he gets pulled out. And then Cam [Reddish], working him back in. So you have to be smart. You can’t be selfish and put these guys at risk just to throw them out there to be balanced.”
see also
NBA Rumors: Zach LaVine and potential Lakers trade targets
The Lakers have fared quite well against losing teams but not so well against contenders. It’s still early to hit the panic button, and most of their reinforcements are likely to come from within, so the fans will have no choice but to be patient and just hope they can get healthy at some point.
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