Los Angeles Lakers: Are The Lakers A Playoff Team?
The last time the Los Angeles Lakers missed the playoffs was in 2005, in their lone season under Rudy Tomjanovich, who ended up coaching just 43 games due to illness. In that year, Lakers interim head coach Frank Hamblen posted just a 10-29 record and the team won just 34 games.
That season, the Lakers were stuck in their in-between phase after trading Shaquille O’Neal in the summer of 2004. In the 2003-04 campaign, the Lakers put together an All-Star team in the hopes of avenging the previous year’s playoff loss to the San Antonio Spurs, who denied the Lakers their fourth title in a row in a surprisingly one-sided series. In the summer of 2003, the Lakers brought in both Gary Payton and Karl Malone, but still were unable to bring home a title. As the team was quietly imploding from within, they were forced to trade one of their superstars and although Shaq was the league’s most dominant player at the time, they chose to move him and hold onto the younger Bryant (which turned out to be the right move in hindsight, even if they didn’t get enough for the Big Diesel).
The next year, it was made clear the Lakers weren’t developing any talent at the end of their bench during the Shaq and Kobe era. They traded Shaq for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a couple of draft picks, hoping that Odom and Butler would turn into big-time starters and that Grant would provide depth and toughness inside. After boasting a lineup of four definite Hall of Famers the year before, the Lakers started Chucky Atkins, Odom, Butler and Chris Mihm with Bryant in the 2004-05 season and obviously things didn’t go too well.
Now, after losing the big man that was supposed to be the future face of their franchise, the Lakers are once again on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. They patched up the center position vacated by Howard with Chris Kaman, a career loser with no upside, questionable defense and rebounding, and an average, semi-effective offensive game.
To fill in the starting small forward spot vacated by Metta World Peace, who was waived by the Lakers using the amnesty clause, the Lakers brought in a slew of underachieving swingmen, including Nick Young, Xavier Henry, Wesley Johnson and Shawne Williams (haven’t seen him in a few years; that’s how you know things are getting bad).
Finally, to strengthen their point guard depth, the Lakers brought back Jordan Farmar, who figures to push Steve Blake for backup minutes. So, the question from the headline still remains: Is this outcast group of Lakers good enough to make the playoffs in a loaded Western Conference? My bet is no.
The Lakers will head into the year without their star, Kobe Bryant, although it’s a safe bet that Kobe will be back somewhere near the end of November (just a guess based upon Bryant’s super-competitive nature). The Lakers will struggle mightily without their star shooting guard, but even when he comes back, this team is flawed to the bone. They’ll have trouble defensively with Steve Nash at the point (even when this guy was winning MVPs, he was a defensive liability), Kaman at the 5 and whoever they decide to start at the 3, which will force Bryant into defending the opposing team’s best wing, something he hasn’t had to do too much of in his career (which explains why everyone believes that Kobe is this outstanding defender; he never get burned because he doesn’t have to play against the league’s elite).
What will also work against the Lakers is their lack of size, especially with the oft-injured Kaman as their projected starter. Jordan Hill will be the team’s first big man off the bench, but after him, Los Angeles has just rookie Ryan Kelly and second-year big man Robert Sacre (yeah, it’s that bad). Due to their iffy playoff chances, the team hasn’t been able to lock up an aging big man who’s looking to win a ring (in the vein of a Marcus Camby, who signed with the Rockets this offseason), although they will probably sign at least one more proven big in training camp or during the regular season.
Just looking at the roster, it’s clear that this team will be playing a decent amount of small ball and that their roster has been sculpted by Mitch Kupchak to fit Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun offensive system. With one-trick shooters like Johnson, Young, and the incumbent Jodie Meeks, it appears the Lakers are ready to give Steve Nash more offensive responsibility, something they should have done when he returned from his injury last season.
In the Western Conference, there are pretty much six locks to make the playoffs, barring serious injury: the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors. Outside of those six, the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves are in the running with the Lakers for the final two spots in April’s festivities. From a talent standpoint, all five of the aforementioned teams are better stocked with talent than the Lakers, although the Pelicans are super young and the Mavericks will likely lack cohesion in the early parts of the year due to several new arrivals, including three new starters.
I’m completely biased in this situation because of my hate for the Lakers and Kobe Bryant in particular, but the bottom line is this: The Lakers are on the wrong side of 50/50 when it comes to their odds of making the playoffs (I say 20 percent chance). With the departure of Howard, the Lakers are thin inside to say the least and with Nash looking like a shell of the shell of his former self last year, it’s hard to believe the Lakers can outlast the offensively loaded Wolves or the talented and now semi-deep Trail Blazers.
I expect the Lakers to miss the playoffs this coming season and I also expect a boatload of drama to come along with the losing. At age 35, it will be increasingly challenging for the Black Mamba to cover up for his teammates’ incompetence and as his frustration builds, the team will look more and more hesitant and uncomfortable due to Bryant’s alienating behavior (ask Smush Parker how Kobe treats his unproven teammates). Is it possible that Nash has a bounce-back year, Pau Gasol shines as the No. 1 post option, Bryant pushes 32 points a game on an insane amount of shots per game and the surrounding shooters create ample space for the Lakers’ underwhelming and aging big three to shine? Of course. Is it likely? Of course not.
The 2013-14 season will be an uphill battle for the Lakers and as a Laker hater, I’m looking forward to watching them crumble. For Lakers fans, I’m betting it’s going to be a long and frustrating year.
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