Lakers News: NBA Scout Doubts the Lakers Can Succeed
For all the maneuvers the Lakers have made this past offseason, there still seems to be many question marks as we head into the season.
Sports Illustrated own Chris Mannix recently came out with a piece where anonymous scouts gave their thoughts on how all 30 NBA teams would fare this year.
For the Lakers, one scout bought up the injuries, age, certain fits, and other factors for this upcoming season.
“The Lakers are swinging for the fences. Russ is a boom-or-bust kind of deal. On one hand you've got three super talented guys, you've got a guy in Westbrook, who has a history of just going on runs where he just wins you games by how he plays and with his intensity. But on the other hand I don't see how that works when it really matters. There's a ton of questions that are going to be really tough for those guys. AD's health, LeBron's age, the lack of shooting, Westbrook, his decision-making and play, for a guy who's a great player, at the end of games, how many dumb decisions does he make? Not to mention, how many guys do they have that are really old, over 35? It seems like a lot. I never really even want to doubt LeBron, because I think he's really f------ good. And if he hadn't gotten hurt last year, they're on their way to the one seed or two seed and probably in the Finals, but he does and now it totally changes. I'm a little skeptical, I guess I would say, The argument for it would be you get as much talent and star power as you can, and then you figure out the rest. ... To me, you could see them winning a significant amount of games and just overpowering you. But it just seems like they got to really thread the needle for that to happen.
The scout brings up a good point about LeBron. Father time is undefeated, and for the past couple seasons, we’ve seen LeBron James go down with injuries that have sidelined him for an extended period of time. For all the different training and excessive amounts of money he puts on his body, James is still getting up there in age. His ability to stay relatively healthy over his career is something many of us marvel at, and that has helped him carry his teams deep in the NBA playoffs. Can he still stay healthy throughout the season, and help carry the team to the promise land?
The Lakers success hinges on Anthony Davis health. If what he did this offseason to transform his body to withstand injuries, then obviously the Lakers would be the clearcut favorites to win the title. But over Davis career (including college), he has gotten hurt time and time again. To expect him to play over 90% of this season’s games would be considered a shocking success.
Westbrook does seem like an odd fit, but King James has managed to play with other ball hawking players in his career and still manager to win the title. Take Dwayne Wade for example. When they first got together in Miami, it was not until Wade and James realized they had to allow James to be the No. 1 option in order for them to succeed. Once they figured that, they won back to back titles, including a stretch where they won 27 consecutive games during the regular season.
There are certainly a myriad of question marks with the Lakers, but again, it really is hard to doubt LeBron James, as he has a proven track record of consistently performing at a high level regardless of whatever hesitancy there is.
