Lakers: Why L.A. May Be Better Than Its Record
The Lakers started off the new season 0-5 and sent the whole basketball world into a frenzy. The team was being dubbed as a bottom five team and believed they had zero chance of even making a play-in spot, but with Russell Westbrook moving to the bench and providing a spark for the second unit the team has now won two games in a row.
Albeit the Lakers are still 2-5, but this is coming at the heels of people seeing the Lakers beginning of season schedule and believing the Lakers would win two games at the most for their first 12-or-so games. There was no way anyone thought the Lakers were going to beat the Nuggets, but they defied the odds.
The Lakers defense is still one of the best in the league and the biggest issue for the Lakers was Westbrook missing too many shots and the Lakers not making jumpers as a whole, which includes LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, the record may not show what the Lakers are truly capable of (via Zach Kram, The Ringer).
"Lonnie Walker IV is shooting 22 percent on wide-open 3s so far, according to Second Spectrum. Patrick Beverley’s at 25 percent. Kendrick Nunn’s at 31 percent. Over a larger sample, almost every rotation player in the NBA will shoot better than that when left open beyond the arc."
The Lakers are getting open shots and being true professionals of the game the jump shots will eventually go down. However, even with the improvements that they may see it might not be enough.
"The Lakers’ dreadful offense will improve, but it might not matter. Barring a trade, they’re in deep trouble this season, no matter how you look at their situation."
There's still plenty of work for the Lakers to do, but the team is not built right now to win a championship. The wins will continue to come, but the power that is the western conference right now will not let the Lakers get past the first round if they even make it that far.
