The NBA season is young but there is already one fact that is undeniably clear. The Los Angeles Lakers are awful.
As of Monday, the team is currently 1-9, “good” enough for last place in the Western Conference. The only worse team in the entire NBA by W-L record is the 0-9 Philadelphia 76’ers (who are presumably only fielding a team this season because they are legally obligated to do so). The team’s offensive rating sits at a middling 16th while their defensive rating is dead last.
The roster is essentially a collection of cast-offs and an increasingly ornery Kobe Bryant. Coach Byron Scott entered his first season as the Lakers head coach by spouting a bunch of nonsense about three-pointers that foreshadowed how backwards the Lakers would be as a unit this year.
I asked Lakers coach Byron Scott about his philosophy on 3-pointers. "I don't believe it wins championships. (It) gets you to the playoffs."
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) October 17, 2014
Seven of the past eight NBA champions led all playoff teams in 3-point attempts and makes.
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) October 17, 2014
So, in sum, it may take more brain power to articulate what the Lakers can do to right this season rather than analyze how bad the team is presently. However, even Harvard educated Lakers point guard Jeremy Lin couldn’t offer anything when asked if there was anything that he could focus on improving going into Atlanta after Sunday’s blowout loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Lin’s response:
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No, really. There’s not much else to say about the Lakers right now. No one knows how to better this team. Not even the players.
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