Where does the blame lie with the Lakers?

At times, the Lakers have looked like a title contender. However in the vast majority of games they flatter their record.

At first, their troubles were allegedly down to Mike Brown in using the unsuitable Princeton offense. After their poor start the Lakers organisation chose to fire the head coach after an astonishing five games into the season. This disrupted the chemistry that had been built up over the previous year. Inexplicably, they then chose Mike D’Antoni, over the most successful coach in the history of basketball, Phil Jackson.

Not only did people claim D’Antoni’s system couldn’t win a title; that the players on the Lakers’ roster were just not the right fit to succeed under D’Antoni’s famous use of the seven seconds or less offense.

One of the key issues hindering the Lakers’ success is that the use of D’Antoni’s offense requires a fast break on every possession.

The Lakers’ three best players do not have the athleticism required for this style of offense. Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Kobe have a combined age of one hundred and four, and are being asked to run flat out down the floor on every possession. Even the younger players struggle to do this let alone thirty-eight year olds. This may be a reason for the team’s terrible transition defence, they’re expending all their energy running on offense, that they haven’t got any energy left to run back on defence.

The next problem the Lakers have is that D’Antoni requires players to play in positions they are not suited to.

For example, Gasol is being asked to spread the floor by providing a three point threat and primarily being a shooter. However, he is a successful post player and always has been – he can hit the midrange shot, but if this is all he is doing then he becomes a one dimensional player and therefore easier to defend. This has seen a significant reduction in Gasol’s points scored and ultimately led to the loss of his starting position.

In addition, Steve Nash is used to controlling the ball, however he is giving up half of the possessions to Kobe whose ball-hogging style is detrimental to the success of the team. Individual players are not being allowed to play to their best strengths and abilities, and as a result the team is suffering.

Another area of concern is Dwight Howard’s poor play so far this season. Howard does not look comfortable and is not the outstanding defender we are used to. This is probably as a result of his recent back surgery, and it is likely he is still recovering and so not on best form. The bad chemistry between Dwight and Kobe is another problem, D12 believes he should be getting more shots than he is. Kobe claims he is passing the ball to Dwight but that he can’t catch it. Both players appear to be blaming each other for the team’s struggles, a rift in a team is never conducive to success and has proven to be severely damaging.

Therefore, it appears that Howard, the player destined to bring a title to Los Angeles, is in fact preventing them from even getting into the playoffs.

It will be interesting to see whether the Lakers actually make the play-offs together with how the Howard and Kobe saga pans out, but it is not looking hopeful for the Lakers, as they sit eleventh in the Western Conference with a record nearly as bad as their Californian cousins, the Sacramento Kings.