It has been a busy yet ultimately disappointing offseason for general manager Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers. They created a buzz by firing Darvin Ham and his staff, hiring JJ Redick, and drafting Bronny James. Despite these moves, Pelinka’s team doesn’t appear to be any closer to championship contention than they were at the end of the season three months ago.In fact, the situation in Los Angeles has become so critical that NBA writer Howard Beck of The Ringer, who reported on the team during the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal dynasty, is questioning whether the Lakers are still aiming to win a championship.”Are the Lakers even trying to win another championship with LeBron James on the roster? Because I don’t think it’s clear that they are,” said Beck on the Rich Eisen Show on YouTube. “…They needed more firepower, more help on the wing, more defense, more shooting. This team is not built to contend, it wasn’t built to contend last season, and they’ve done absolutely nothing to change that… Lakers exceptionalism is a thing, but their actions this offseason have not shown that. They’ve done absolutely nothing to indicate that they can or expect to compete for titles.”
Last year, the Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets, who were then defeated by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who were thoroughly beaten by the Dallas Mavericks, who subsequently got crushed by the Boston Celtics. While this sequence of losses doesn’t form a straightforward hierarchy and matchups are crucial, it’s probably fair to say that the Lakers are a good three or four tiers below true NBA title contention.
During the regular season, Los Angeles actually shot well from beyond the three-point line but struggled defensively with D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves in their starting backcourt. In the playoffs, nearly all of the Lakers’ role players, including Reaves and Russell, went through cold stretches at the worst possible time, squandering a golden opportunity as the Nuggets’ role players also struggled significantly.