Early Struggle’s For The Lakers

After finding themselves in the western conference finals and having a successful free agency, the Lakers have all the hype behind them right now. With the emergence of Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura and with the additions of Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, and Christian Wood most expected this Laker team to start really strong to start the year but that has been quite the  opposite.

Although being 2-2 to start the year the Lakers have looked pretty sloppy. The Lakers are still missing one of their key rebounders and defenders in Jarred Vanderbilt which will help once they get him back. But the honest reason for their slow start has been the coaching. In the half court offense it seems as though the Lakers run no plays and the rotations have been underwhelming to say the least. Against the Kings the Lakers ran a big lineup with James-Davis-Wood in the front court and it was very successful in the first half. The only problem is that we didn’t see it again after the first half for some reason. Same goes along with Rui Hachimura when he scored 11 points in only 17 minutes and had buckets that put us within reach with the Kings. He unfortunately was taken out of the game early in the 4th and didn’t finish. Instead we saw Gabe Vincent who started the year 0-11 from 3 finish the game and made a silly foul on De’aaron Fox that saw him make two free throws to tie the game. The signing of Cam Reddish was a big question mark to me because we have Max Christie who can shoot very well and defend exceptionally. Max Christie has yet to see the floor and Cam Reddish has been bad to start the year which was expected. These coaching mistakes have been very noticeable and must be fixed.

Another reason why the Lakers have started the year very slow is due to the slump of Austin Reaves. Austin Reaves took the basketball world by storm last year. After the all-star break he was playing out of his mind and he took that same intensity into the playoffs where his iconic “I’m Him” moment happened. To start the year he is shooting 33.3% from the field and 25.0% from 3. I believe this is due to his long off-season where he played for Team USA in the Fiba World Cup. It’ll take some time to get his legs under him but all Laker fans expect him to get back to his normal self.

With all this being said I fully expect the Lakers to turn it around soon. The rotations will be fixed and when Jarred Vanderbilt comes back you can be sure you will see less 2nd chance opportunities for the other team and better defense. Hopefully Austin Reaves can get back to his normal self and find that rhythm like he had last year which I’m sure he will.