Last season, the media arm of Klutch Sports, led by Shannon Sharpe and Nick Wright convinced a lot of people that Russell Westbrook was one of the worst players in the Association and that he alone was the sole cause of the basketball maelstrom that was the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers. They conveniently ignore the fact the roster was aged, displayed at best an indifference to defense, did not shoot well, and ran no real offensive system, which was the real root causes of why the team was so awful.
As we close in on the tip-off of the 2022-23 NBA campaign, the media has been gearing for their latest sales job, Westbrook is still terrible, so bad he may not even start or be unplayable, and the Lakers will be contenders in an improved Western Conference.
Both statements are inaccurate and the Lakers will stink again this season.
Last season the Lakers ranked in the bottom half of the league in opponent points per game (28), scoring margin (22), three-point percentage (21), opponent offensive rebounding (23), and the offseason. None of the moves the Lakers made( Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV,Thomas Bryant, Troy Brown Jr, Juan Toscano-Anderson, and Damian Jones) or didn’t make ( letting Malik Monk walk and, as of the writing of this article not re-signing Carmelo Anthony), will sufficiently ameliorate any of these deficiencies. Their top three players, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook are, or will be, another year older, and in the case of James and Davis, consistent availability will once again rear its ugly head, as it has the past few seasons. Westbrook will not suddenly become a dead-eye shooter and barring a trade, will languish another season in the talent-wasting LeSystem and be chiefly maligned for the ills of the Lakers that will cause them to sink to the bottom of the Western Conference.
