2012-13 vs. 2003-04: Why this “dream” season has been a dud for the Lakers

Like the current Laker team, the 2003-2004 Laker team had much hype going into it. Adding hall of famers Gary Payton and Karl Malone will do that to a team, and they ended up making it to the NBA finals only to lose to the one-year wonder Detroit Pistons.

You may be wondering why it matters, since it was almost ten years ago and the current team looks nowhere close to a championship-contending squad, but the current team and the 03-04 has the same makeup of players. It was the last time that a Laker squad had this much “star” power on the roster and I found it very interesting the differences and similarities from the two teams. Lets check it out:

2003-2004 Lakers:

Coach: Phil Jackson

Record through 54 games: 35-19

Center: Shaq, 21.5 PPG and 11.5 rebounds per game

Power Forward: Karl Malone, 13.2 PPG and 8.7 rebounds per game

Small Forward: Devean George, 7.4 PPG and 4.0 rebounds per game

Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant, 24.0 PPG and 5.1 assists per game

Point Guard: Gary Payton, 14.6 PPG and 5.5 assists per game

Key Bench Players: Stanislav Medvendenko, 8.3 PPG

Derek Fisher, 7.1 PPG

Kareem Rush, 6.4 PPG

Mike D’Antoni’s free-wheeling coaching style has cross-crossed the Lakers, leaving them structureless. By Keith Allison [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Coach: Mike D’Antoni

Record through 54 games: 25-29

Center: Dwight Howard, 16.3 PPG and 11.8 rebounds per game

Power Forward: Pau Gasol, 13.4 PPG and 8.0 rebounds per game

Small Forward: Metta World Peace, 12.9 PPG and 5.6 rebounds per game

Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant, 26.8 PPG and 5.6 assists per game

Point Guard: Steve Nash, 11.8 PPG and 7.4 assists per game

Key Bench Players: Antawn Jamison, 8.4 PPG

Earl Clark (who now is starting), 8.1 PPG

Jodie Meeks, 7.8 PPG

The Lakers currently sit at 25-29 through 54 games, while the 03-04 team went  35-19.

Why is this team so bad? I have the answer in two words: Mike D’Antoni. In 03-04, Phil Jackson knew how to get players to play with each other and do it well. It’s obvious D’Antoni does not.

I truly believe that if Phil Jackson had been hired instead of D’Antoni the Lakers would at least be contending and starting to play the kind of basketball that we all expected them to be at this point in the season. I have said from the beginning that D’Anotni isn’t the right coach for the Lakers and I stand by that.

But it isn’t completely his fault. The lineups of Howard, Gasol, Kobe and Nash have only played in 17 of the 54 games together, a difficult situation for any coach.

The Lakers have been decimated by injuries throughout the season, including Dwight Howard, who is still playing hurt. When Jordan Hill went down, the Lakers found a replacement in Earl Clark who has turned out to be a pleasant surprise. But when Pau Gasol went down in Brooklyn a few weeks ago, the Lakers’ playoff chances went from hopeful to doubtful. Losing Pau was a huge blow to an already-hurt team and it has shown in their play, losing three of five since the injury.

Now rumors have been swirling of trading Dwight Howard because of the poor play and the fact that he may leave at the end of the season.

In my opinion, in order to make sure that Howard stays, the Lakers should part ways with D’Antoni and find a coach that will realize how to utilize the players he has and won’t bench a key cog on two NBA championship teams.

Mike D’Antoni is a good coach with a very high basketball IQ but neither him nor his system fit into what the coach of the Lakers should be. This Laker team is too talented to be playing this poorly and I for one don’t believe it’s all the players’ fault.

The sooner the Lakers front office realizes that, the better and the franchise can get back to its winning ways. At least the 2003-2004 Lakers made it to the finals and although they lost, I’m sure if you ask any Laker fan at the moment if they would take a loss in the finals as opposed to not even making the playoffs – they would take that in a heartbeat.

We’ll see what kind of heart this star-driven version 2.0 of the purple and gold have in the second half of the season.  Stay tuned.