Lakers’ issues start with leadership

Throughout about 75 percent of this season, the Los Angeles Lakers have been the epicenter of the most disappointing teams in the NBA. They are currently 15-21 through 36 games and things don’t seem to be moving in the right direction. After an off-season of major promise including trading for all-stars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, the Lakers were primed to possibly have one of the best seasons in NBA history and once again seriously contend for a title. Thus far the Lakers have been anything but contenders. After firing their head coach after 5 games, “offensive genius” Mike D’Antoni took the helm. Through 25 games with D’Antoni as coach, the Lakers are averaging 104.3 points a game and are 10-15.

Steve Nash is a 2-time NBA MVP, but has yet to help turn this Lakers season around. By Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA

The Lakers currently sit in the 11^th spot in the Western Conference playoff picture and would miss the playoffs if the season ended today. This is Laker land and just one single year of not winning the title (let alone missing the playoffs) isn’t acceptable. Pau Gasol will get a lot of the blame. After all, something has to be done, and who better to blame than the quiet Spaniard. When this team doesn’t play well, Pau is the scapegoat and that isn’t fair to him. But if Pau isn’t to blame for the Lakers struggles, then who is?

The Solution:

Normally I’m not one to criticize coaching moves by management because it is their job and I believe that they know what they are doing, but this isn’t a normal situation. In my and many Laker fans’ eyes, Mike D’Antoni is to blame, and he deserves every ounce of criticism he gets. D’Antoni is not the right coach for this Lakers and never will be as long as Dwight Howard and Kobe are on the team. He refuses to adjust his offensive schemes in order to make it work with the players he has and that is the downfall to the Lakers.

Offense isn’t what has been hurting the Lakers this season, it’s the defense — something D’Antoni has never been good at coaching. In Phoenix, D’Antoni had the players that were able to run up and down the floor easily and at a speed that he needs them to in order for his offense to work and the scoring would over-match the defensive lapses a lot of the time. But in Los Angeles, that isn’t the case. While the Lakers are averaging a high number of points a game, they can’t keep up with the scoring of the other teams because of their age and the skill players they have. D’Antoni has never coached a player like Dwight Howard, who is a beast in the paint, and he needs to utilize him more in the offense. The Lakers have had the same scheme of offense for the last 15 or so years and it hasn’t let them down, so why change it now? They use two big men to run the offense and not a point guard. No offense to Nash — he is doing a great job — but D’Antoni needs to go.

The move to spurn Phil Jackson was one of the dumbest moves Jim Buss could have made and he should be run out of town for doing so. D’Antoni’s track record isn’t even all that impressive. He coached the Suns to a few conference finals, never getting to the finals and was basically run out of New York. Jackson didn’t make sense long-term because of his age but for this current team, he made the most sense. I believe the Lakers would look like the Lakers I know if he had been put under center. D’Antoni needs to be fired or at least change-up his schemes. Until the Lakers management and D’Antoni himself realize that, the Lakers will continue to struggle and as a Laker fan, it hurts me to even write that. I hope they can figure it out otherwise this season will go down as one of the biggest letdowns for a team in NBA history.

Recap (After all, I am a Lakers fan):

For the first part of the year, the Lakers were without point guards Steve Nash and Steve Blake and relied on third-stringers Darius Morris and Chris Duhon. Now there are even more injuries with Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Jordan Hill all out. Despite the most recent injuries, it’s clear that something is wrong with this team. It makes no logical sense that a team with two hall-of-famers, Kobe and Nash, plus the best center in the league could be this bad.

This is the worst of it too — the whole season hasn’t been this bad; they won six of seven games to end 2012. They got back to .500 at 15-15 but since have lost six straight. I’m a Lakers fan and I still believe that this team will figure “it” out, although I could be saying this because I am strongly hoping they will. The Lakers’ players have shown that they have heart although it hasn’t produced wins. I believe they will still make the playoffs as a lower seed, and as long as you make the playoffs, anything is possible. You’ve just got to believe.