The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to be a championship contender this year after missing the playoffs last year as a 10th seed with a 37-45 record. You’re wondering how the hell they’re going to be a championship contender if they just missed the playoffs. Well. unless you were hiding under a rock, their offseason was a total facelift. About 7 of the guys on last year is still on the team, and the rest is entirely new people. Lebron missed 27 games last year as well, mostly due to injury. But I like to think they would have made the playoffs if he’d played about 20 of those games. So Lebron missing the playoffs should really have an asterisk by it because of that. But now? They’re going for the Championship.
Key Additions
At this point, we should be saying who the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t add. Key signings include DeMarcus Cousins, Danny Green, Avery Bradley, Quinn Cook, Dwight Howard. OF COURSE, WE HAD THE LEAGUE ALTERING TRADE FOR ANTHONY DAVIS. As we all know, Anthony Davis is, at least, a top 10 player in the league. He could go down as one of the best bigs of all time now since he’s off the Pelicans. Whew, okay, first Cousins is obviously injured, which I’m starting to feel bad for him after being injury-plagued the last two seasons, but I don’t like him as a player so. As a Spurs fan, I’ve seen a lot of Danny Green, he’s washed up, trust me. 2013 was truly his peak in his career, but after that, he’s been on a steady decline.
Key Losses
Alas, when the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Every pro has its cons. Despite having a great offseason, the Los Angeles Laker’s key losses include Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Tyson Chandler, and Mo Wagner. I mean, if it meant getting AD, I’d lose it all again. The Lakers are in win-now mode, and the Pelicans have a crazy great young talent to rebuild with. 3 years, they’re going to make serious noise in the West.
Lineup
PG: Lebron James, Rajan Rondo, Quinn Cook
SG: Avery Bradley, Alex Caruso, Quinn Cook
SF: Danny Green, KCP, Jared Dudley
PF: Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma
C: Javale McGee, Dwight Howard
Lineup Analysis
Danny Green, on paper, is a great acquisition, multiple titles, including the one he won last year with the Raptors. He’s still a stellar defensive wing and can hold most players in the league. Speaking of defense. Avery Bradley is an amazing pick-up for the Lakers if he can live up to his potential. Bradley is your stereotypical “3 and D” player. Bradley has always seen as a player that could be really good but it’s just never panned out for him. Quinn Cook is a great bench player, I’ve been telling Warriors fans they lost one of the better bench guys in the league. Dwight Howard looks to rejuvenate his career. He hasn’t been the same since his Orlando’s days. After that, I know he played for the Rockets and it just goes blank from there, he just turned irrelevant. I would say his career is done, but playing with Lebron, anything can happen. The Anthony Davis and Lebron James pairing is going to be extremely dangerous and one of the best, if not the best, duos in the league. Anthony Davis swears he’s going to hold Lebron accountable for playing defense, but we will see about that. There’s a lot of redundancy on this team, both centers are paint dominant, whether it’s rebounding, defense, or dunking, their home is in the paint. Danny Green, Avery Bradley, KCP, are all 3 and D players. Anthony Davis looks to play at the 4, I’m not sure why he is not playing center at all. Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma, don’t overreact on me yet, play similar in terms of a stretch 4. OF COURSE, Kuzma is nowhere close to having Anthony Davis’ talent and probably never will be, but there are similarities in their game.
Prediction
On paper, this team looks like an undisputed 1st seed. However, the reality is, most of these players are not what they used to be or looking to rejuvenate their careers. But this is a great team, I wouldn’t put them at the 1 seed, but I would personally put the Los Angeles Lakers at the 4th seed. They will go no lower than the 5th seed and no higher than the 2nd seed. Lebron and AD will be polarizing to watch, I’m ready for the season.
