The Los Angeles Lakers have one of the worst records in the NBA right now, sitting at 5-13. However, are they really a terrible team? Or are they a victim of a brutal schedule given by the NBA? By no account am I saying that the Lakers are a good team, or even an 8th seed contender by any means, but the Lakers seem to have been competitive in many of their games that they have played against, and most of those games have been against strong teams. They have even taken out the Raptors in the last two days, the Eastern Conference's best team.
Really Bad Losses?Out of the Lakers 18 games that they have played, 13 of them have been against playoff teams. One may be quick to point out that they’ve had poor losses to the T-Wolves and Nuggets, but those games were highly competitive and it seems had the Lakers gotten a break or two, they would be the victors in those games, and many other of their losses as well. Three of the Lakers 5 wins are against top 4 seeded teams in their respective conferences as well.
What’s with the Scheduling?Although many of us may forget it now, the Lakers had a ridiculous opening schedule that was part of their 5 game skid. For some reason, the NBA felt it right to give the Lakers 4 games in the first 5 days of the NBA season. Some teams hadn’t even played their second game by the time the Lakers were starting their fourth. Team chemistry is tough to develop quickly, and with all the new players, coaches, and styles of play, it made the opening to the season really rough for the Lakers.
Conclusion:All in all, it just seems unfair to deem the Lakers as one of the worst teams in the NBA. They have some decent talent. I think we can all agree at this point that Kobe Bryant is not just the 40th best player in the NBA per ESPN. Nick Young has come back and provided the Lakers with some good firepower to go along Kobe. The Lakers may just need a simple fix to get back on track. My suggestion: start Ed Davis over Carlos Boozer, who has the worst +/- statistic on the team. The Lakers just don’t play well when Boozer is on the court because of his poor shot selection, bad defense, and lack of effort. The Lakers need to start closing games better as well and maybe, their record will show them to be a decent team.