Almost nothing went right for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2021-22 NBA season. They went 33-49 as the most disappointing team of the campaign as they entered it with championship aspirations.
There have been some changes made for the upcoming season, as Frank Vogel was relieved of his duties as head coach and was replaced by Darvin Ham.
The roster also saw some major turnover as there are only six holdovers from last season; LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Austin Reaves, Wenyen Gabriel and Kendrick Nunn, who missed the entire 2021-22 season with an injury.
Westbrook remaining on the roster is a big surprise, but it was not for a lack of trying. The asking price to move him was too rich for the Lakers’ blood, so they will look to deploy him differently this season which will hopefully lead to better results.
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Rob Pelinka did the best he could with what he had available to him. The focus this offseason was on bringing in younger, more athletic players to raise the ceiling of the roster. Last year, it was the opposite, as the roster was loaded with aging, past their prime-players that didn’t hold up.
While the roster is improved, the performance on the court needs to get better as well. For the first two seasons under Vogel, the team was great defensively. That was not the case last season and that side of the ball is what James believes is most important for the team to improve.
“Defense … obviously you gotta be able to put the ball in the hole, but teams that can defend and get stops where needed, they’re simply more successful in our league.”
The pieces on the roster fit better around their three All-Stars this season, but the Lakers will still need some things to break in their favor to find success this season on the court. With a new voice as head coach and the additions made, the Lakers are certainly hoping that is the case.
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The 113.3 defensive rating that the Lakers finished with last season ranked 21st in the NBA and was the worst number in franchise history; the previous high was 113 which came during the 2016-17 campaign when they won only 26 games. If that number doesn’t improve drastically, it will be another long season for the purple and gold.
