How's it going everyone? No, I am not here to signal that I'll be back to sports blogging full-time. But, I always considered this blog as a haven to get my thoughts across. Honestly, I've been swinging around Raider and Laker fan pages on Facebook providing my thoughts on both teams. But, this blog is a "canvas" where I can "paint the full picture." And after the Phoenix Suns eliminated the now previously reigning, defending champion Lakers, let's dive deep for one post only on what happened.
So, the Lakers failed their bid at a repeat and in doing so, helped handed LeBron James his first playoff series loss in the first round where he was previously 14-0. The Lakers dug themselves in a hole too deep that it was impossible for them to come back even if they tried to give the Suns a scare in the 2nd half. Obviously, that team hasn't been in the position before to close out a game of this magnitude, especially against a defending championship team.
In this series against the Suns, Games 4-6 was a microcosm of the roller-coaster 2020-21 season the Lakers had to endure with a stockpile of injuries that stemmed from the short turnaround from the NBA Bubble in October to the new season start in December. Considering, the Lakers and the Miami Heat were the last two teams standing in the bubble, they had the shortest turnaround, 70 days to be exact from Game 6 of the 2020 NBA Finals to the first week of the 2020-2021 NBA Season. As a result, Miami got eliminated earlier in a sweep against the Milwaukee Bucks in a rematch from last year's playoffs in the Bubble. The Lakers were the last domino to fall against the Suns.
What we learned about this season is that the Lakers will go far as long as LeBron James and Anthony Davis are healthy and are on the floor together. It's an obvious truth. This season was a painful, extensive look at how the team fared without one or the other or the worst case, without either of them on the floor. All was not completely lost earlier in this season as the Lakers were riding high at 21-6, #2 in the West. They looked the part of a team destined to repeat.
Then, the downturn escalated real quick when AD re-aggravated his Achilles Tendinosis injury at Denver in February, causing him to miss nearly 2-3 months of action. And then LeBron James suffered a high ankle sprain after the All-Star break in March in a game vs. the Atlanta Hawks. Literally, we saw a whole month of Lakers basketball without the two stars. And that put a lot of weight on guys like Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, and later on, Andre Drummond to keep the team afloat in playoff contention in their stead, especially since the Lakers had a difficult backend schedule against teams either in playoff contention or eligible for the new format of the play-in tournament.
Looking back at this early playoff exit, it was clear that this team didn't look right. The fact it took a miracle three from LeBron against the Warriors in the play-in was a red flag of what was to come. In defense, the Suns were an ideal matchup for the Lakers. Phoenix was a young team and outside of Chris Paul and Jae Crowder, not one player on that roster had any extensive experience in the playoffs.
Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Cameron Payne all said "hold my beer." Hats off to the Suns in this series. They beat the Lakers at their own game of pushing the tempo. Nobody on the Lakers roster was able to stop Devin Booker. Even more so, Ayton outplayed all of the Lakers' big men. Didn't matter if you had Drummond, Gasol, or AD on him, he was able to dominate inside and crash the boards. Perhaps the biggest difference maker was that Phoenix shot at a ridiculously high 3-point percentage than the Lakers. They exposed the biggest weakness of the Lakers: little reliable 3-point shooting or lack thereof. It has been a problem of the Lakers all season long and this series just magnified that, especially in games 5 and 6. The only time the Suns shot poorly from three was in game 4 and they still won that game. Overall, Phoenix shot the lights out from deep and even worse, they dared the Lakers to shoot from deep, knowing the Lakers can't generate any consistency from beyond the arc. Defensively, they put a wall on the Lakers so that they won't attack the basket at will and get easy shot opportunities. As a result, so many players were hesitant to take a shot and relied on LeBron to bail them out as they milked all 24 seconds on the shot clock.
Even with a healthy Anthony Davis, this team was doomed from the get-go with the role players not stepping up when they needed to. And that's the tragedy behind this lost season for the Lakers. If you look at the roster, it was more talented than last year's roster on paper. As I mentioned, last year's roster consisted of older veterans whose best years are behind them. This team was supposed to be a lot younger and a lot more athletic. We can't use age as an excuse. Outside of LeBron, Marc Gasol, Wesley Matthews, Jared Dudley, and Markieff Morris who are all 30 or over, everybody else is 27 and under. This team had super, young role players in Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell and struck a goldmine in the buyout market again adding Andre Drummond. The talent was there. The biggest culprit was the injuries and there was not a lot of time for this team to build chemistry and play as a cohesive unit because players were missing significant time. When even Jared Dudley has an injury and he hasn't played all season long, that's when you know the Lakers are snake-bitten by the injury bug. It was that bad.
Even more frustrating because of the lack of playing time together, some players just didn't fit well into the rotation, looked lost on the floor, or playing for their self-interests. Dennis Schroder wants a $100 million extension, but didn't look like a Point Guard who's worth that contract. I hate to say it, but Schroder is a super backup PG. He's not starter material. Andre Drummond is playing for a big contract. Despite the vision of Drummond and Davis dominating inside, Drummond more so hampered AD's game once he came back. That coveted twin tower duo never clicked from the get-go neither did Drummond's rapport with LeBron when he returned. Montrezl Harrell, reining Sixth Man of the Year, got lost in the shuffle and saw playing time decreased when the Lakers got Drummond. Harrell's lack of size is a prolong liability and it will stay that way because he doesn't have an outside shot.
The debates are starting right now on whether or not the Lakers should've hung on to last year's championship squad. I don't think last year's squad would fare any better and the results would be the same, but a bit worse. For a fair assessment, despite the Lakers having more talent on the roster, they definitely lacked older "glue guys" who can step into that leadership role and bring guys together when the going gets tough. And that's where the Lakers miss guys like Rajon Rondo, like Javale McGee, and like Dwight Howard. Rondo especially we can look back at this and say the Lakers definitely made that mistake of letting instrumental players go. If you look at past Lakers championship teams, they had that one guy that kept the team together. The Shaq and Kobe-led teams had Brian Shaw. The Kobe and Gasol-led teams had an older, wiser Derek Fisher. Rondo was gonna be that next guy and the Lakers let him go. They didn't have that "glue guy" this season, an older vet that the players could rely on to weather the storm. Like everybody would turn to Jared Dudley for guidance!
Let's be truthful regarding the Lakers' superstar duo, Father Time will come for LeBron James eventually. He's going to be 37 next year. We saw glimpses in this playoff series where LeBron is gradually losing his freakish athleticism. He can't get any lift on his legs, playing off a bad ankle. And as evident, he's settling for jump shots rather than attacking the basket. This was my concern when the Lakers first signed him: how much will all the wear and tear take a toll on him as he gets older? We saw proof that he can't carry an entire team anymore like he used to in Cleveland. Players need to break out of the "LeBron system" because he won't bail you out night in and night out.
Anthony Davis' injury history is well-documented. I would say the short turnaround hindered him the most. He finished the Bubble with a bad ankle, bad heel. This year, he battled an Achilles Tendinosis. The medical staff kept highlighting that injury as a strained calf. But, we all know that's all BS. Look at how Kevin Durant fared in the 2019 NBA Finals with a "strained calf." In the playoff series against Phoenix, he strained his groin in Game 4 and tried to play through that in Game 6. He only played five minutes and didn't finish the game. Whoever cleared AD to play last night, shame on them. You're putting a 5-year, $190 million investment of the Lakers' future at risk. If he suffers a career-altering injury, the Lakers will be back to ground zero. That's the truth. And as a bold take given the injury history, AD's gonna be a career 2nd option at best. The Lakers are going to need a true 1st option and a 37 LeBron is not that and neither will be AD for the future.
This team is going to look completely different this offseason. Rob Pelinka has a lot of roster decisions to make. Outside of LeBron and AD, everybody is going to be on the roster bubble. Alex Caruso, Dennis Schroder, Andre Drummond, Wesley Matthews, Ben McLemore, and Markieff Morris they're all going to be unrestricted free agents. Talen Horton-Tucker is a restricted free agent. Montrezl Harrell has a player option that he can decline to hit free agency this year. They'll explore trade options to move Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Kyle Kuzma's fat contracts. On top of that, the Lakers don't have too much wiggle room considering they're over the salary cap. Pelinka will be challenged this offseason. He has his work cut out to retool the Lakers while the championship window is not completely slammed shut.
Personnel decisions are being considered as well. Frank Vogel got outcoached in the first round. His rotations were highly questionable, especially pertaining to the fact that he refused to play Montrezl Harrell when the Lakers had nothing to lose as Phoenix was pushing them to the brink. Everybody's clamoring for Vogel's firing, especially rumors are swirling that Jason Kidd is gaining interest from other teams in the league for Head Coach. They think Vogel should be fired and Kidd should be promoted. I'm probably in the minority of dissenting opinion. It's too early to consider firing him. He did what he could with all the injuries and the short turnaround. The "hidden rule" for teams regarding coaches is that if a team regresses or gets off to a bad start after some successful seasons with the same coach, there is merit to fire the coach. Vogel wrapped up his 2nd year. He just coached them to a championship season. As I mentioned, the Lakers were 21-6 under Vogel before the injury bug struck. It would be wise to give him another year or two.
The silver lining is that the Lakers can get some true rest after resting only for 70 days. Honestly, I blame the NBA and the team owners for voting for a December start to the 2020-21 NBA Season. They just had to squeeze around Christmas time. Every team had a major injuries as a result and the Lakers and the Heat got the short end of the stick the most being the last two teams standing to finish out the 2019-20 Season in the Bubble. The only bad part is that the West will continue to get loaded. You look at all the young talent that's blossoming in the playoffs. You can sense the changing of the guard in the NBA. But, I'm pretty sure the Brooklyn Nets have something to say. Honestly, Nets vs. Bucks is the true NBA Finals. One is looking to prove the "Big 3, Superteam" era is not dead and the other is looking to prove that small market teams can compete as well. The only consolation I can take is if the Clippers get eliminated as well. I'm pretty sure they're kicking themselves for tanking when they could've easily dispatched a wounded Lakers team in the first round. But, they have dug their own grave because Luka Doncic is going full-on "John Wick" on that team trying to avenge from last year's playoffs.
In closing, I would like to add Cameron Payne and Jae Crowder to the list of Phoenix Suns players I don't like. They're going up there and joining the likes of Raja Bell, Tim Thomas, and Goran Dragic. Welcome to the club!
It's going to be a tough few months until the offseason Laker fans. We're gonna have to live with the haters putting an asterisk on the 2020 championship and some Bubble memes and "LeMickey" and "ADisney" jokes. Honestly, if it was any other team that won the Bubble Finals, everybody would be cutting them some slack. But because the Lakers won it, you know that'll ignite a fuel to the fire of the haters, especially since they got bounced out this year.
The Lakers will be back!
