A team synonymous with winning finds itself in a very unfamiliar and peculiar situation right now. After suffering their 3rd straight loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers the Lakers now find themselves sitting at 9-13(Their worst start since 2002-2003). The Lakers were supposed to be a juggernaut and roll through opponents.Injuries,coaching changes and defense have inhibited this team from really fulfilling its true potential.
One of the truly strange things going on with this team is that Kobe Bryant, someone who has been maligned for poor shot selection, is having one of his most efficient seasons of his career. Kobe is averaging 29.2 points on 48% shooting(A career high). As it stands right now the Lakers offense is far from the problem. Their offensive efficiency(Points scored per 100 possessions) ranks just outside the top 5 at 106.4. However their defense has not performed as well, especially in transition. Right now the Lakers are ranked dead last in Fast Break defense giving up about 16 points a game.
Defensively everyone expected Dwight Howard to make up for the deficiencies of the lesser talented perimeter defenders that the Lakers have like he did in Orlando but so far that has not been the case. According to 82games.com the Lakers rank 27th in the PER difference between their starting point guard and opposing point guards. They also rank 25th in point guard defense and are dead last in point guard scoring. So not only are they getting no offense from the point guard position right they also aren't getting any defense. Now getting Nash back healthy may help them in the scoring department but I really dont see how a 38 year old coming off of a broken can really solve their perimeter defensive struggles.
Structurally the Lakers are one of the leagues most imbalanced teams. They feature a bench that most D1 college teams would laugh at. Their point guard rotation without Nash is almost laughable. When you have Chris Duhon and Darius Morris playing major minutes for you you're going to experience some struggles.
We all knew that this team was going to take some time to come together and really play at its full potential but I dont think anyone predicted that they would be this bad. Even Kobe voiced his frustration with his team while doing post game interviews.
It's still very early in the season and we still haven't really seen this team at full strength but whether it's making a few lineup changes, making a trade or just increasing the effort level the Lakers have to do something quick before they fall into a hole they can't climb out of.
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