Although there are always rumors that George wants to transfer, people can't imagine paul george joining this lifeless team when they see the Lakers at the beginning of the season. What worries the Lakers in particular is that when the expressions on the players' faces are failure and failure, they have gradually become resigned and always failed in the second half of last year.
The lineup of the Lakers is better than Brooklyn, Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, Orlando, new york, Charlotte and Sacramento, but these teams win more games.
So most Lakers fans have such a common question in their hearts. What happened to the Lakers?
Wharton recently accused some players of sulking on the bench, which is unbelievable from the head coach's point of view. In a recent interview, Bogut also admitted that Wharton's remarks really upset these players.
"Now the team has some injuries and is going through different rotations. Obviously, people are depressed. If there are players in this team who won't feel depressed, then you must be lying. " Bogut added. "Everyone knows that the team is affected by the salary cap. But that's just a distraction, and we can't let it affect our state. "
Recently, it was reported that the Lakers held a heart-to-heart meeting some time ago to talk about the troubles encountered by the team and the troubles in everyone's hearts. But looking at the last two games, the effect of this dialogue is really unsatisfactory.
The recent quagmire of the Lakers is also because Lopez and Brother Ball have returned from injury. For those fans who questioned the value of Brother Ball to the Lakers before, his recent performance proved to them how important he is to the Lakers.
However, what worries the fans most is not the injury problem that the team is facing now, but the unhappy faces on the bench.
Randall has been very depressed recently because he lost his starting position. His playing time is always fluctuating. The day before, he only played for ten minutes, and in the second game, he played for 25 minutes. Wharton never thought clearly who was better, Randall or Ronaldinho, because neither player was played to the extreme by Wharton.
Randall started several times in recent games, but with Lopez coming back from injury, he will return to the bench. Not only that, Randall has been the main target of uninterrupted trading rumors in the past year.
Even Clarkson, who played well in the team in recent years, was still placed on the bench when the team needed to score in the fourth quarter. He is also the target of recent trading rumors. When Brother Ball is away, he can play with tyler ennis for a while.
A year ago, the team decided that Clarkson's most suitable position was shooting guard. But the team lacks a reliable point guard when Brother Ball is away. Therefore, Clarkson has been playing point guard for most of this season, but he hasn't played this position since his rookie season.
Clarkson did well at the beginning of the season, but as the season went on, it was more difficult for him to find a way out than in any previous season. Then there is Zubac, a rookie who is always smiling. He is just a novice, but he has no chance to play this season.
When Lopez was injured and couldn't play, some people wondered why the Lakers couldn't give Zubac a few minutes to play, because Bogut was not qualified for his position. Last summer, Zubac shouted "I love the Lakers" happily, but this season the Lakers completely wiped the smile off his face.
Lopez's playing time is much less than last season, and his scoring, rebounding and assists are far below the career average. Lopez has always been a good free-throw pitcher, but this season he even struggled at the free-throw line, and recently suffered the embarrassment of being hit by an air ball twice in a row.
Recently, Pope has encountered some legal troubles. His defense is good, but it has been unstable, and the performance at both ends of the offense and defense is also very uneven. His attack has always been his weakness. He can get 13.3 points per game this season, which is exactly the same as his data last season, but he wasted a lot of shots to get such data this season.
Pope's shooting percentage this season is only 40%, and his three-point shooting percentage is 33.2%. Even his free throw percentage dropped.
For Lopez and Popper, this is not the stage when they expect to enter the free market this summer.
Kuzma is one of the few highlights of the Lakers this season, but he played for about 40 minutes and took almost all the offensive responsibilities for this team without a stable shooter. He has begun to feel a little tired.
Even Ennis was depressed. Because of the outstanding performance at the end of last season, I thought I could get more opportunities this season, but I still haven't entered the regular rotation lineup this season. Brother Qiu was away recently, so I got some playing opportunities.
All these problems have made the Lakers firmly occupy the penultimate seat in the West, only one game away from the penultimate "throne" in the league. The real question now is whether Wharton can unite this fragile team system.
This is the biggest test of his young coaching career so far. In fact, Wharton's failure was announced as early as May last year, when Magic Johnson publicly announced that the Lakers would empty all available salary space next year and sign two stars on 20 18.
It is not surprising that magicians have such a strategy. It is surprising that he announced his decision to the public. In fact, it is harmful to inform the public of this decision.
As a result, after seeing some All-Star players such as paul george, Butler and Owen traded to the new team last summer, the Lakers had to rely on three young Ingram and several players on loan this year.
It would be nice if the team can win, but when they start losing for a long time, it will bring a devastating blow to the team.
Players will feel unsafe and insecure, especially on the court.
Sometimes, we will find that Walton is immature as a head coach, but now he must stand up. If he can't solve the current crisis well and the Lakers continue to lose, then the management can only start looking for scapegoats, even if it is largely because of their decision.
Wharton needs to grow up immediately. He needs to be a strong leader to get the whole team back on track when the team is about to start struggling in the quagmire. How Wharton responds to this difficulty will determine whether the Lakers can stand up again and complete redemption this season, or continue to decline. In the end, I can only fall into the abyss, and I can't even get the lottery ticket.
If Wharton can't overcome the immediate difficulties, the team will not only end in complete failure this season, but they may also end in failure this summer. If you were James or paul george, would you like to join a team that is far from winning?