The Los Angeles Lakers have the best one-two punch in the league. LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And yet, they're 19-20 (through 13 games) and 10th in the West.
Is LeBron aging? Not so much. If anything, he's rejuvenated. Anthony Davis shows just how dominant a healthy AD can be on the court.
They played 34 of the 39 games together. They played together a whopping 87% of the time. That's a huge percentage compared to 2020-2021 (37,5%), 2021-22 (26.8%), and 2022-23 (43.9%).
While these two players are having a great season, the team record is disappointing. In addition to the team record, the Lakers are 23rd in the league in ORTG (expected points per 100 possessions) at 112.1.
ESPN in the U.S. published a story on the 13th titled, "It begs the question. 카지노사이트 With LeBron James and Anthony Davis healthy and even playing at an All-NBA level, why are the Lakers struggling offensively?" and focused on the question.
For starters, the Lakers are dead last in both 3-point attempts per game and 3-point percentage. They average 30.6 three-point attempts per game. That's the same as the Detroit Pistons. That's 29th in the league.
3-pointers made are 10.9, 29th in the league. Again, outside of Detroit, no team has fewer three-point attempts and fewer three-pointers made than the LA Lakers.
The problem is in transition. These numbers are troubling. In transition, the Lakers shoot just 27% from three-point range. That's the worst in the NBA over the last decade. On the other hand, they shoot 7th in the league on long 2s. 7.9%.
Furthermore, their offensive rebounding is the third-worst in the league.
In other words, the Lakers don't have much offense in the early offense outside of LeBron's lone fast break, they lack outside shooting support, and they are inefficient with their long 2s.
It's true that the one-two punch of LeBron and Davis in close games is very potent. However, the team's system itself is very inefficient on offense. In the process, LeBron James is third in the Western Conference with 303 fourth-quarter minutes. That's a lot of close games, and not a lot of garbage time to rest.
Of course, the Lakers have been hit hard by injuries to key role players like Rui Hachimura, Jared Vanderbilt, and Gabe Vincent, who are supposed to support the one-two punch on offense. The same goes for Christian Wood. When they return, the Lakers could be a different team. However, if LeBron and Davis get injured before then, the Lakers' system could fall apart. The Lakers are at a crossroads.
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