The Los Angeles Lakers are ... something. That something is far away from functional. Through 21 games, they have five wins. Their defense is the worst in the league. They lost to the New Orleans Pelicans by 17 points on Sunday, two days after losing to the Boston Celtics by 17 and four days after losing to the Washington Wizards by 16. Head coach Byron Scott replaced Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer with Ronnie Price and Ed Davis in the starting lineup against New Orleans, and it didn't make much of a difference. Kobe Bryant took 18 shots and missed 12 of them, including all five of his 3-point attempts. The crowd booed when things got bad, and the players had lots to say after the game, via ESPN's Baxter Holmes:
"If this was the Titanic, I'd go down with that s---," [Kobe Bryant] said of the 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers. "I'm not jumping off."
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"They were well-deserved," Lakers guard Nick Young said of those boos. "We were playing like crap out there. We deserved it. Me, I just don't like it. I don't like having that feeling, just feeling like I ain't doing nothing out there. I'm the life of the party, so I don't like getting booed."
Young added: "The fans deserve better. We deserve better of ourselves. I don't like this. I want to be a part of a good Lakers season."
…"This is one of the toughest situations I've been in ever since I've started playing the game of basketball," Lin said. "I'm trying to figure it all out. It's tough, but I believe God has me here for a reason, so I have to keep working."
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It was then suggested to Young that the Lakers' Tuesday game against Sacramento should be a winnable contest, given that Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (viral infection) is expected to miss the game. After all, the Kings have lost 17 of their past 18 when Cousins is sidelined.
"You can't say there's a winnable game for us," Young said. "They're probably thinking the same thing of us ... We just can't let up any night. We're not a championship team. Each night is going to be hard."
Here's the reality: Los Angeles is one game better than the Minnesota Timberwolves, the worst team in the West, and 2.5 games ahead of the 2-18 Philadelphia 76ers. Bryant stayed as positive as possible in the situation, telling reporters that "you've got to go through some hard stuff," but it's unlikely anyone in the locker room thought the season would be this difficult.
This group was never equipped to compete against good teams. The hope was that it could at least beat the mediocre ones. That is not even happening much, which is troubling for those involved. How does this affect Lin going into free agency? What's the market for Boozer next summer? Can the franchise's history attract a big name after all of this? It doesn't look good on any of these fronts, but at least there's one silver lining: if the Lakers' draft pick falls between Nos. 1 and 5, they don't have to send it to the Phoenix Suns. Yay?
