The Lakers have used 16 different lineups in 33 games and that almost sums up their season so far in a nutshell.
Without Kobe the Lakers look like they are confused and looking for a core leader. Gasol currently isn't playing consistent enough to do so and they are subsequently way out of the race in the West 5 games behind 8th spot. He has had two injuries recently with his achilles and now his knee, he should take the rest of the season off and be 110% ready for a big push in 2014-2015 season. If he gets injured again in his return its going to be very hard for a 35 year old to return and be productive, even though it is the black mamba we are talking about i cant see it ending well.
Picks in Lottery
If they tank the season at least they can get some high draft picks in the draft which is touted to be one of the most talented in recent years, with the likes of Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins. If the Lakers could pick up a top pick, that’s a big step to their rebuild for the 2015 season. Or they could also use the picks as trade bait to try and land a big fish like Lebron or Carmello Anthony which they could pair with Kobe and instantly be a force to reckon with.
Injuries
The lakers currently have 4 players who are unable to play due to injuries.
The injuries are to core players in the lakers rotation and without them they have role players trying to fill their shoes. In six weeks when they are back playing again they will already be out of contention in the playoff race.
Kobe Bryant: 6 weeks
Steve Nash: 4 weeks
Steve Blake: 4 weeks
Jordan Farmar: 4 weeks
Their season is going so bad that writers in LA are trying to find any positives that they can and are predicting that Kendall Marshall could be the next Jeremy Lin. Which is far fetched to say the least, In the D-League he averaged 19 ppg which shows he can be a high volume scorer but the NBA is a different beast. Devin Ebanks once played for the Lakers but he was delisted and now averages 25 ppg in the D-League. He will struggle to be productive and with other guys like Gasol, Young and Bryant who are going to be needing the ball his scoring will dry up. He eventually will make his way to the end of the bench behind Nash, Blake, Farmar.
2014-2015
Their will be a major rebuild at the Lakers in the off-season and this will start with trading Pau Gasol, and getting either Lebron or Carmello Anthony to pair with Kobe. The Lakers have made a start by adding good role players: Young, Meeks, Farmar, Henry but they need that extra superstar to help Kobe. Mitch Kupchak doesn't mess around when he has a plan in place and unloading Gasol's 19 million dollar contract will be first on the list to get the cap space for a big free agency period. Expect the Lakers to be back at the top in 2015.
Dan Grantham
Twitter: @GranthamDaniel
Credit: La Times
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