The Los Angeles Lakers are the one team that will always be talked about in every sports talk show or podcast. Even during the one week All-Star break, fans were still talking about the Lakers second half run and how they could elevate themselves in the Western Conference standings. LA is 1-1 after the All-Star break, and they have the sixth-hardest remaining schedule in the NBA, so they need to get their act together before it is too late.
Spencer Dinwiddie was the main addition for the Lakers after the trade deadline, as they were able to sign him after he cleared waivers from the Toronto Raptors. He will fill the void left by Gabe Vincent, who hasn't been healthy for practically the whole season. The trio of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves continues to impress, and they are banking on the continued success of D'Angelo Russell as a secondary scorer.
With the current injuries to Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt, it has been difficult for head coach Darvin Ham to find the perfect rotation for this roster. Since that is the case, Ham will need to focus on rectifying this fatal flaw of the Lakers as they try to go on a run to solidify their playoff standing.
Lakers fatal flaw: Unreliable outside shooting
On each of James' four championship teams, he had a multitude of knockdown three-point shooters who could hit shots from behind the arc at a high clip. James is at his best when there are guys like J.R. Smith, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, or Ray Allen playing alongside him. With this current iteration of the Lakers, though, no one has been consistent enough to match their production from long distance.
Russell is the Lakers best shooter so far this season, but he will need to be far more consistent moving forward, especially when it comes to converting catch-and-shoot looks. Guys like Reaves, James, and Rui Hachimura have been improving on their perimeter shooting, so the next challenge is sustaining it at a high level, especially when they find themselves matched up against the Golden State Warriors or Dallas Mavericks.
When the Lakers are hitting their threes, it also opens up more lanes for their slashers because the help defenders would hesitate to slide towards the paint. The in-between game of James and Reaves was a massive strength for LA in last year's playoffs, so those options would be fully utilized if the defenders know there are guys sitting at the perimeter who can knock down their three-point shots.
Anthony Davis would be another beneficiary if Los Angeles can start being an above average three-point shooting team because opposing defenses wouldn't be able to clog lanes and throw multiple bodies in the paint. There are only a few athletes in the NBA that can defend Davis one-on-one, especially when he is at his peak form. The durability of Davis has been very impressive this year, so the hope is that he continues being a big threat in the postseason.
There's no doubt guarantee that the Lakers were pursuing a handful of sharpshooters at the trade deadline, but they ultimately were unable to make anything happen. Unfortunately, that means the only real fix to this issue is to sit back and hope their guys get hot at the right time, which is a scary proposition with the postseason drawing near.
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