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Things aren't necessarily going as planned for the Los Angeles Lakers as they are off to a sluggish 3-5 start to their 2018-19 campaign and are currently 12th on the Western Conference standings. More often than not, when teams with high expectations struggle out of the gates, the fault usually falls on the head coach. Unfortunately for coach Luke Walton, it looks like he will be the scapegoat if the Lakers' struggles continue. However, it shouldn't be that way.
Reports surfaced a few days ago that team president Earvin “Magic” Johnson met with Walton and gave him a stern warning for the Lakers' poor start. Los Angeles brought in the former Laker legend to serve as the team's top executive with a mandate to turn the franchise around after spending the past five seasons in the lottery.
The pressure has likely gotten to Magic as the Lakers surely had playoff aspirations with LeBron James on-board. With the Lakers' under-performing thus far, Walton is on the hot seat. The Lakers, though, don't need to hit the panic button just yet, and have to be more patient with their head coach.
To be fair to Walton, the team's slow start is not entirely on him. Sure, he may not have an offensive scheme in place. But that is usually what happens with LeBron-led squads. The offense almost always runs through James. So far, though, there hasn't been any rumblings that James isn't happy with the former player turned coach. James is usually vocal when he doesn't see eye-to-eye with his coach. It looks like James isn't pointing the finger at Walton just yet.
First of all, Walton is working with almost an entirely new roster, which hard to do in itself. To make matters more difficult, he was handed with a make-shift roster. Yes, Magic did bring in the biggest fish in free agency by signing James. But the rest of the signings that followed were questionable.
Johnson brought in a plethora of wildcard veterans on one-year deals, as the front office was still hell-bent on keeping its cap space for next season's free agency. They simply prioritized on the long term with these moves. Unfortunately for Walton, he has to make this work in a hurry since they still do have playoff aspirations.
In addition, the new acquisitions' fit next to LeBron isn't great. LeBron operates best with a lot of space on the floor. Instead, they brought in players such as Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, and Michael Beasley, all of whom aren't necessarily the floor spacers LeBron needs. The noticeable lack of shooting is one of the reasons why the Lakers are struggling.
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Moreover, Walton is dealing with players coming in and out of the lineup, either due to injuries or suspensions from the early season scuffle the team had with the Houston Rockets. He will need time to experiment and find the right formula and rotation that will lead to wins.
However, he has not had the opportunity to do that with a full roster. To his credit, he has already made some early season adjustments. He already hooked Kentavious Caldwell-Pope out of the starting lineup as he has been horrible for the team thus far. It also didn't take him long to go and run with Lonzo Ball as his starting point guard.
There's no doubt that Walton is a good coach. Let's not forget, he was the captain of the ship that steered most of the Golden State Warriors' record 73-win run in 2016. That in itself shows that Walton is capable of being a winning coach. While it can be argued that the 2015-16 Warriors squad is different from this team, it still does not take away the fact that Walton was still able to ramp up the Warriors machine that won the previous year's title even further.
Moreover, previous Walton-led teams look like the modern NBA squad. Last season, the Lakers ranked 2nd in pace and 11th in points per game. This year, they rank 3rd in pace (105.4), 3rd in points per game (121.0), and 7th in offensive rating (113.3). Therefore, offense, despite the lack of an actual system and shooting prowess, isn't really the problem for the Lakers. Their real problem lies on the defensive end, which is definitely a cause for concern.
Regardless, Walton just really has to get the band working together. They are only eight games into their 2018-19 campaign. The Lakers have to preach patience on this newly constructed team, including with their head coach. It's easier said than done, but they really just have to get more reps with each other. When the team starts to feel comfortable with each other and starts to get going, the pieces will fall into place. They'll play with a much better offensive flow, and perhaps play better off of each other. This may even translate to better effort on defense.
LeBron did sign with Los Angeles knowing fully well that this team will have its growing pains. This is just the beginning of it. But they'll have to ride it out with Walton, through thick and thin.
