Led by aging superstar Kobe Bryant and largely populated with young and developing talent, this year’s model is already plumbing the mediocrity of recent campaigns while limping to a 1-5 start.
Though there are still 76 games for the Lakers to play, it’s already abundantly clear that some of the same problems that plagued the team a year ago have not yet been rectified.
Coaching
If there is one flaw that singularly defines the current state of L.A., it is the lack of instructional governance. From current head coach Byron Scott to his assistants, the sideline leadership is woefully short of talent, imagination and the ability to execute effective game plans.
It starts with Scott, an old-school practitioner whose tough talk is a poor substitute for coaching acumen.
After a lopsided loss to the Sacramento Kings Oct. 30, Scott accused his team of not manning up. As Forum Blue and Gold’s Darius Soriano later pointed out, negative digs have been a common refrain for the coach through the years, and “the characteristics he rails against in his post-game pressers are, at least somewhat, a product of his own coaching.”
Expanding on that thought for The Cauldron, Jared Dubin wrote:
When you’re working on your sixth straight team that likely will finish in the bottom 10 in defensive efficiency, and the fifth straight that likely will finish in the bottom five, and the only connecting thread is that they were coached by Byron Scott, maybe it’s time to look in the mirror rather than saying things like, “It doesn’t come down sometimes to X’s and O’s. You’ve got guys going at you. You’ve got to man up.”<...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
