Although a very successful second half was marginally enough to scrape past the Utah Jazz, the fact of the matter remains that a 45-37 record and No. 7-seed entry to the postseason is not what GM Mitch Kupchak had in mind when he assembled this group over the summer. A projected starting five of Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash and Metta World Peace was one of the league's sexier groups on paper.
Instead, coaching changes, injuries, attitudes, egos and inconsistency hampered the Purple and Gold from becoming all that experts foresaw. The season-ending and career-threatening Achilles injury to Kobe summarized the strife of the Lakers' season best.
Now that it's all in the books, I get the honor of playing teacher and assigning final grades to every player on the roster. Click through to see the boom get lowered.
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Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
