The Los Angeles Lakers are a bad team and they have underachieved all season. The team has a 14-52 record even after all the changes in the offseason. They signed last season’s NBA Sixth Man of the Year in Lou Williams and they signed two-time All-Star Roy Hibbert.
The Lakers also had a high draft pick and another pick later in the first round. Kobe Bryant was going to be finally able to play games after missing much of the last two seasons. But the Lakers have only been able to win 14 games even with all of the “talent” that is on the team. With another year wasted for Lakers fans, the team now needs to focus on preparing its younger players for the future.
Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle are the three keys for the Lakers’ youth movement. Clarkson has improved from last season’s surprise performance. His points per game are up from last season (from 11.9 to 15.7) and he is shooting better from the 3-point line (from 31.4 percent to 36.4 percent). Randle was drafted last season, but he didn’t get to play because of an injury. Randle is showing potential to be a good power forward, but he needs to improve his field goal percentage.
More has been expected of Russell than any other rookie in this year’s draft. He was drafted over Jahlil Okafor, Kristaps Porzingis and Emmanuel Mudiay. Many experts didn’t believe Russell should be drafted that high because he lacks the great athleticism that other guards in the NBA have. He was heavily criticized for his lack of maturity.
Russell has only averaged 13.5 points per game this season, but his play has been looking better as of late. He still needs to work on his maturity and learn to be more humble. He and Clarkson will be a good backcourt combination in a few seasons.
Although the Lakers are losing, they should give all of their young talent minutes so that they can learn the pace of the NBA while playing against star-caliber opponents. The team won’t be a playoffs team (unless star free agents come to the Lakers) for a couple of seasons, so the best thing for the organization to do is invest in its youth movement and create a playoff contender that can compete for at least a decade.
