"That really caused that team to have a lot of chaos throughout the season" - 6 time NBA champion says the LA Lakers roster didn't sacrifice enough, says the players can still play at a high level
Western Conference powerhouse the LA Lakers suffered a horrendous campaign and former Chicago Bulls superstar Scottie Pippen has a reason as to why.
Appearing on KTLA Morning News, Scottie Pippen spoke about how the LA Lakers weren't sacrificing enough for the collective good. The personnel within the team are all very talented and knowledgeable, but didn't perform to their expected level because of the lack of sacrifice. Pippen said:
"I just felt like, this season, the sacrifice wasn’t there. The players are obviously very talented.
"They brought in some players who are very knowledgeable about the game and can still play at a very high level, but I just felt like there wasn’t a lot of sacrifice from the individuals. That really caused that team to have a lot of chaos throughout the season."
The LA Lakers didn't even make the Play-In tournament this year. They finished the regular season with a record of 33 wins and 49 losses, despite coming into this season with championship aspirations and having assembled the newest "Big Three" in the league.
"The sacrifice wasn't there": @ScottiePippen weighs in on the @Lakers' season with @SamOnTV @FrankBuckleyTV and @LaurenLyster here: bit.ly/3yJhdFZ
How did it go so wrong for the LA Lakers this season?
Russell Westbrook's return to his native Los Angeles to play for the LA Lakers alongside LeBron James this season was viewed as a homecoming that would bring the championship to the franchise.
However, things haven't panned out that way, with the team not even making the Play-In tournament this year. The former OKC Thunder superstar has a history of not getting along with other superstars on the court either.
He has struggled to establish chemistry with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, although the latter has missed a lot of games this season. The trio have not played that many games together.
Yesterday, the Lakers allowed 48 points in the 1st quarter, their most allowed in a 1st quarter in the shot-clock era (since 1954-55).
Tonight, they scored 12 points in the 1st quarter and went 0-13 on 3-pt FG, the most 3-pt FGA without a make in a 1st quarter in NBA history.
The duo of LeBron James and Russell Westbrook has not worked because of their lack of threat from the perimeter, although James poses a far greater threat from range than Westbrook.
This led to the paint being packed, with both of them trying to do most of their damage inside the arc.
The LA Lakers and Westbrook's defense have also been shockingly poor this season. His team is ranked 21st in the league in defensive rating. Westbrook also generated an alarming number of turnovers (3.8 per game). The oldest roster in the league simply could not keep up with the pace of Westbrook's play.
All these reasons, along with LeBron missing time and Davis missing more than half the regular season, meant that the role players, who were all aging, were asked to step up and deliver and they failed to do that.
At the end of the day, this was a poorly constructed LA Lakers roster and was going nowhere, no matter what.