L.A. Lakers Drama
Before we delve into the most recent chapter in the "Days of Our Lives--L.A. Lakers Edition," consider how you would answer this question: If you were an NBA coach, would you bench a former NBA MVP who is shooting .370 from the field over his last eight games while dishing for 53 assists and committing 24 turnovers? This player has been a starter all season for a team that has championship aspirations but is 5-3 over their last eight games. This player's poor shooting and shaky ball handling are not just a small sample size slump; he shot .404 from the field in 12 games during December 2021 while passing for 56 assists and committing 45 turnovers.
Many media members could barely contain their ecstasy after L.A. Lakers' Coach Frank Vogel sat Russell Westbrook for the final 3:52 of last night's Lakers-Pacers game. These media members breathlessly stated that this decision was way overdue, that Westbrook's play this season casts doubt on his Hall of Fame candidacy, and that the Lakers' front office fully supports benching Westbrook. "Insiders" claimed that Westbrook was benched because of his defense against Caris LeVert. These same "insiders" also have been reporting for a while that Vogel's job status is being reviewed game to game, and that he is one bad game away from being fired.
Notably absent from this torrent of verbiage is any fact-based account of what happened during the game, particularly in the final 3:52. The Pacers led 101-94 when Vogel took Westbrook out of the game. The Lakers gained no ground with Westbrook on the bench, losing 111-104. LeVert scored seven of the Pacers' final 10 points, and he assisted on the other three points (a Domantas Sabonis three pointer). We cannot say for sure whether or not Westbrook was the Lakers' main problem during the first 44 minutes, but we know for a fact that taking him out of the game did not help during the final four minutes. Westbrook has been criticized for his turnovers, but he had just one turnover in 27 minutes versus the Pacers. His -18 plus/minus number is not great--but LeBron James' plus/minus number was a team-worst -20.
It is fascinating to watch James avoid even a figurative scratch as the Lakers' season collapses into a million pieces. Here are some facts that we know:
1) James handpicked this roster. If the pieces don't fit, that is on him as the de facto GM, the best player, and the (presumptive) leader: he either picked the wrong players, or he is doing a lousy job leading the players he picked.
2) James is padding his offensive statistics like there is no tomorrow as he chases Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time career scoring record. James can be seen sitting on the bench looking at the box score during the game, and I somehow doubt that he is looking at team defensive efficiency numbers.
3) Speaking of defense, James has been a conscientious objector at that end of the court for most of this season. His effort level makes James Harden look like the second coming of Michael Cooper. We understand that James' athletic ability and scoring prowess at this age and this stage of his career are remarkable, but James has become one of Kenny Smith's "looters in a riot"--a player putting up numbers that have nothing to do with winning.
4) When the team's best player is disinterested in defense, the other players will generally follow suit (Harden's career provides many examples of this).
5) Vogel is coaching with his neck in a proverbial guillotine, and James acts like this is none of his business. If James spoke up privately or publicly on Vogel's behalf, Vogel's job would be secure. James either does not care whether or not Vogel is fired, or James does not want to be blamed for a firing that James has figured out to be inevitable (though it would not be inevitable if James spoke up).
None of this will materially affect James' legacy. He is in bonus time now; he led three different franchises to at least one championship each, he has four titles overall, and by the time he retires he may have more individual records than anyone other than Wilt Chamberlain. James can add to his legacy by winning another ring, but no one--least of all his adoring media fans--will fault him if he does not win another title.
Back to Westbrook. Did he play well versus the Pacers? No. Is he the first future Hall of Famer to have a subpar game? No. Why do media members treat one regular season game versus the Pacers as if it were game seven of the NBA Finals? Will they keep that same energy when James Harden does his annual playoff flameout? In Harden's last playoff game last season, he shot 5-17 from the field while amassing four turnovers; in his last 20 playoff games (not counting his 43 second cameo versus Milwaukee in game one last season), he has had six games in which he shot .400 or worse from the field, including 4-15 and 5-17 in the two seventh games that he participated in during that span. He shot .300 or worse from three point range in nine of those games.
Pay close attention the next time Harden plays in a nationally televised game. Hold your breath until any of the above numbers are mentioned. No, don't do that--I don't want any of my readers to suffocate to death.
The media coverage of the NBA is driven by an agenda that canonizes some players and demonizes other players; some players are permanently protected, while other players are permanent targets.
I give TNT's Charles Barkley credit for blasting this nonsense during the pregame show tonight, though it would have been even better if he had called out at least some of the offenders by name. Stephen A. Smith is the loudest and most foolish voice on just about every NBA topic, including the Lakers. With the notable exception of the outstanding Kevin Ding, for quite some time many of the media members covering the Lakers (and the NBA in general) seem much more interested in currying favor with LeBron James and/or the front office than actually doing any real reporting, let alone providing accurate analysis (this dates back to the Kobe Bryant era, when many media members curried favor with Shaquille O'Neal while often unfairly criticizing Bryant). I can't find any Ding articles online that are more recent than December 2020, so perhaps he either has paid the price for being honest or he simply decided to pursue better opportunities than being one of the few serious journalists on tour in a clown car stuffed with self-important buffoons.
So, would you bench the player mentioned in the first paragraph of this article? If you said yes, then you just benched Stephen Curry, who we have been told for months is one of the leading MVP candidates this season. It is worth asking why the media members who are so happy that Westbrook was benched would never dream of suggesting that Curry should be benched.
Labels: Frank Vogel, James Harden, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry
posted by David Friedman @ 11:34 PM
