Judge Not The Lakers For It Is Still Early

Through three games this season the Los Angeles Lakers have looked remarkably not dominant.  They squeezed by the Clippers and Hawks and got thumped by the Mavericks at home.  These sorts of things aren’t supposed to happen to defending champs, especially not ones who some believe are capable of winning 72 or more games this year.  Should Laker fans be shocked?  Worried?  Horrified?  How about none of the above?  They just need to be patient because it is still plenty early.

Patience is a virtue.

When you are the defending champs the bar is always going to be set pretty high for the following season, so you can hardly blame Laker Nation for being mildly concerned that their team isn’t kicking ass and taking names thus far this season, but it also isn’t a reason to start panicking either.  The Lakers are just like any other team, they just have gigantic championship rings on their fingers.  While we might like to think the Lakers are infallible, they are prone to going through the same trials and tribulations of any other team.

Even the slightest change to a roster means a team must recalibrate their team chemistry.  Ron Artest was the Lakers’ lone off-season addition, but that doesn’t mean the impact on the floor will be small.  He needs to find his way in the offense (as we have obviously seen).  The coaching staff needs to figure out the best way to deploy his defensive prowess.  All the other Lakers must learn how to play off of Ron at both ends of the floor.  It is a steep learning curve for everyone involved, no matter how talented and successful they have been in the past.

Just look at the similar struggles of the mighty Cleveland Cavaliers are currently enduring.  After having the best record in the league last season, the Cavs dropped their first two games, including a home game after losing just twice at home all of last season.  Like the Lakers, they are an excellent team trying to figure out how to incorporate a significant new addition, Shaquille O’Neal, into their style of play.  Did anyone really think they were going to have a tough season just because they dropped their first two contests?  No, not anyone rational anyway.  Nor should any rational person believe that the Lakers are destined to underachieve just because they didn’t wipe the floor with the Clippers or got upset by the Mavs.  These things happen early in the season.  It is just a fact of NBA life.

Don’t forget this guy is missing.

And let’s not gloss over the fact that the Lakers have been playing their first three games without the services of Pau Gasol.  I don’t care who you are, if you lose an All-Star big man, you just aren’t going to be the same team.  Sure, the Lakers still have Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum, but this team isn’t used to having to rely on them for frontcourt scoring.  That was Pau’s job and it will be again no matter how well Bynum plays.  Add Gasol’s absence to the addition of Artest and suddenly you have three players on the floor who are playing heavy minutes in roles that they are unaccustomed to.  That is a lot for one team to handle, so excuse them if they take a little bit to figure it all out.

So don’t look on this early-season hiccup as anything more than a brief adjustment period rather than some harbinger of impending doom.  Artest will get comfortable in the triangle.  The rest of the team will get comfortable with him.  Gasol will get healthy.  Ultimately this will be seen as nothing more than a learning experience and an early test of the Lakers’ mettle in the face of adversity.  Is the team as deep as we all thought going into the season?  No, but that is just a minor trifle and one I am sure Mitch Kupchak was glad to endure now while there is still time to fix it should it continue to plague the team.  Yes, this team will be just fine because their overwhelming wealth of talent will guide them through these little rough patches.

Tags: Andrew Bynum, chemistry, Lamar Odom, Mitch Kupchak, Pau Gasol, Phil Jackson, Ron Artest, Sanity Check