 What's the word y'all the LA Lakers are a lot worse than I could have ever expected going into the season I was a guy that looked at what they did last year that Western Conference finals run. Yes, they got swept, but it was a good It was a good sweep depending on who you ask And I saw that in the second half of the year they had one of the best defenses in basketball They were gonna have continuity. I enjoyed their offseason I'm like, yeah, there's no world where the Lakers aren't cementing himself as contenders again And here we are 30 games to the NBA season then boys don't look like attendance There's sub 500 after losing to the Miami Heat last night and this was not a video I was gonna make but this morning Shamsha Rania put together an athletic article talking about Lakers There's currently a growing disconnect between Darvinham and the Lakers locker room stemming from disjointedness disjointedness around Rotations and adjustments the Lakers three in a row loss and nine of their last 12 sub 500 But they got an NC's internment banner dammit. You can't look past that or maybe you can so this is not a video I was gonna make but now with this losing a locker room when LeBron James just superstar has been a Disaster for pretty much every single coach that has gone through this and the LeBron James era in LA It's been Luke Walton. It's been Frank Vogel It's been Darvinham and there is a theoretical situation with Darvinham is out so we might have four different coaches in the LeBron James Ellie Lakers era It's kind of crazy. Now, ultimately, they did win the championship in the bubble that was at 2020 Right is that 2020 in the year 2020? They got the Larry O'Brien trophy under Frank Vogel So it's like at the end of the day your goal is to get betters in LA and you were able to do that once And the LeBron James era but if I would have told you that LeBron James will still look like a super duper star Anthony Davis will be regularly Looking like a top 10 player in basketball and Austin Reeves will have a good year You would have told me Kenny that team is gonna be amazing and yet there there's some 500 Like AD has put together one of his best stretches as a Laker right now and they can't win basketball games The last two games his brother has had a five by four last night against the Miami He was three steals away from a five-by-five. We ain't seen a five-by-five since Nurkage did it in 1942 it was it's been a long time and they weren't even really competitive in that game now Of course the NBA is ups and downs runs and everything, but the Miami Heat was Held on to that lead very firmly and they didn't win what a game before that and I have to admit I did not watch this game So I couldn't tell you the ends and out of this specific game But they lost by 20 points to the Pelicans and do not look now Kenny Beach's favorite Western Conference team this season the Pelicans are looking amazing But they lost by 20 to the Pelicans in a game where Anthony Davis had 20 10 3 5 LeBron James had 32 I'm I'm sorry 34 and they lost by 20 or the game before that look at this box score now again I do understand that this was the loss when LeBron James Tobe was on the line or maybe it wasn't on the line Or maybe it was on the line, but they said it was on the line, but maybe it was not a lot Look at this look at this box score. You lost this game. Bron gave you 26 AD gave you 33 17 8 4 and 2 And you lost those are games where you have your two top 10 ish players in basketball when they're playing like top 10 Players in basketball those are games you need to win and obviously they have not shut out to the Sun for Interrupting my video. Oh, I just always doing it at this time of day now Shams is article is behind a paywall So I can't read it to you, but the most Concerning part about all of this and this is just one singular quote Darvin Ham's decision to bench D'Angelo Russell and start LeBron James Torian Prince Cam Reddus Jared Vendor by Anthony Davis in the lineup without a secondary ball handler beginning December 23rd And OKC was considered a head scratcher by multiple parties internally And if you listen to the the Kenny beats and podcast was just dropped an episode about an hour ago Go take it out. I also said this that this formula of Bron Prince Reddus Vanderbilt Anthony Davis doesn't give you enough variety. It makes you so easy to guard You already got Cam Reddus on the team is a shout out to Cam Reddus He's researched his NBA career, but it's not a team and the NBA is looking at Cam Reddus is a guy that need to hold On to they allow Cam Reddus to shoot as many shots as possible because everything considered He's still shooting 29% from three to you starting him and he's been he's been good defensively for them all season long Obviously again, you look at those splits is not great But defensively he's been on top of his game and then you add Jared Vanderbilt to the lineup We just watched him in the entire playoffs where every team they went against basically said we're not guarding you So you're telling me we're gonna start two players that don't get the respect of the opposing teams Well, that just makes it more difficult for Bron and Anthony Davis to do what they have to do And guess what? Bron and Anthony Davis still haven't able to do what they have to do but the rest of the pieces That's your starting right up right now It's disgusting. Torian Prince is one of my favorite signs of the off season so far I mean, I didn't I didn't mean so far. He was one of my favorite signs of the off season and look at his numbers He's doing his part of it. If I have an open shot, I'm hitting it at a 39 clip That's a duh, but any team that's regularly playing slash starting two Non-scores two non shooters is just going to be an unsuccessful team No matter what the rest of the team looks like they have one of the greatest of all time and Anthony Davis And two non shooters have practically had them implode and last night LeBron James They didn't talk to the media after a loss It's not looking good for somebody Because little GM is going to put on that cap and the trade will be made or somebody's going to get fired I just I don't want to make it seem like Darwin Ham is the only problem because he's not but he's Objectively a problem. Remember when Darwin Ham said he won't Austin Reeves. It just played 28 minutes per game. You I Hmm You you got LeBron playing 35 minutes per game. He's almost 40 This is the young legs that you just paid let that brother Let him ball because other than the first seven ish games of the season nine is games of the season where he's struggled Austin Reeves been pretty good. And yes, I know the comment section are gonna say Um, uh, Kenny, they're dealing with a lot of injuries and objectively that is true. Yesterday. There was no D'Angelo Ross So there was no Rihachi Mura. Gabe Vincent is still inactive The majority of teams across the association God damn the majority of teams across the association are also going through Injury stuff and you haven't had the ultimate injury stuff Some teams have had their star players miss significant time. Anthony Davis and LeBron have been Very very healthy to start this season Not going wood. God forbid anything happens to them a rolled ankle where they gotta miss three to four games I don't know what happens to this Lakers team But but the thing that made them Really good. One of the best teams in the league post trade that line last season was defensively. They were Head and shoulders above the entire competition And if you have an a defense of that caliber that elite level defense having an average to slightly below average offense It's it's okay at least to win regular season games And in their case it got them all the way to the western conference finals We're seeing another team do that in real time The minnesota timbals are not a good offensive team right now But they're the best offensive team at basketball So they win a bunch of games and so far this season the lakers have the 21st offense in the 11th defense Just not a recipe and and talking about what I was mentioning the number one defense in the league minnesota timbals They have the 18th ranked defense So they're slightly below average offensive team But the defense is so great it keeps them in games and they happen to be one of the better clutch teams in basketball Might be the best clutch team at basketball according to the numbers The lakers don't have that luxury of being in the top three defensively while having a bad offense But if you you fire darvin ham, I don't know who's the patchwork Guy that can come in Coach boonhozer has gone through a lot Um in the last couple months or so. I don't know if he's ready to come back to coaching Doc rivers is doing one hell of a job on the cause of mba games. I don't know if he's looking to coach again Mike dantoni has been on the market for a million gazillion years I don't even know if like I don't know is there's somebody already on the culture staff I have no idea and it's again. This just felt like a team that the continuity was going to carry And here I am thinking about what who can the lakers add to the locker room? What do they need? And I got a guy here in Chicago that's on the trade market that might be connected to the lakers We'll see if that trade actually happens But they they are going to be a team that's going to have to buy they just have to he's labran's 39 and not getting any better He's not obviously getting much worse either But you need to capitalize every single lebron james season Especially if anthony davis is playing at this caliber two Again sub 500 for this amount of talent for the top two guys is kind of unheard of