The Los Angeles Lakers may have made a splash at the trade deadline by adding several valuable contributors, but that type of roster overhaul only means there’ll be an adjustment period for everyone involved.
While the new-look Lakers got off to a great start against the Golden State Warriors, things came crashing back down to Earth when they lost to a red-hot shooting Portland Trail Blazers team. It’s clear everyone is trying to work through things and figuring out how to play together, but there’s not much time left in the 2022-23 season to get going.
Anthony Davis spoke about the new players and the urgency everyone needs to speed up the learning process, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I don’t know the games back and all that right now, but we definitely have to win more games than we lose for sure. I think the guys we have now we can do it, we just gotta speed up the process. It’ll definitely be challenging a little bit cause they are fairly new. Well, not fairly new they are new. They’re trying to learn the system on both ends of the floor and then also trying to figure it out a lot on the offensive end. So I mean, that’s the biggest part. Malik shot the ball extremely well tonight, see it go through the basket. But it’s going to take practice and us having practice and shootarounds and all those type of things to speed up this process.”
Davis is a fan of his new teammates and particularly likes the size of the remodeled roster, but that doesn’t mean it’ll translate to immediate success. Against the Trail Blazers, there were several instances of players deferring to Davis because they weren’t sure what do on the possession. Those types of things are bound to happen with such a new team, but unfortunately L.A. has no time to afford for many mistakes.
There are 24 games left remaining in the season, so Davis and the Lakers need to work fast to get everyone up to speed. The requisite talent and fit is there on paper, it’s just up to the group to make it work.
Rob Pelinka addresses possibility of Lakers adding player on buyout market
After all the deals the Lakers made, they still have one remaining roster spot open. The buyout market could produce a player worth adding, but Rob Pelinka wouldn’t definitely confirm that the team is looking for more help.
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