After last Thursday’s performance gave fans some hope about the potential of this Los Angeles Lakers team, things have turned even worse. After a close loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Lakers have been blown out in consecutive games with Wednesday’s 39-point loss to the Houston Rockets a low point.
This particular game marked the Lakers first game against the Rockets since they traded Lou Williams to Houston at the trade deadline. Williams reminded Lakers fans everywhere of what he was capable of by dropping 30 points. Williams’ former team however, was faced with the same questions about effort and consistency.
After the game, Williams spoke about the Lakers young core and his comments were pretty telling via Mark Medina of the LA Daily News:
Lou Williams with an honest take: "SOME of those young guys are really genuine guys who are going out there & competing as hard as they can"
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 16, 2017
Very few people would be more qualified to speak on the outlook of the Lakers than Williams, who spent a season and a half in the purple and gold. His comments, though extremely vague, do speak volumes about the state of the team.
Obviously there is no way to know exactly who Williams is talking about. All of the young players have had times where they have looked like the potential stars that many believe they could be. Other times their heart is questioned and there are legitimate concerns as to how good they will become. Head coach Luke Walton has also praised the work ethic of them as well, singling out D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle and others at different points throughout the season.
Their continued struggles likely don’t sit well with the new front office regime. Magic Johnson has said that all of the young core must get more consistent while new GM Rob Pelinka has stressed the need to add more talent through free agency. If these players aren’t doing everything they can to get better, their time in Los Angeles could come to an end.
