No. 5 Complacency
“If he’s that hungry, I’m starving; I don’t think the mentality of the team is to sit back and get fat.”
-Matt Barnes on Kobe Bryant’s intensity going into the 2010-11 season
It seems silly to keep having to address the issue of complacency, when referring to any team of professional athletes, who get paid millions of dollars to leave it all out on the floor night in and night out. Now add the back-to-back champions tag, you figure the Lakers should be completely immune from any complacency-talk right?
Wrong.
Blame Los Angeles for being the reason the Lakers will forever be associated with a lackadaisical demeanor. It’s just the culture. Would it be nice if the Lakers got amped up to compete against more than just the big marquee teams? Sure. Do they have to? Not necessarily.
It’s a long season and in order for the Lakers to be victorious once again, they’ll have to figure out the perfect balance of maintaining focus and intensity. Finding motivation shouldn’t be hard considering a successful trip to the Finals means Phil Jackson completing yet another three-peat and the Lakers matching the Celtics in number of banners hanging above the rafters.
