In the 20-year playoffs, the Lakers relied on the advantage of James + thick eyebrows to defeat the Blazers, Rockets, Nuggets, and Heat, and successfully won the championship trophy. I thought that with the thick eyebrows at the peak of the state at that time, James's peak has not yet declined, the Lakers may even get two consecutive championships, or even three consecutive championships under their blessing...
What is just unexpected is that even if the Lakers introduced Harrell, Schroeder, Gasol Jr., Drummond and other powerful players in the 20-21 season, due to the impact of injuries and injuries, the Lakers were eliminated by the Suns only in the first round.
The strong group "Zhan Weimei" super three giants, but has never been able to play the expected performance
When the Lakers only played the seventh record of the West + the first round of the playoffs last season due to injury, coupled with the pressure of the Nets' Big Three; so the team management is no longer satisfied with small repairs, but expects that in addition to James + thick eyebrows, it can once again introduce a superstar player to form a super big three combination to improve the competitiveness of the team.
Originally, the Lakers once played hot with DeRozan, Hield and others in the offseason, but after Wei Shao submitted a trade application, the Lakers management passed a multi-party transaction, using "Kuzma, Pop, Harrell and 21 No. 22" as a trading chip, decisively chose to get the MVP, played an average of three-doubles per season, and successfully formed the "Zhan Wei Mei" super big three combination.
After the Lakers formed the "Zhan Weimei" big three, with an exceptionally luxurious team lineup, the Lakers have indeed become the most likely to rush out of the West in the eyes of the outside world, and they are also one of the most likely teams in the league to win the championship.
However, for most of the season, the Lakers have never played the expected dominance. They can lose to powerful teams like the Warriors, Suns, Bulls, and Bucks who are expected to compete for the championship; they can also lose to "weak teams" like the Thunder, Rockets, and Pistons who missed the playoffs.
And with the deepening of the season, the Lakers' big three have not slowly found the right way to win as expected by the outside world; as of now, the lakers have only a record of 24 wins and 24 losses in the new season when they sit on the big three. Judging from the team's record alone, they have actually fallen out of the top eight in the West to ninth in the West.
Originally, after the Lakers formed the "Zhan Weimei" super big three, they thought that their lower limit would be at least the top four in the West, who thought that the Lakers would fall to the ninth place in the West...
Has not been able to play the expected performance, trading Wei Shao has become the only way out for the Lakers?
After the Lakers' record fell out of the top eight in the West, almost no one had expectations for the Lakers today. After all, judging from the recent 3-5 state of the Lakers, after falling out of the top eight in the West in the new season, they not only have little hope of winning the championship, but may not even be able to play in the playoffs in the end.
And from the current performance of the Lakers' big three giants - James data is still exploding, averaging 29.1 points, 7.7 boards, 6.6 assists per game, and 52.2% of the personal performance of shooting; and although the personal performance of the new season has declined slightly, this also has a great relationship with the team positioning and role change.
So in the case that the team can't play the expected record, and the big three can't play the chemistry, trading Westbrook seems to be the only way out for the Lakers...
So, not thick eyebrows, not James, why is it said that trading Westbrook is the only option for the Lakers?
1, the big three can not produce chemical reactions, but the "Zhan Mei combination" has long proved itself. The main reason why the Lakers cannot play the expected record in the new season is because "Zhan Weimei" did not play the expected dominance, but often played a strength of 1+1+1 less than 3 when it was combined.
And after running into more than half a season, the Lakers still have not found a way to play the combined power of the big three; this actually means that the three giants of the Lakers are now unable to play 1+1+1 equal to or greater than 3 strength due to the repulsion of the playing style.
So the best way for the Lakers now is "long pain is not as good as short pain" and forcibly dismantle the big three. Judging from the current situation of the big three, it is difficult for Wei Shao to play a super star performance whether he is on the scene with James or with thick eyebrows.
But the combination of Thick Brow and James has already proven itself in the playoffs in 20 years - as long as they stay healthy, they can not only play superstar performance in the regular season at the same time, but also maintain a superstar performance in the playoffs at the same time, playing 1+1 greater than 2 effect.
Therefore, from the point of view of the playing style and chemical reaction of the big three, if you want to forcibly break up the big three, the final choice can only be to trade Wei Shao, and can not move James or thick eyebrows, otherwise their strength will further decline...
2, inefficient offense, defense + high mistakes, Wei Shao will always play "undercover" performance. The Thunder led by Durant + Westbrook in the past has still become a strong team after Harden left. At that time, there was a summary about the "King Bomb Combination" that was widely circulated - the only person who could prevent Durant was Wei Shao.
Because Durant had won four trophies at the time, and was both efficient and incomprehensible on the offensive end, the league's 29 teams did not seem to have many effective means to stop him, and most of the time they could only let him score. But at that time, Wei Shao would always "short-circuit his head" at key moments, not passing to Durant - he got the ball and hit the iron "banging", often leading the Thunder to lose with inefficient performance at key moments, which also had "people who can prevent Durant, only Wei Shao." ”
And now when Wei Shao came to the Lakers, although the overall performance was relatively rational, he would no longer force a brainless shot at a critical moment, but his inefficient attack, defense + "butter hand" at a critical moment made the Lakers suffer a lot. Otherwise Vogel wouldn't have pinned Westbrook on the bench at a crucial moment in the fourth quarter against the Pacers a while ago...
In summary, whether it is from the chemical reaction of the big three, or from the "undercover performance" of Wei Shao, if the Lakers want to reorganize the championship lineup, only Wei Shao can be traded. But in fact, who wants to take over Wei Shao at this time?
In particular, the rockets, Philadelphia and lakers that were hot a while ago made three trades - the Lakers sent Westbrook + Tucker + 2027 first-round picks, got Wall + Wood; the Rockets sent Wall + Gordon + Wood, got Simmons + Harris + Tucker; Philadelphia sent Simmons + Harris to get Westbrook + Gordon + 2027 first-round pick.
Such a transaction seems reasonable, but in fact it is very unreasonable. Especially Wei Shao's contract, no matter who takes over, it will rot in the hand, so even if trading Wei Shao is the only way out for the Lakers, they always stay still, and can only silently expect Wei Shao to suddenly erupt...