Lakers News: NBA On TNT Twitter Broadcasters Chastise Team Construction – All Lakers
Another night, another loss for the Los Angeles Lakers. The team that got the best of them last night was LA’s second favorite NBA franchise, the Clippers, led by Paul George, ex-Laker Ivica Zubac, John Wall and Kawhi Leonard. The Lakers nearly pulled off an unlikely comeback in the fourth quarter, but the Clippers did just enough to end up winning 103-97. With the loss, the Lakers are now 0-2. And many blame team vice president Rob Pelinka for his odd roster-building decisions in back-to-back off-seasons.
Turner Sports is exploring how it can best use social media to draw the eyes of cable cutters and people who are generally uninterested in watching the game’s traditional cable broadcast, or at least curious about an alternative approach. To that end, it aired a simulcast NBA program on TNT via Twitter. Last night for the Lakers-Clippers game, we were treated to insights from three-time Sixth Man of the Year and former Lob City Clipper Jamal Crawford, former LeBron James teammate Channing Frye, and Taylor Rooks for the format.
All three agreed that this year’s new-look Lakers roster essentially continued the 2021-22 roster trend of not surrounding Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis with teammates who do their best and help the club win, especially in terms of ground clearance.
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To be fair, James himself acknowledged his teammates are limited as three-pointers, in postgame comments after the team’s 10-for-40 long-range performance in Tuesday’s season opener, a 123-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Rooks asked Crawford and Frye how the Los Angeles team could “overcome” its lack of outside jump shooters this season.
“The word that bothered me about the Lakers last year was accountability,” Crawford mused. “I felt like they weren’t in charge from the top down, and this year they’re kind of doing the same thing… What’s different about last year’s team than this year’s team, aside from a few names? Nothing! …It’s still the same problem, so what do we do?”
“What I would like is, instead of having a picture of what you think the Lakers are, look at what the Lakers need,” chipped in Channing Frye, before adding that there was one more thing Darvin Ham said about the club could maximize. “You know what great coaches do? They coach the players they need to win.”
