Things have gotten off to a rocky start for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA preseason. The team is 0-4 as of this writing, losing to the Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, and Phoenix Suns twice.
While the games ultimately have little bearing on the regular season, it would still be reassuring to see the team playing some better basketball. They have lost the games by an average of 18.5 points with the closest game being a seven-point loss to the Warriors.
Los Angeles hasn’t used what was expected to be their regular rotation once yet. Trevor Ariza and Talen Horton-Tucker have both undergone surgery already. Ariza had an arthroscopic procedure done on his ankle while Horton-Tucker had surgery on his right thumb.
Kendrick Nunn and Malik Monk are also battling injuries, putting the Lakers in a tough spot with the regular season quickly approaching.
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But, the one thing that people have harped on the most has been the performance of Russell Westbrook. He has looked rusty, struggling in his first two appearances wearing purple and gold.
Westbrook has made only four of his 19 shot attempts and has not attempted a free throw. He has scored 10 points with nine rebounds, nine assists, and one steal in just over 43 minutes of action. The most startling statistic is that he has 15 turnovers in that time.
While many people are harping on the turnover numbers, it is not something that is bothering Westbrook at this time.
“Everything is not going to be figured out in the next week or two,” said Russell Westbrook. “We’ve got a long year ahead of us. It’s the preseason. We’ll figure it out.”
Everyone knew that there would be an adjustment period needed. The Los Angeles Lakers added a lot of new faces this offseason and are essentially starting from the bottom up. Even if you include Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard coming back after a one-year hiatus, there are still eight new players on this team.
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It will take some time for the pieces to mesh together and that process will sometimes be ugly, as it has been during the preseason. Hopefully, after some more time on the court together, those uglier performances will be few and far between and Los Angeles will start clicking on all cylinders.
