Playoffs Still in Sight for Lakers

If the Los Angeles Lakers were to miss the playoffs this season it would go down as perhaps the biggest failure in recent sports history. Sitting at 15-20 and 11th place in the Western Conference, the Lakers have battled multiple coaching changes, injuries to their star big men and a media circus all year long and have become the top story on every sports network for all the wrong reasons. Relatively speaking, it's still quite early in the year, but LA must kick it in gear now or the offseason will begin early for the purple and gold.

Missing the playoffs in any year is viewed as a crime for the prestigious Lakers, but to miss the playoffs this year after acquiring Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to go along with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace would be down right disastrous. As superpowers become a more common thing in American sports, America has changed the view on what is failure for a team loaded with superstars.

On a smaller scale, take the Miami Marlins for example. The franchise went through an entire rebirthing operation by building a new ballpark, changing their name and colors, hiring a new manager and signing some of the top talent available. Yet they turned in one of the worst seasons in the MLB and became a laughing stock by the third month of the season. On a larger scale, but in the same city, look at the Miami Heat. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh teamed up with the goal in mind to win multiple championships, but failed to win it all in their first year. They still won the Eastern Conference and still had a fantastic season, but they became an example of what will happen to teams that add multiple superstars and come up short of the ultimate prize. The Heat were blasted for an entire summer for not winning the Finals and considered a failure despite achieving enormous success.

Can you imagine what the media and fans will do to the Lakers if they don't even make the playoffs? LA trots out five all-stars in their starting lineup, but has looked so discombobulated on some nights that you wonder if there are any all-stars on the floor. However, if the Lakers are to make the postseason then they must focus on the future and change the things needed to win ball games.

That means getting everybody healthy first and foremost. LA has never had their full lineup in uniform and that's why they have struggled at times. At the point guard position Nash missed seven weeks with a leg injury and reliable backup Steve Blake has missed all but the first five games with an abdominal injury. Inside, Howard has never looked quite the same since his back surgery and now has a torn labrum that will sideline him. Gasol is out with a concussion and Jordan Hill has been day-to-day with a hip injury.

Those injuries are a recipe for disaster and it has been one in the city of angels. Getting healthy must be the key priority for the Lakers and once healthy they can focus on the X's and O's. It's silly to think that this is a team that can't win with Mike D'Antoni on the sidelines. While I believe it was down right dumb to not hire Phil Jackson, it's not as though D'Antoni can't win. With the talent on the roster, it shouldn't matter who is the coach. The guys on that team are good enough to win no matter who is coaching them.

While a 15-20 record is a terrible start for the Lakers, it definitely is fixable. They have never played with a full lineup and have gone through multiple coaching changes. If they can get everyone healthy and settle into D'Antoni's system then there will be playoff basketball for the Lakers. There's far too much talent on that roster for them to be sitting at home come playoff time. I would say it's time to panic, but not to the point where changes must be made.

Perhaps I'm stubborn, but I'm not counting the Lakers out of the playoffs nor will I count them out of another title run. I haven't mentioned it yet, but any team with Kobe Bryant on the roster is a team I will refuse to count out. 15-20 doesn't look threatening, but get this team healthy and the West may be the Lakers'.