It has been a trying season for the Los Angeles Lakers. The team’s impressive 7-5 start seems like an eternity ago, with Los Angeles losing eight of their last nine games. With a plethora of young players, this should be expected. But head coach Luke Walton says one aspect in which the Lakers need to improve is in making teams feel their presence.
“We stil havent truly figured out how to make teams uncomfortable,” Walton said following a loss to the Dallas Mavericks. “I think teams feel like when they play us right now, that we’re kind of a soft team, that they can come in and get their offensive number against us.”
Rookie Brandon Ingram had a similar opinion to Walton. “(Opponents) come in, feel comfortable, like they’re going to get everything they want every single night,” Ingram said to Serena Winters of Lakers Nation. “But, it’s up to us to change it, myself, my teammates to change. We want to have a different identity on the basketball court, of course it comes with time, but we just have to change our mentality.”
They key word to take away is “soft”. Being labeled as soft is a negative connotation in the NBA, whether it is true or not. Byron Scott called the Lakers soft in 2015 to try and light a fire under the team. New member of the 30,000 point club Dirk Nowitzki has been labeled as “soft” in his career. Kevin Love has received plenty of flack for being “soft”. It is not uncommon to call people or teams soft, but it has always been very negative.
The Lakers certainly do lack identity, but they are also a very young team that has time to develop one. Luke Walton knew coming into this job that growth would be the name of the game this season. If players like Ingram, DeAngelo Russell, and Julius Randle can establish an identity by seasons end, things would be looking up for next season.
