Danny Green Shades Lakers' Rob Pelinka for Roster Construction Around LeBron, Davis

Memphis Grizzlies wing Danny Green offered his commentary about how the Los Angeles Lakers have built their team around superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, noting that "it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out" what's needed to best construct the roster.

Green made the comments to Howard Beck on Sports Illustrated's "The Crossover" podcast (h/t Sabreena Merchant of Silver Screen & Roll):

“We know what happened. I think it’s interesting, I mean all the teams that I've played for, you try to see what kind of moves they make, what direction they're going in, and especially if you win a championship there, it's home, you have some type of invested feeling toward that city, toward that group, toward some of the players that are still there, the organization. I mean we know what happened, things have changed, they have Dennis back now for cheaper, I thought he was a good fit for them. I thought there was a lot of good pieces that were good fits for them that they let go or traded away and they thought they had a better fit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what you need around LeBron and AD.”

In three years, the Lakers have gone from 2020 NBA champions to owning the league's worst win-loss record at 0-5. L.A. has gotten worse each season, falling in the first round of the 2021 playoffs before failing to make the 2022 postseason entirely after a 33-49 season.

Now the Lakers are last in both offensive rating and points per game. They are also last with a 41.6 percent field-goal rate and a 23.7 three-point percentage and third-last with 16.2 turnovers a game.

Rob Pelinka has been the team's general manager since 2017. His third year resulted in a long-awaited championship, the team's first since 2010 and 17th overall.

That 2019-20 squad, which featured Green in the starting lineup, was a deeper squad with far better shooting around James and Davis. They still weren't great (21st overall, 34.9 percent), but it was good enough thanks to a great defense and excellent performances from the top-two stars. They could rely on others in the rotation to knock down shots, handle the ball, crash the boards, play tough defense, etc.

In the shooting realm, Green played a part in that endeavor, as did Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and others.

Three-point buckets have been hard to come by for this year's team, which is completely different from the title-winning squad outside James and Davis. Only one of the eight players who have shot 10 or more threes this year is making more than 24.4 percent of their shots, with Lonnie Walker IV, Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook all shooting in the teens.

The season is just five games old, and the Lakers have plenty of time to improve, but early returns are concerning and emblematic of far deeper problems.