Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Players Who Are Bombing Early in the Season

The Los Angeles Lakers are a bad basketball team for a variety of reasons.

They don't have anyone who can make a three-pointer, their starting point guard wouldn't make the roster on most teams and they have a huge hole at the small forward position.

The Lakers are 10-8 right now and there are nine teams in the West with seven losses or less.

If GM Mitch Kupchak isn't able to upgrade at point guard and small forward, they will be in serious jeopardy of missing the postseason for the first time since 2004.

Mike Brown has been forced to deal with two gaping holes in his starting lineup and should be well aware that you can't win a title with three players in today's NBA.

The Dallas Mavericks went 10 deep last year and one could easily rattle off a number of teams in the league today who have two better point guards and two better small forwards than anyone on the Lakers' roster.

That is simply inexcusable and should be unacceptable to Dr. Buss when evaluating Kupchak as the general manager of the best franchise in the NBA.

Bottom line, everyone has caught up with the Lakers and many teams have passed them by in terms of youth, speed and athleticism—which is what today's game is all about.

Let's take a look at five players who are bombing early in the season.

1. Metta World Peace: Small Forward

Metta World Peace (formerly known as Ron Artest) went from 2010 NBA Finals hero to 2012 zero.

It's gotten so bad for "Metta" that he actually received the dreaded "DNP - Coach's Decision" in a game against Cleveland on January 13th.

We're talking about a guy who admittedly showed up overweight and out of shape for training camp and was immediately demoted to the second unit in favor of Matt Barnes and Devin Ebanks.

Metta is shooting a ridiculous 32 percent from the field, 12 percent (12 percent!) from three and averaging just five points a game.

To say Metta has "bombed" this season would be the ultimate understatement of the young 2012 NBA season.

2. Derek Fisher: Point Guard

Where do we begin?

We figured that when Phil Jackson walked out the door, any loyalty towards starting the 37-year-old Derek Fisher at point guard would walk out with him.

We were wrong.

GM Mitch Kupchak did absolutely nothing to upgrade the point guard position after David Stern nixed the Chris Paul trade, and it has cost the Lakers dearly.

The disadvantage they face at the point every single night is often too much to overcome, and they continue to pay for it in the loss column.  

Derek Fisher is the 55th-ranked point guard in John Hollinger's PER ratings, a feat that is pretty tough to accomplish when there are only 30 NBA teams.

Let me warn you before reading this, the numbers are beyond ugly—35 percent from the field, 24 percent from three and five points per game in just under 26 minutes per contest.

If the Lakers don't do something about this before the trade deadline, they could miss the playoffs.  

Yes, it's that big of an issue, my friends.

3. Devin Ebanks: Small Forward

Kobe Bryant may have put a little too much pressure on the second-year small forward out of West Virginia when he proclaimed Devin Ebanks would be a "pleasant surprise" this season on offense.

Initially a starter at small forward, Ebanks has received "DNPs" in nine of the last 13 games and is shooting just 38 percent from the field.

The Lakers were expecting Ebanks to help fill the void left by Lamar Odom's abrupt departure, but he has been a big disappointment thus far.

4. Steve Blake: Point Guard

Sensing a pattern here yet?  

Steve Blake is once again on the shelf for the Lakers, this time due a rib injury that will likely cost him a month of playing time.

Blake was playing slightly better than last season, but the level of play still isn't even close to acceptable compared to even the second-tier point guards in the NBA today.

Blake is shooting just 40 percent from the field, 35 percent from three and a ridiculous 57 percent from the free-throw line.

And to make matters worse, his unavailability is forcing head coach Mike Brown to play Derek Fisher too many minutes while forcing rookie Darius Morris into the lineup when he's clearly not ready.

5. Pau Gasol: Power Forward

It was a tough decision to put Pau Gasol on this list, and although he hasn't been a huge disappointment this season, he is averaging a career-low 16.3 points per game.

Part of it is Kobe Bryant shooting the ball 24.5 times per game and part of it is due to the continued development of Andrew Bynum.

The clear-cut No. 2 scoring option last season, Gasol attempted six more shots per game than Bynum.

This year, both Bynum and Gasol could make a case as the No. 2 option, and that seems to have affected Gasol's confidence slightly on the offensive end.

Don't get me wrong, Pau Gasol is still a top 20 player in the NBA, but I would like to see him start demanding the ball more often and become the "20/10" player he is more than capable of being.