LA Lakers Second Unit Must Improve for Kobe Bryant and Co. to Reach NBA Finals
The Los Angeles Lakers were repeatedly burned because their second unit came up short during the 2010-11 NBA season.
Before the campaign began, the team felt like it had addressed some of the shortcomings on the depth chart by signing Steve Blake (four years, $16 million), Matt Barnes (two years, $3.6 million) and veteran center Theo Ratliff (one year, $1.3 million) to serve as backup along the front line.
These additions initially looked serviceable for the team, but only on paper. Each one eventually proved to be nothing more than a waste of money in the initial season.
Ratliff played in just 10 games for the club in the regular season, Barnes struggled with a knee injury that greatly limited his ability to contribute and Blake looked absolutely lost in the offense on more than one occasion.
With each the club's three primary reserves coming up flat last season, it really put a damper on the attack of the second unit when the team sought to rest its starters.
Most notably, the group of reserves were absolutely torched by the Dallas Mavericks in the postseason, and it looked as if they had no business being on the court in an NBA game.
Despite the signings looking good prior to the season, the game is not played on paper. They clearly did not work out for the Lakers in the way that they had hoped.
With the current starting core intact and ready to win now, the Lakers are going to need some real depth behind their stars if they're going to make a serious run at another championship.
Andrew Bynum is hardly a harbinger of health, and Kobe Bryant's knee remains a question mark moving forward. The club simply can't afford to hand Pau Gasol extended minutes early in the season unless it wants to risk him wearing down once again.
After barely playing whatsoever in their inaugural season, both Derrick Caracter and Devin Ebanks now have to learn an entirely new offense after spending last year studying the triangle. Without a proper training camp due to the lockout, rookies Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock may have a tough time contributing from the onset.
The team is in a rather precarious position as it attempts to extend its championship window for the next few seasons, and it's going to need its youth to step up in a rather impressive manner if the second unit is going to be improved whatsoever.
Los Angeles really needs to identify some bargain-bin free agents that can help the team immediately, while finding a way to shed some dead weight from the roster, if it's going to come out atop the Western Conference once again.
