What do LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers need to start winning?

The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off of one of the most embarrassing seasons in their long and illustrious history. This year, LA was expected to put those struggles in the rear view and return to competing for an NBA title. They look like anything but contenders after losing their first three games of the season.

You’d assume a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis would at least have enough fire power to get to the playoffs, but if last year proved anything it’s that two aging super stars aren’t enough to carry a team through the long and grueling regular season. That task gets even tougher when injuries come into the equation.

Can LA stay healthy?

The first thing LA needs to do to start looking like a team that can compete in the West is stay on the court. Last year Davis played just 40 games after suffering an ankle injury that stayed with him for most of the season. At 37 years old, LeBron James looks like he’s in tip top shape but Father Time is undefeated. Even though James is playing like he did when he was 25, he will still need days off periodically to keep his body fresh throughout the year.

James played in 56 of the Lakers 82 games last season sitting out a majority of those game with an ankle injury. Some of those games were to simply give James’ body a rest to keep him ready for a playoff run that never came.

At 6′10″ Davis is one of the most dangerous mismatches in the NBA. He can dominate the paint, average double digit rebounds for a season, shoot the three and put the ball on the deck. With his size and length, his mobility is his biggest ally, but also his biggest liability. Long, lengthy bodies like his aren’t made to be crossing over and cutting to the basket. That’s a lot of force to be putting on the knees and ankles and that’s why Davis spends so much time on the sidelines.

New head coach Darvin Ham needs to figure out a way to keep his big man in the paint more and away from the three point line. That would take away from a major part of his game, but go a long way for preservation throughout the regular season.

Wanted: Westbrook

Let’s be fair, Russell Westbrook is not solely to blame for the Lakers trouble. But if we are being fair, Westbrook hasn’t helped the situation much either. Last year was a rough one for the former MVP of the league. Statistically, he was dreadful and made more friends then enemies in his first season in LaLa Land. He came back with something to prove this year, but to this point of the season all he’s proven is that it will be more of the same in the new campaign.

He is shooting 28.9% from the field this year, and has made just one of twelve three point attempts. His decision making late in games has been terrible. Just look at the Portland game when he forced up a quick shot with 18 second on the clock, up by a point. Damian Lillard would go down and take the lead on a late three pointer and the Trail Blazers went on to win.

Westbrook is a player who has been the anchor on the offensive end his whole career, and doesn’t seem to be adjusting to his secondary role in LA. He is averaging just 10 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists this season.

Role players have to get rolling

If the Lakers are going to have success this year it’s not going to be because of their super stars. The role players are going to have to step up and help out James and Davis throughout the season, and not just when those two are on the sidelines either getting rest or injured.

At the moment Lonnie Walker, who came to LA from San Antonio in the offseason is the only one producing on the offensive end. Walker is averaging 15.3 points a game, but after the former Spur, Patrick Beverley is the top scoring role players at 5 ppg.

Three point shooting

You are either a good shooting team, or a bad shooting team. There is not much you can do during a season to improve a team’s three point percentage. It’s quite simple, the Lakers are just not a good three point shooting team. They weren’t last year, and they aren’t this year. Through the first three games of the season, LA has shot 118 three pointers and made just 25 of them for a horrendous average of 21.2% from downtown.

Like I said, three point shooting isn’t something you can just draw up on a black board and fix. The Lakers don’t have good three point shooters, and to fix this they may have to look into making a midseason trade.