{"id":419472,"date":"2026-01-17T16:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419472\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T16:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:59:07","slug":"thats-not-a-team-thats-a-bunch-of-individuals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419472\/","title":{"rendered":"That’s Not A Team, That’s A Bunch Of Individuals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> are sliding down the standings after a hot start to the 2025-26 NBA season. The Lakers\u2019 latest setback, a 135-117 loss to the Charlotte Hornets<\/a>, was their fourth defeat in five games, and Kendrick Perkins<\/a> went off on them on NBA Today<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you just have the audacity to call the Lakers a team?\u201d Perkins asked. \u201cThat\u2019s not a team, that\u2019s a bunch of individuals. I\u2019m willing to bet everything that I have that it\u2019s not a group chat with the Lakers\u2026 If it is, ain\u2019t nobody saying nothing. I\u2019m willing to bet it\u2019s no team dinners on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a bunch of individuals,\u201d Perkins continued. \u201cThat\u2019s showing up to work, do your job, everybody go their own way, and that\u2019s how they perform on the floor. When you have defensive teams with defensive individuals that look the way that they\u2019ve looked, not on the same page, then they definitely don\u2019t have the chemistry off the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be rather funny if it turns out that the Lakers do have team dinners on the road. Perkins might lose it all then. As for this criticism, it is a bit odd. Just because a team is bad defensively doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t have chemistry off the floor. Simply put, the Lakers don\u2019t have the personnel to be a good defensive team, let alone a great one.<\/p>\n

This is not the same situation as a team like the New York Knicks<\/a>, for example. The Knicks have Mikal Bridges<\/a>, OG Anunoby<\/a>, and Mitchell Robinson<\/a> among their ranks, and have still been struggling defensively lately.<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 best defenders are Marcus Smart<\/a>, who is no longer at his peak, and Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a>, who plays about 20 minutes a night. You could argue they still should be better defensively than they are, as their 117.6 defensive rating<\/a> ranks 26th, and that is fair. They just don\u2019t play with the same kind of effort and intensity on that end of the floor on a consistent basis, which is a problem.<\/p>\n

The Lakers also have trouble as is against young athletic teams, as they lack elite athletes on their roster. A team like the Hornets, led by LaMelo Ball<\/a>, Brandon Miller<\/a>, and Kon Knueppel<\/a>, has the ingredients to cause them problems. Sprinkle in some lackluster effort into the mix, and you end up suffering an ugly loss that drops you to 24-15.<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t always see the Lakers sprint back on defense against the Hornets, as they were busy complaining to the officials after non-calls. After the game, Smart urged his teammates to stop complaining and run back on defense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smart also stated that the Lakers need to play every possession like it was their last, as they did in Tuesday\u2019s 141-116 win over the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>. Luka Doncic, meanwhile, thought the Hawks game was a good example for them to follow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Lakers get their chance to make amends for that Hornets loss when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> next at Moda Center on Saturday at 10 PM ET. Doncic has been ruled out for that game<\/a>, though, due to left groin soreness, and you don\u2019t like their chances without him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers are sliding down the standings after a hot start to the 2025-26 NBA season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-419472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}