You may interpret these quotes differently but to me it seems like the Los Angeles Lakers locker room is an unfriendly place. Teams often talk about needing to build chemistry which is true especially when you have a fresh roster. In Dwight Howard’s comparison of the Clippers to the Lakers he mentions how they look like they’re having fun together, they mesh well. The Lakers on the otherhand are greatly lacking in that area. My thing is, the Clippers also picked up many new pieces but it’s working for them, what’s the Lakers problem? Read more after the jump.
“Those guys on the Clippers team, they really enjoy each other off the court and it shows,” Howard said Saturday after Lakers practice.
“It’s something we have to do to get better,” he said. “We have to play like we like each other. Even if we don’t want to be friends off the court, whatever that may be, when we step in between the lines or we step in the locker room or the gym, we have to respect each other and what we bring to the table.”
The topic came up because of Howard’s complimentary comments about the Clippers after Friday’s game, and a strange play in which Lakers forward Jordan Hill injured his ankle, rolled around in pain on the ground, but none of his teammates came over to check on him.
I’ve never seen a team not care about a teammate’s injury unless they didn’t like each other. You don’t just leave your teammate on the ground writhing in pain without a care in the world.
“I think it was a lapse. I don’t think it was meant,” coach Mike D’Antoni said of the team’s lack of a reaction to Hill’s injury. “It’s something we addressed and talked about.
I agree that time is needed to build chemistry and it’s not something that will just happen over night. However it seems like the Lakers are far away from where they need to be.
