The Lakers...Still Waiting

     Since Mike D'Antoni joined the sidelines on November 20th, the Lakers are 2-3 and Steve Nash can't seem to return soon enough. The popular opinion is that Nash's return and reunion with D'Antoni will bring automatic success, but with three stars on the court, the Lakers should be better than 2-3. Right?
     We're just looking at the five games with D'Antoni here, but  first, some very interesting statistics are found in the Lakers entire 7-8 season so far. For example, the Lakers have had the leading scorer in every single game they have played this year. Now this is nothing new for a team with Kobe Bryant, but still, a team with the leading scorer every game should be winning more often. Also, they have had the leading rebounder in all but two games. The immediate thought is to think Dwight Howard, but more than half of Lakers games have seen someone other than Howard lead the team in rebounds.
     When L.A. hired D'Antoni, everyone figured the scoring average would make a significant jump up. Scoring has not changed much. In fact, it has dropped one point and the Lakers are in the middle of the pack in terms of scoring average.
     Few things look different with D'Antoni on the sidelines. Kobe still takes a ton of contested shots. He will always score, but that in no way translates to wins. Howard has one double-double under D'Antoni and is still not close to 100 percent. Pau Gasol is still finding his place (sound familiar?). While D'Antoni insists that there is a role for him, trade rumors will be swirling around his name until the Lakers are well above .500. Role players Antawn Jamison and Metta World Peace have stepped up of late, but the bench is still weak overall.
     Finally, the one position that flourishes under D'Antoni, point guard, has done little if anything. While it's true that Darius Morris is not of starter quality, you would think that he'd have more than one double-digit scoring effort under D'Antoni. After all, the guy did made consistent scorers out of Raymond Felton and Jeremy Lin.
     Laker fans say the season won't until Steve Nash (or even Steve Blake for that matter) is back in the lineup. But pretty soon it will be Christmas Day and more eyes will be on the NBA. While Nash and Blake both have the three-point shooting ability to run D'Antoni's point, they are both old and fast breaks may not be all that fast with them. Nash-D'Antoni is one of the great player and coach combos in recent years, and the Lakers have to hope that the two can pick up where they left off in Phoenix.
     In the next nine days, the Lakers have games against Denver, Houston and Oklahoma City, three high scoring teams. The Lakers will have to execute offensively to beat these teams and we will have a better idea of their potential under D'Antoni after that stretch. It was said that D'Antoni's Lakers would be the most entertaining Lake Show since Shaqobe or even Showtime. Well they are not there yet and patience is not a luxury that this Lakers organization has.