The Logo has spoken and out of respect, we listen when the Logo talks. Despite his advisory role with the Golden State Warriors, Jerry West is still talking about the Los Angeles Lakers and why not, he was a member of that organization for over half of his life.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, West said despite their early season struggles, the Lakers will still be a very dangerous team come playoff time.
“The Lakers will be very dangerous in the playoffs,” West said in a phone interview Thursday with The Times. “They need rest between games. The way they’re playing now on the road, they haven’t had the kind of success they need. But they’re still very capable.”
At 15-12, the Lakers currently sit in seventh place in the Western Conference, and are only one from falling out of a playoff spot. They got a nice win in Boston, stopping a two game skid but, but they lost last night to the New York Knicks and they have been less than impressive this season. However, when you have Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum (assuming they still have all those guys come playoff time), you’re an incredibly dangerous team. The problem for the Lakers is the drop off between their third best player and their fourth best player is like taking a walk off the Grand Canyon. They have a big trade exception from the Lamar Odom gift wrap to Dallas, but past that their only trade assets are Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.
I could see the Lakers making a run to the Western Conference Finals depending on their match ups. Right now they’d play Houston in the first round, which is an incredibly winnable series, then they’d likely play Oklahoma City in the second round and who knows what would happen then. Either way, West is probably speaking from his heart as much as he is from his mind, but he’s not wrong. You wouldn’t want your favorite team playing the Lakers in the playoffs.
