The demise of the Lakers

The Lakers have the biggest payroll in the NBA largely concentrated on just four players.  The rest of the team is, at best, mediocre, because the management simply cannot afford to pay for a decent supporting cast.  Fan frustration comes from watching the lack of teamwork, lack of cohesion, lack of camaraderie, lack of motivation and lack of leadership on the part of any of the four 20 million per year guys.  This is truly a pathetic example of how not to put together a winning team.  It's not that this formula hasn't been tried before.  Miami assembled three superstars and struggled for two years to get the chemistry right before it finally came together for them and they won a championship.  Ditto Boston.  But the Lakers have an added problem:  they're old.  All their supers with the exception of Howard the center, are well into their thirties and well past their primes.  It doubtful this team will make the playoffs and even if they do its even more doubtful they could survive the first round.  This team is doomed.  Finally, the play of Dwight Howard, presumably the best center in the game today, has been revealing. While a very big body and figure in the middle, he plays more like a big forward with minimal offensive skills than a dominant center say like Kareem Jabbar.  Somewhere along the line he was not taught or did not learn many offensive moves, plus, his ball handling is pathetic.  Throwing the ball into him in the low post yields about a 50% chance of a fumble or misplay of some sort or the other.  He's not a good passer and he's unable to make shots for himself.  He's an effective rebounder but I have yet to see him initiate a fast break out of the low post with any kind of an effective outlet pass.  All in all, this player is not exceptional and will not be an effective leader down the road when Bryant is gone.  As for Bryant, he's still an effective scorer however his turnovers and defensive lapses are costly, plus, he's not making the players around him better since he takes nearly half the team's shots.  Of course the players around him are either long of tooth or not very skilled.  This season will not end any better than it started.