No easy answers as Lakers move forward

The Lakers begin a sixgame trip Friday in Orlando with issues to resolve, from possibly changing coaches to their style of play and how to manage mercurial guard Russell Westbrook.

There are no easy answers, but let’s take a look at what must be addressed.

Deal with the Westbrook situation

The Lakers guard is floundering midway through this season, unable to give the team consistent performances as he painfully tries to find his place on the roster with LeBron James.

Coach Frank Vogel tried his best to solve that problem Wednesday, benching Westbrook for the final four minutes in the Lakers’ loss to the Indiana Pacers at Crypto.com Arena. That decision, which Vogel said was designed to give the Lakers the best chance to win, was met with a loss and Westbrook not being made available to speak with reporters after the game.

Like the Lakers, it seems to always be something with Westbrook — remember his turnover problems? Since committing nine in a win against Minnesota, Westbrook has committed only seven in the seven games since. And that caution with the ball? It has affected winning in no noticeable ways, with the Lakers going 3-4 in that stretch.

With the exception of an incredibly angry dunk on Rudy Gobert, Westbrook has looked much less aggressive, which leads one to ask, “What’s the point?”

This is the biggest question facing the Lakers — should they give in to Westbrook’s chaos and try to tolerate the whiplash from the highs and lows, or should they try to marginalize him in an effort to avoid mistakes?

At a minimum, the Lakers need Westbrook to focus his effort and energy on defense, to stop getting lost in the middle of possessions, to stay within the team’s proven systems and affect the game on that side of the court. It’s where he’s needed most. If he did that, you could stomach high turnovers or 30% shooting (probably not both, though).

Since teams are not lining up to acquire Westbrook and pay him $47 million next season, it’s the Lakers’ problem to figure out.

Make a coaching decision already

Vogel’s job status has dominated the team’s news cycle this week. The Lakers need to make a decision on his fate — with common sense suggesting that voicing confidence in him for the time being would be the best path forward.

The Lakers have complained about not being able to build continuity this season, and removing yet another key part of their 2019-20 title run doesn’t get them any closer to recapturing that. This isn’t to say that Vogel can’t be better — the Lakers need him to be. Just like he said, the Lakers are playing with slim margins on the court, so he has to do the same on the sideline.

If the Lakers think there are positives to be gained by making a change, they probably need to do it now — no matter how widely it’s believed that this isn’t necessarily fair to Vogel. If they don’t think there’s a better option — someone needs to step forward to say that having

Vogel as coach gives them the best chance to win.

Commit to one style of play

The Lakers have touted their versatility — it was, in fact, a key part of their success in their championship playoff run inside the bubble. That team was just so much more sound than the current club, and that points to simplifying things as the best option.

While the Lakers’ smallball lineups were atrocious defensively, at least the group was having success on offense. That’s better than mediocre on both ends of the court, which is how the Lakers have looked when they’ve played bigger.

Adding more layers to what the Lakers are trying to do seems like a recipe for more confused play. The Lakers lead the NBA in giving up layups while looking around wondering how it just happened.

Getting Anthony Davis back should help. Maybe the Lakers play only Davis and James at center with limited exceptions. Maybe they revert to the big-man heavy rotation they began the season with. But whatever they do, they need to do it with conviction.

Don’t panic at the trade deadline

This one is pretty simple, and it pertains to Talen Horton-Tucker or the future first-round picks around the end of the decade that they can trade.

If you make a deal, it can’t be to make the team slightly better — there would need to be real improvement from talent that fits. It can’t just be rotational player upgrades. The Lakers aren’t in position to sacrifice their few remaining assets.

Light a f ire under Davis

This might be the biggest unspoken issue the Lakers are facing. Once Davis comes back, they need him to shed his timid play.

He has the ability to dominate, and the Lakers need to fully lean into that despite concerns about his physical abilities to handle it.

Despite everything else, it’s reasonable to think that if the Lakers have James and Davis performing at a high level, they’ll be tough to beat four times in a best-of-seven playoff series.

TONIGHT

AT ORLANDO When: 4 PST On the air: TV: Spectrum SportsNet; Radio: 710, 1330 Update: The last time the Lakers faced down a crisis following a loss, they beat the Utah Jazz. That they’re in that position again just two games later is a problem. The Lakers will play the Magic with rumors and rumblings about coach Frank Vogel’s job security. In the loss to Indiana on Wednesday, Vogel kept Russell Westbrook on the bench during crunch time, stirring up more drama. The Magic have just one win since Dec. 23 — the kind of bad team that the Lakers have struggled with all season.