Why the Lakers not making moves MAY be a good thing

It may not be as bad as you think, take a chill pill Lakers fans.

The Lakers off-season has been shrouded in disappointment amongst Lakers fans, media and even media outside of the Lakers brass due to the team not making any moves whatsoever. D'Angelo Russell, Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes all opted in to their player options and they resigned LeBron James and Max Christie - all while drafting Dalton Knecht and Bronny James (picking up Blake Hinson as well). The outrage of Lakers fans for the lack of moves is outstanding. From groaning about D'Angelo Russell still being on the team to begging for trades for super high contracted players like Jerami Grant, DeMar DeRozan or Lauri Markannen. Many believe this team is doomed to be a repeat of what we saw last year.

Do people not understand what growth is? You can't expect to bring in the same team and not expect for them to play much better together. Let's not forget the team suffered the losses of Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent for most of the year. Having to replace Vincent's services with Spencer Dinwiddie who just couldn't find a proper role under this team, the Lakers relied heavily on Cam Reddish to fill in Jarred Vanderbilt's defensive role but it was up and down to the point where Reddish was out of the lineup again, and as much as Jaxson Hayes was a fun player to watch, his impact wasn't always there but the same can be said about Christian Wood who I think wasn't utilized properly under Darvin Ham.

Let's look at the facts about this team:

* They finished 7th in the West with 47 wins. 2.5 games behind the eventual Western Conference Champions Dallas Mavericks.

* The starting lineup of D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, and Anthony Davis finished the year 22-10. That's among the 6 best records to finish the year.

* The Lakers have beaten every team in the West playoffs throughout the year except the Denver Nuggets.

* The duo of Austin Reaves and D'Angelo Russell dominated the current NBA champions Boston Celtics without LeBron James or Anthony Davis in the lineup.

Now, going back to the 2nd statement here. The Lakers also have a winning record with this exact same lineup if you replace Rui Hachimura with Jarred Vanderbilt. So this is a VERY good team. The issue with this team was it lacked proper size when Wood and Vanderbilt went down, leaving the Lakers to be one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the league. Defense was never a big issue but execution fell flat in crucial moments - thanks Darvin Ham.

According to D'Angelo Russell, this team absolutely loves each other which was echoed by Max Christie, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves. You tend to play at your best playing with players who you've been around the longest and are able to grow with. Look at the last 2 champions

Boston kept it's duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown together for their entire career, Al Horford for the last 6 years has been on and off of the team but relatively has been with them for a long time. Derrick White has been with the team and able to grow with them for the last 3 years. Outside of trading Marcus Smart and Robert Williams, this core has been almost the same for a long time. Yes, they added Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to push them over the edge.

Denver's core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had been with each other almost 3-4 seasons before capturing their title. In Jokic, Murray and Porter's case, they're entire careers. They know each other's tendencies perfectly after playing with each other for so long. Then you have their coach in Michael Malone who's been with them for a long time as well.

There's really nothing you can say about Golden State's chemistry. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green been with each other their entire career - which makes Klay Thompson moving onto the Mavericks seem all that more weird. They added guys like Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and Gary Payton II and had a chance to grow with them for a year or two.

Case in point Lakers fans, building a championship team doesn't mean just go out and trade players just to trade. Let the core players grow together. It takes time to build a proper team.