In a season that started with championship promise, the Los Angeles Lakers grossly underachieved, both on and off the court. Hampered by injuries and flawed roster construction, the team finished 11th in the Western Conference with a 33-49 record, and failed to even qualify for a play-in tournament game. It was also just the second time since 2005 that Lakers leader LeBron James missed out on postseason action.
Consequently, the Lakers decided to part ways with head coach Frank Vogel after three seasons, and last week, they completed their coaching search by hiring Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham. Los Angeles has entrusted Ham -- who spent more than a decade as a league assistant -- to lift the team back into title contention. And while there are doubts about James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook gelling as a trio, former Lakers champion Robert Horry believes the franchise should focus more on bolstering the bench.
"Here's the thing, people always want to look at LeBron, AD, and Westbrook. That's not my problem. My problem is, everybody else," Horry told the Reiter Than You show on Thursday. "They've got to get guys who can come in and play good, offensively and defensively. We get caught up in Russ Westbrook having a bad year, and want to blame him for everything because he's going to make $47 million if he stays. I think people look at this whole thing wrong.
"If you look at my last year with the Lakers [in 2003], I didn't perform -- I had an awful playoffs. What did they do? They got rid of me, and they brought in Karl Malone and all these other guys, and got back to the Finals. It's not the big two, big three sometimes. It's the others who have to step up, perform... It's a team. You can't just put the big three out there against five, they'll lose every time. You've got to have five strong competitors on the court at once."
Phil Jackson, the legendary coach who guided the Lakers to five titles during the 2000s, reportedly advised the team in its coaching search. And based on a recent L.A. Times report, he told team owner Jeanie Buss that he'd prefer to see James traded this summer, and Westbrook remain on their roster. The 37-year-old superstar ironically produced one of his most laudable seasons amid dysfunction this year. In 56 games, James averaged 30.3 points -- his highest mark since 2009-10 -- along with 8.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.3 steals.
The entire NBA conversation between Horry and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Reiter Than You show on Twitter @sportsreiter and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.