Lakers Working Hard or Hardly Working?

The NBA season is already at the halfway point and some teams have been showing more promise than others and are looking strong to chase after the ring every player wants.
In the beginning of the season the Lakers looked like they were going to be the team to really beat this year. The team made an addition of four all-stars when the owners decided to pick up Steve Nash in the mix. The Lakers seemed liked an unbeatable force with  Kobe and Dwight Howard, an almost four time consecutive defensive player of the year had he not got injured towards the end. Pau Gasol is coming off another great season and Steve Nash, 39, is one of the best facilitators in the game.
At the beginning of the season the Lakers unfortunately, took a hit when rookie Damian Lillard collided with Steve Nash who broke his leg, forcing him to sit out for two months. During that time the Jerry Buss, owner of the Lakers, decided to fire coach Mike Brown and hire Mike D’antoni. Unfortunately, this did not bring the Lakers back on to a win streak.
Individually, each player on the roster has been going up and down the charts. This year Bryant is having one of his better years, shooting less than last year and averaging more points than the year prior.
Howard is averaging four points less and two rebounds less than one of his best years. Although he was injured at the end of last year, he is finally fully recovered but has not been showing the promise that everyone knows he is capable of playing at.
Another player that hasn’t been on top of his game is Pau Gasol. Gasol has been lacking in the defense the Lakers need even though he is a seven foot. Gasol has been averaging five points less and two rebounds less than the year before.
Two players that have been playing phenomenal for the Lakers is Jordan Hill and Earl Clark. The two have been pushing their limits and playing as hard as they can to get the bigger checks in the next few years. Unfortunately Hill was faced with an injury.
Although injuries have been a pretty big factor for the team there are more concerns on the defensive end for the Lakers. On defense the Lakers have been lacking in communication and have been really falling short on their perimeter defense letting players wide open at the 3-point line.
In the month of January the Lakers have really been falling behind winning only a total of 5 games out of 16, beating only one impressive team the Oklahoma City Thunders.
Although the last few games the Lakers have been flipping a switch with Kobe giving up the ball more than doing what he naturally does, shooting. After a closed door team meeting against the Memphis Grizzlies the Lakers sat down and had a serious talk to change.
Now the team has a few wins in the month of February, all you Lakers fans have to just wait and watch if the Black Mamba and his teammates can even be apart of the Western Conference Playoffs.