Lakerholics

Despite having the second best record and top rated defense in the league, there are obvious chinks in the Los Angeles Lakers’ armor that threaten to derail their quest to repeat and win their league-best 18th championship.

Anybody watching the Lakers this season understands the team has serious problems protecting the rim, shooting threes, and scoring in the half court, especially when neither LeBron James or Anthony Davis are on the court. That’s not to malign how the additions of Gasol and Harrell have helped the Lakers offensively. Marc’s elite passing and 3-point shooting threat and Trezz’s low post scoring and energy have clearly been pluses offensively.

But the Lakers’ centers aren’t going to suddenly start protecting the rim, nor will their shooters consistently start raining threes, or a legitimate third star magically emerge to help LeBron James and Anthony Davis carry the load. That means the only realistic way for the Lakers to address these serious issues and bolster their championship chances is to make trades to fix the weaknesses and upgrade their roster before the March 25 trade deadline.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the options the Lakers have to improve their rim protection, enhance their 3-point shooting, and find a third star to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis via a midseason trade.

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1. THE LAKERS NEED BETTER RIM PROTECTION

While the Lakers still have the top defense in the league and are second in blocked shots, the eye test and other stats clearly show they miss the rim protection provided last season by JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard.

The Lakers moved on from McGee and Howard when they changed their defensive philosophy in last year’s playoffs by having their centers trap, hedge, and double the ball off screens rather than playing drop coverage. Unfortunately, replacing McGee and Howard with Gasol and Harrell has both hurt the Lakers rim protection and failed to improve their perimeter defense. What the Lakers need is a modern center who can do both.

That means the Lakers should be looking for versatile centers who can defend inside and outside, which eliminates lumbering low post bigs like Drummond or Whiteside and favors mobile bigs like Noel or Cauley-Stein. The dream targets are modern centers with size and mobility like Myles Turner, Chris Boucher, and Christian Wood but the Lakers shouldn’t ignore dynamic athletic small ball centers like Julius Randle and John Collins.

While the Lakers would like to make a move, they don’t need to since they already have the best modern center in the NBA in Anthony Davis. But adding a versatile defensive center like Noel or WCS could be a smart move.

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2. THE LAKERS NEED BETTER 3-POINT SHOOTING

After shooting a sizzling 39.8% and ranking 3rd in the league through the first 13 games of the season, the Lakers 3-point shooting reverted to the mean and fell to just 33.3% and 29th in the league over the last 14 games.

Despite the 3-point shooting slump, the Lakers have been able to continue to win at the same rate over the last 14 games as in the first 13 games though their margin of victory dropped dramatically from 10.8 to 5.5 points. The Lakers’ poor 3-point shooting reached rock bottom the last 3 games as they failed to shoot 30%, having to go into overtime twice and come from more than 20 points behind twice just to squeak out close wins at home.

While they’re the 14th most accurate 3-point shooting team in the league at 36.4%, the Lakers struggle to create spacing on offense because their 11.0 made threes and 30.3 taken threes per game are the 4th lowest in the NBA. The formula for winning with LeBron James has always been to surround him with elite prolific 3-point shooters. Right now, the Lakers roster simple does not have enough high percentage or high volume 3-point shooters.

Current Laker players struggling with their threes who are possible trading chips include Gasol, Morris, Schroder, Horton-Tucker, and Caldwell-Pope, who has been in dismal shooting slump after a stellar start to the season. Potentially available 3-point shooting upgrades the Lakers might target include guards Lowry, Ellington, LaVine, Bledsoe, Powell, and Mills, forwards Markkanen and Randle, and centers Boucher and Vucevic.

Like centers who can defend in the post and perimeter, there just aren’t any elite shooters who are good defenders sitting around waiting to be signed. That means the Lakers will need to trade to upgrade their 3-point shooting.

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3. THE LAKERS NEED A LEGITIMATE THIRD STAR

The emergence of the Brooklyn Nets’ Superstar Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving as the Lakers possible NBA Finals foe may force the Lakers to consider making a blockbuster trade for a third star.

There’s a good case to be made that two megastars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis, arguably the best two players in the league, and a deep and talented roster can still beat a team with three superstars and a weak roster. That’s certainly true if you believe defense wins championships since the Lakers have the top rated defense while the Nets’ defense has major holes. But the offensive firepower of the Nets does present a daunting challenge.

That’s why the Lakers would be wise to adjust their midseason trade plans to upgrade their rim protection and 3-point shooting to include a legitimate third star to improve their lineups when LeBron or AD aren’t on the floor. We saw during the recent two game stretch without AD that the Lakers were fortunate to win in overtime against the OKC Thunder how the defending champs can still struggle when either James or Davis are not playing.

The Lakers don’t want to face a Nets team where they face a 3 to 2 or 2 to 1 superstar disadvantage all game long. They don’t necessarily need a third superstar but clearly need a legitimate All-Star to help LeBron and AD. Possible candidates include Bradley Beal, Zach LaVine, Victor Oladipo, Kyle Lowry, and Eric Bledsoe. Other outside-the-box candidates could include Ben Simmons, Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier, or Draymond Green.

Since they don’t have first round draft picks as chips, trading for any of the star players listed above is going to require the Lakers to give up valuable players to land the needed third star to improve their chances of repeating.

The Lakers don’t need a trade to repeat as champs but the chance to make a mega trade for All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry, modern young center Chris Boucher, and young shooting guard Terrence Davis is too good to pass up.

Here are the details of the proposed trade. The los Angeles Lakers receive Kyle Lowry, Chris Boucher, and Terrence Davis. The Toronto Raptors receive Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell.

While giving up three proven young stars like Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell is an expensive price to pay, landing Lowry, Boucher, and Davis could fill three major holes in the Lakers’ roster. The Lakers need a third superstar to reduce reliance on LeBron James and Anthony Davis, proven shooters willing to take and make more threes, and better rim protection and 3-point shooting from the center position.

This trade would give the Lakers a highly coveted third superstar in Lowry, three accurate and prolific 3-point shooters in Lowry, Davis, and Boucher, and a modern young center in Boucher who can rain threes and block shots. With the Clippers, Nets, 76ers, Jazz, Bucks, and other competitors looking for ways to improve their rosters at the trade deadline, this is a dream trade opportunity the Lakers should jump upon immediately if available.

Few trades are wins for both teams but this could be the exception as the win-now Lakers get the third superstar, shot blocking, and 3-point shooting they need while the rebuilding Raptors land three promising young stars.

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1. LONG NEEDED THIRD SUPERSTAR

Kyle Lowry is a perfect fit as the third superstar to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The 34-year old,16-year veteran All-Star guard is the playmaking, elite 3-point shooting point guard the Lakers need.

The 6′ 0,” 196 lb Lowry would be a major upgrade over Schroder at both ends of the court. He’s averaging 17.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 6.6 assists on 34.7 minutes per game while boasting 3-year best 43.3 /38.2/87.3% shooting. Meanwhile, Dennis is averaging 14.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in 31.5 minutes per game, shooting 44.1/31.0/82.5%. He’s special but not the proven playoff tested 3-point shooter and defender Lowry is.

Lowry’s championship resume and playoff experience, gravity as a prolific and accurate 3-point shooter, and across-the-board superiority are exactly what the Lakers need as a third superstar to optimize LeBron and AD.

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2. MORE 3-POINT ATTEMPTS AND MAKES

The additions of Lowry (38.2% on 7.5 threes per game), Davis (40.3% on 3.5 threes per game), and Boucher (43.8% on 3.6 threes per game) will go a long way towards improving the Lakers’ weak 3-point shooting performance.

Right now, the Lakers rank 26th in 3-point attempts at 30.3 per game and 13th in shooting percentage at 37.1%. Lowry, Davis, and Boucher took 14.6 threes per game compared to just 6.9 threes for Schroder, KCP, and Harrell. Taking 7.7 more threes per game would elevate the Lakers attempts to 38.0 per game, jump them to 7th in the league, and create needed spacing for LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the other teammates to attack the rim.

The biggest weakness of the Lakers 9th ranked offense is 3-point shooting. Swapping Lowry, Davis, and Boucher for Schroder, KCP, and Harrell could give the Lakers a top rated offense to go with their top rated defense.

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3. RIM PROTECTION AND SPACING AT CENTER

Chris Boucher is exactly what the Lakers need to fix their center problems. He’s the perfect modern center who can stretch the floor to create spacing on offense and protect the rim and defend on the perimeter on defense.

The 28-year old, 6′ 9,” 200 lb Boucher is averaging a career best 13.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 23.2 minutes per game. He’s the perfect center to backup Marc Gasol and eventually take over as the Lakers’ starter. While he’s only played 116 games in his career, Chris is enjoying a breakout year with the Raptors, shooting a red hot 43.8% from deep on 3.6 threes per game, which is a monster jump from the 32% he shot before this season.

A bouncy athletic jumper, the untested Boucher is a totally different kind of small ball center than the proven Harrell but his ability to protect the rim and shoot the three ball make him a better center prospect for the Lakers.

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Trading Schroder, Harrell, and Caldwell-Pope would be a dramatic move for the Lakers but worth it to acquire a third superstar in Lowry, three great shooters in Lowry, Boucher, and Davis, and a modern center in Boucher.

With a starting lineup of Lowry, Matthews, James, A. Davis, and Gasol and a deep bench of Horton-Tucker, Caruso, T. Davis, Kuzma, and Boucher, the Lakers would be heavy favorites to repeat as 2020–21 NBA champions. Meanwhile, the Raptors add a lightning quick point guard in Schroder to replace Lowry, a dynamic young center in Harrell to replace Boucher, and a proven shooting guard in KCP to upgrade Davis off the bench.

While the Raptors revitalize their team with proven young talent, the Lakers get what they need to optimize LeBron’s championship window and repeat this season as NBA champs and possibly threepeat next season.

The world champion Los Angeles Lakers have a habit of failing to get up for games against lessor opponents as clearly demonstrated by their lucky double overtime win Saturday night against the lowly Detroit Pistons.

That this happened just a week after the Lakers played poorly and lost to the same Pistons by 15 points and just two days after playing their best half of the season to crush the Denver Nuggets only adds to the frustration. While Frank Vogel is not going to lose sleep over the Lakers’ disturbing tendency to play down to the level of lessor opponents, it’s still a bad habit for a team seeking to repeat as NBA champions and needs to be addressed.

Here are three simple ideas Frank Vogel could easily implement to cure the Lakers’ obvious motivational problems against lessor opponents: (1) Make the Game Fun, (2) Respect the Opponent, and (3) Practice Good Habits.

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1. MAKE THE GAME FUN

It’s easy for NBA coaches and players to forget the game of basketball is fun, especially during a long and trying regular season without cheering and adoring fans in the stands exulting every play and celebrating every basket. Lakers players seem to have the most fun when the team is wildly flying around trapping, doubling, and rotating on defense and relentlessly pushing the pace and fast breaking on offense. So let them play that way.

Stop the vanilla one-on-one defense that allows other teams to stay close and the boring repetitive isolation offense with everybody standing around and free the players to attack on defense, run on offense, and just have fun.

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2. RESPECT THE OPPONENT

Nothing is more disrespectful of an opponent than to treat a game with them as a trap game and that’s exactly what the Lakers’ coaching staff has done too often, sitting star players and forgetting every team can beat you. Game plan for the Pistons like you did for the Nuggets, give Grant and Jackson the same respect you gave Jokic and Murray, and come out and play like the Lakers instead of watering down your offense and defense.

The ‘trap’ in trap games refers to doing things differently due to disrespect, which starts with the coaching staff deciding how to approach the game and ends up with the team playing down to the level of their opponent.

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3. PRACTICE GOOD HABITS

NBA teams complain about never having time to practice and how games often become substitutes for practice but the reality is games against lessor opponents usually end up ignoring good habits and practicing bad habits. That’s actually the biggest concern with playing down to the level of your opponent, which is why it’s important for the Lakers to play the same style of basketball against lessor opponents that they play against top teams.

The most important game is always the next game and the most important opponent the next opponent, which is why it’s necessary to play the schedule one game at a time and use every game to practice good habits.

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The Lakers are trying build an identity as a team that’s committed to defense first and the aggressive defensive formula they’re deploying is to attack the top stars on each opponent with traps and doubles whether bigs or smalls. While there may be tweaks depending on whom they’re playing, the style the Lakers want to play shouldn’t vary greatly. Attack on defense and run on offense. That’s the championship blueprint they should bring every game.

The Lakers need to to make the game fun, respect the opponent, and practice good habits, which means treating each game and opponent as the most important. If they do that, they won’t have to worry about ‘trap’ games.

In a league where great offense commonly beats great defense, the Los Angeles Lakers have built a championship team around a set of defensive principles that are redefining how defense is played in the modern NBA.

These defensive principles represent a dramatic transformation in how to defend modern analytically driven offenses where unstoppable superstars dominate the ball while surrounded by cadres of dead eye 3-point shooters. While related, these three principles form the heart of the Lakers’ defensive philosophy: defenses need to act rather than react, defenses should leave no man on an island, and defense is just offense without the ball.

The symbiosis behind the evolution of the Lakers’ innovative championship defensive philosophy was the serendipitous pairing of defensive coaching genius Frank Vogel and modern defensive center unicorn Anthony Davis. Just as Draymond Green enabled the Warriors’ innovative switch everything Death Lineup to succeed, Anthony Davis has given coach Vogel the perfect modern center to anchor the Lakers swarming attack dog team defense.

The transition from the passive drop coverage the Lakers’ centers had been playing on ball screens to the aggressive hedging, trapping, and doubling they trusted in the playoffs set the stage for an offseason roster makeover. They replaced older less mobile defenders like McGee, Howard, and Green with younger, quicker, and longer players like Schroder, Harrell, and Horton-Tucker who could thrive in a fast rotating team oriented defense.

So let’s take a closer look at how each of the three defensive principles upon which the Lakers have built their aggressive swarming ‘attack dog’ defense work and how they’ve contributed to the Lakers’ defensive transformation:

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1. DEFENSES NEED TO ACT RATHER THAN REACT

This is the core principle Lakers’ head coach Frank Vogel has embraced in his defensive evolution from a coach who before the Lakers had built his career on the philosophy defense started inside-out with rim protection. Abandoning passive drop coverage schemes designed to stop shots at the rim for an aggressive outside-in perimeter defense strategy designed to prevent players from getting into the paint was a revolutionary move .

It also was exactly the kind of innovative defensive scheme that takes full advantage of a modern mobile defensive center like Anthony Davis who can both protect the rim and switch and guard smaller players on the perimeter. More importantly, the Lakers’ swarming ‘attack dog’ defense with its traps, hedges, and doubles is exactly what the Lakers need to disrupt the perimeter focused 3-point dominant offenses that dominate the NBA.

The Lakers’ decision to dump McGee and Howard and abandon drop coverage schemes for an aggressive swarming proactive strategy was a first step to a defense that attacks rather than reacts to offensive actions.

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2. DEFENSES SHOULD LEAVE NO MAN ON AN ISLAND

The seemingly unstoppable transcendent offensive skills and talent of the superstar players who dominate the NBA today have transformed the cliche that ‘great offense can beat great defense’ into a harsh every game reality. Throw in the analytics preference for layups and threes and most NBA offenses now focus on getting to the rim for an easy basket, driving and dishing for a dunk, or driving and kicking to an open shooter for a three.

Stopping ball handlers from getting into the paint thus becomes defenses’ greatest priority and most NBA teams do this by having help defenders cheat and create a wall and having bigs play drop coverage to clog the paint. The Lakers have instead decided to trap, hedge, and double ball handlers off ball screens to prevent them from beating single coverage and penetrating and relying on multiple coordinated quick rotations to plug any holes.

It’s a gambling scrambling style of defense that leaves no man on an island and focuses on forcing the ball out of the hands of opposing teams’ stars and forcing offenses to adjust to the Lakers’ defense rather than vice versa.

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3. DEFENSE IS JUST OFFENSE WITHOUT THE BALL

The idea that defense is just offense without the ball is the mortar that holds the Lakers’ defensive philosophy together. It’s the guiding principle that transforms activity over passivity and team over individual into a system. Approaching defense as offense without the ball fundamentally refocuses everything a team does on the defensive end. The goal becomes to attack rather than just react, to create advantages in numbers and matchups.

Just as offenses run plays to create 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 advantages, the Lakers’ swarming traps and doubles are plays designed to create chaos and force ball handlers to give up the ball to players not as talented or as dangerous. Like many offenses that ‘hunt’ weak defenders, the Lakers’ defense seeks to take the ball out of the hands of other teams’ best scorers and playmakers and put in the hands of less skilled and more mistake prone role players.

The Lakers’ swarming ‘attack dog’ team defense is just offense without the ball and a defensive style that creates mismatches and forces turnovers that ignite the lethal fast break opportunities that blow games wide open.

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It’s important to remember that the Lakers swarming ‘attack dog’ defense is still very much a work in progress and far from the finished product playoff opponents are likely to face. Right now, it’s still in the experimental stage. Coach Vogel is still adjusting the system to accommodate his new personnel. The Lakers also still need a mobile modern defensive center who can both protect the rim and switch and defend smaller players on the perimeter.

Right now, the Lakers are in the same regular season mode as last year with Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell mimicking JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard by eating up minutes at the center to save wear and tear on AD. Once the playoffs start, the Lakers will go small and revert to their swarming ‘attack dog’ team defense with a combination of Davis with Harrell or Morris manning the four and five and Marc Gasol becoming JaVale McGee.

This offseason, the Lakers will likely look to make a major move to bring in a modern two way center like Myles Turner, Chris Boucher, or Christian Wood so they can stretch the floor on offense and defend all levels on defense. That’s what the Lakers need more than a third superstar to build another dynasty and they’ve done a commendable job accumulating a portfolio of valuable trading chips to be able to pull off such a trade this next offseason.

In the meantime, the Lakers have a vision for present and the future that’s built upon a swarming ‘attack dog’ team defense that’s the perfect weapon to counter today’s analytic driven, superstar dominated modern offenses.

Rallying behind the swarming ‘small ball’ defense that won their 17th championship, the Los Angeles Lakers held the Denver Nuggets to 35 points in the second half and under 100 points for the first time this season.

With a lock down second half, the Lakers’ top ranked defense dismantled the Nuggets’ offense, shut down Denver superstars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, and turned a 12-point halftime deficit into a 114–93 blowout. Aggressively hedging, trapping, and doubling Jokic and Murray in the second half, the Lakers’ scrambling ‘small ball’ defense held Nikola to just 13 points on 6–16 shooting and Jamal to 20 points on 7–17 shooting.

After struggling over the last four games of a long road trip, the Lakers and LeBron James were ready to make a statement game against the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic, whom they beat 4–1 in last season’s conference semifinals. Fresh from breaking the red hot Utah Jazz’s 11-game win streak and buoyed by Nikola Jokic’s career best 47 points, the Nuggets were seeking a major revenge and redemption game against the world champion Lakers.

Unfortunately, the Lakers were the team to make a statement. After the high powered Nuggets’ offense scored 58 points in the first half, Frank Vogel turned to the Lakers’ ‘small ball’ defense that won the championship. Essentially benching starting center Marc Gasol 5 minutes into the second half, Vogel then unleashed the swarming, trapping, and doubling small ball defense the Lakers had surprised teams with to dominate the playoffs.

With the more mobile Anthony Davis and Montrezl Harrell playing center, the Lakers’ defense suffocated the Nuggets’ offense and created a chaos of turnovers and missed shots that triggered waves of Lakers fast break points. The killer was a 15–0 Lakers’ run to finish the 3rd quarter that transformed a 12-point Lakers halftime deficit into an 8-point Lakers lead that grew as big as 25 points as both teams emptied their benches to close the game.

The Lakers’ top ranked defense had a defensive rating of 96.9 for the game and 72.9 for the second half. The turnover fueled Lakers’ offense posted an offensive rating of 117.5 for the game and then 138.8 for the second half. LeBron James recorded his 94th career triple double and single handedly put an end to the budding Nikola Jokic for MVP campaign with a dominant 27-point, 10-rebound, and 10-assist totally MVP worthy performance.

Game balls to LeBron for his triple double, Dennis for his 21 points and inspiring loose ball double dive, THT for his 17-point, 3-rebound, 2-assist, and 3-steal masterpiece, and AD, Trezz, and Kuzma for energy at both ends. While the Lakers are regaining their championship mojo, there are still questions: Has Marc Gasol become this season’s JaVale McGee? When will Anthony Davis start to play like the second best player on the planet?

For now, the Lakers proved they can still ‘flip the switch’ into championship mode. The challenge will be to stay focused with big games looming this month against the Nuggets in Denver, the Nets in LA, and the Jazz in Utah.