5 THINGS

It was going to happen eventually. At some point the Lakers were going to win…we hoped. Turns out it was against a team they had played days earlier in the Denver Nuggets. We had some different looks for the Joker, made shots like you gotta do, and played with energy, focus and poise throughout. You could even call this a blueprint game, something to build off of.

1. Westbrook off the bench and it’s working. Not gonna lie, thought theis wouldn’t happen for another 10-15 games. Good to see that coach Ham has the locker room enough to make this happen with the kind of impact. It’s also a credit to Westbrook to putting the team before his desires. In the end this isn’t about any single player, coach or person. Team sports need team buy-in and team execution and we saw that all on display last night. Russ might be cantankerous with the media, and honestly why shouldn’t he be? I rarely read about teammates not getting along with Russ. Except KD. Go figure on that one… Anyhow, game ball goes to both coach and player for making this possible quicker than I thought possible. Russ had great impact off the bench, closed the game out with a stellar defensive play and the Lakers are going to need a lot more of the same.
2. AD playing toughish. When he grabbed his back after that tip in I thought he would be out for a week. He stayed in, kept making plays, and sounded like a guy who will at least try to play on Wednesday. Davis and his much maligned toughness and stamina changed that narrative a bit, if only for one night, and helped keep the Lakers in the game in which he took zero three pointers. At this point I’ll take what I can get. If he doesn’t trust his shot, I don’t want him shooting. We got a whole season to work that out in the lab…off the court…where the game ain’t on the line. We know he can take them and make them, he just needs to get that back into his brain. For now I’ll take dominant low post threat AD and the defense that comes with it. 15 big rebounds, 6 offensive and the last one loomed large indeed. At this point it’s hard to worry about when, or if, we’ll ever see Bubble AD again. My guess is not too soon and we should all accept that this is the player he is now. If the other one Hyde’s back in at some point, awesome.
3. Reaves finding some kind of aggression. It must be easy to choose the backseat when you look across the floor at LeBron James, Anthony Davis or Russell Westbrook. To just sort of believe they’ll shoot the shot. This team doesn’t need another guy trying to find AD, LBJ or Russ. This team needs guys that shoot the shot off their passes without over-think or under-reacting. Shoot. The. Dang. Shot. Reaves has been too tentative in a lot of games this season. He’s always trying hard, which is wonderful. He’s got a high hoops IQ, which is great. He’s got some solid NBA skills that compliment the team, which we’ve all seen. What he’s not is aggressive. In the first half he was basically a no-show. With Kendrick Nunn looking more like trade fodder than a guy with a role on this team the last 4 games we need Austin Reaves to up his aggression. Let open shots fly, take it to the hole when they close out and take it hard. Make the extra pass if tyhe play requires it but chances are you ARE the recipient of that extra pass so do your job. Bottle last night’s game and bring it back to the arena most nights.
4. Kendrick Nunn’s defense or lack thereof. With the rep of a gunner…but one who could at least contribute on D, I was hoping for more from the Kendrick Nunn “I’m back!” tour. I don’t know if this is rust getting knocked off, if he’s always been this streaky (and not in a Nick Young “it’s fun to watch” way but in a painful “oh Trevor Ariza is on this team?” way) or what but Nunn looked like he got benched pretty quickly last night. Only Damien Jones (2) played fewer minutes than Nunn’s 3. He made his only three. We need him to play or we need to find him a new home. We can’t have a guy who takes up that much cap space fall into the ‘DNP-coaches decision’ pile. Nunn and Patrick Beverley are starting to creep up to Russ in terms of the trade I see happening first. You could trade Nunn and Pat Bev for a decent player…along with one of our FRPs. Beverley and Nunn are both expiring deals totally $18.25 mil. Enough for Buddy or Myles. Enough for a lot of guys that could help this squad in any number of ways. Both are struggling here but could be swapped to a team looking to jettison a contract they don’t value but could help us. Don’t be surprised if these guys get traded before Westbrook does.
5. Lonnie Walker’s efficiency. I like that he attacks like he does, I just want him to be better at it. Walker has been fitting in pretty well. Do i think he should have been one of the first deals we made? Not really but a lot of the guys I was hoping we could sign signed for more elsewhere. Of course, LW$ being a of the Klutch Kabal only made it more galling on a personal level since I feel like Rob is basically money laundering for Klutch at this point. Regardless, LW4 has been showing up on both ends and has been one of the more consistent performers on this team so far.

We’re nowhere near out of the woods but a few other teams in front of us are stumbling out of the gates, too. Opens it up a little more for us getting that first win. Now we need to string some together, start by winning out the last 3 games of the home stand. Congrats to George Mikan and his family for the jersey retirement and thanks to “Big Game” James Worthy for presenting. You know what would have happened if it were Rob or Jeannie.

Not going to lie, this isn’t an inspiring topic to write about these days. The sad state of affairs that the Los Angeles Lakers have become is on full display for all to see. The faults and flaws in the foundation are plain to see for all. Most of us round these parts saw this season coming roughly 8-9 months ago. Some think a trade can fix most of it, some don’t. For now though, this is the Laker team we’re all forced to stomach and, to put it bluntly, it ain’t pretty.

1. “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”-Stephen Covey. In this case that would be putting the ball in the basket better. Simple, right? In the case of the Lakers who swung wildly from one side of the NBA equation to the other, yet again, this summer evidently not. One has to wonder at this point why Wenyan Gabriel is on the team and Carmelo Anthony is not. I would play Melo in front of Gabriel, JTA, Troy Brown Jr., Jones and Ryan. Unsigned. This team needs someone besides LeBron who can score from the outside. That ain’t Anthony Davis, not on this team. Probably not ever again. Sooner he and everyone else accepts that and plays and adjusts accordingly the better for everyone, Davis included. I’m sure there will be games where he heats up, that jumper is falling, but he took three outside the paint shots last night, one of which was a three pointer. He ain’t stretching jack shit. It’s not the coach, it’s not the system, it’s not that lack of other floor spacers it is the player.
2. “Well, you can put lipstick on a hog and call it Monique, but it’s still a pig.”-Gov. Ann Richards. In this case that would be the, shall we say anemic, Lakers bench. There was no way to look at this without wondering where points would come from. JTA’s career average is 4.8 ppg. Wenyan Gabriel 3.5 ppg. Troy Brown Jr. 6.4 ppg, impressive for this squad and I can see why coach Ham is excited about the young lad. Austin Reaves is 7.2 but that’s based off his empty calorie season here last year when he scored 7.3 ppg and this season is a more accurate representation of both his role and impact at 5.5 ppg. Damion Jones 5.6 ppg. That’s 27.5 ppg, on average from 5 players and I’m keeping Reaves on the bench in this because he shouldn’t be a starter. Yes, that does exclude the streaky Kendrick Nunn and his 14.7 ppg. Currently he’s at an also anemic 5.5 ppg. That 9.2 point differential is the biggest issue confronting the Lakers right now. Without it the Laker bench is averaging 33 ppg. This season, small sample size though it may be, the Laker bench is averaging 22.8 PPG, next to last behind Philly. 9.2 points gets us to an even 32 ppg.
3. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”-Stephen King. There is actually talent on this team. It just isn’t working right. Now this may come back to, as James mentioned in his post gamer, a lack of familiarity. If that’s the case, good, there is nowhere to go but up. However, if we recall the lesson’s of last season and the pratfalls of what preseason can inform us, this team is actually great at working hard. There truly isn’t enough talent. Trade or no trade we are relying on a bench of cast off players. We have at least 3 end of the bench guys in featured roles and that’s without major injuries. Can Thomas Bryant and/or Schroder really be the answer to this equation? It’s hard for me to see that as the answer.
4. “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.”-Anthony Trollope. This pearl of wisdom has been used often and successfully in my life. When people clamored to trade Gasol or Walton or Danny Green or any number of contributing role-players whom could find fault in (protip: you will find fault in all things if that is what you are looking for and that one’s all me) I would post some version of that quote. However, in this season, I don’t think that’s true. The real question is, given the assets we have to ship out, is there a deal out there to improve that? This topic will define the Lakers season and it’s one that can’t be answered by fans. Few questions or issues can. Personally, I’m dubious. I feel like we burned this season two summers ago when we let all of our modular contract players go via the trade for Russ and let Caruso and Schroder walk for nothing. This is the price of ineptitude. The only question is do they choose the band aid or let the rot fall away?
5. “Far from being the end, death marks the start of a series of events that together complete the circle of life. From the decomposition of plant litter by worms, which captured Darwin’s attention, to the decay of a giant whale corpse at the bottom of the sea, the process of decay recycles the dead and resupplies the building blocks of life.”-Cyrus Martin. Extreme, I know. But this one gives me a faint whiff of hope. Watching LeBron is fun, he can’t do it on his own, he needs more talent. That can come in the form of Kyle Kuzma (the Lakers LOVE reunions!!!), Jerami Grant or Myles Turner (signed for zero draft picks!) next summer. This season will be wasted. Sure, the Buddy/Myles trade might vault us back into the playin convo. Any trade tossed out that’s the ceiling. Maybe not Kyrie and Curry but I doubt the Nets bite unless things really cave and they just look to pull the plug on the whole shebang and take what they can get. A true fire sale. Still, it ain’t up to me and I still have a Russ trade happening at 50/50 odds…in February.

“The now-ubiquitous ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ phrase was chosen for its clear message of ‘sober restraint’ and was coined by the shadow Ministry of Information at some point between 27 June and 6 July 1939.”-Wikipedia (they could use a donation, btw, lol). It’s just basketball. It can be fun to watch, this is generally speaking not too much fun, moreso to talk/type about as in the moment of watching the game I’m enjoying myself. it’s the Russ bashing, predictable ineptitude of Rob, and the overall erosion of a team I did enjoy watching into this muddy mess that’s hard to find the fun in. C’est la vie. Go Lakers.

Guess it’s time to start cranking these out. Not going to sugarcoat it, these 5ers will likely follow the same trend I’m already seeing from the Lakers themselves. Defense needs to be on point nightly, need to value possessions, scoring will be difficult if the player isn’t named LeBron James or Anthony Davis. This was an issue anyone could see coming a mile away if you had any experience simply watching basketball. Evidently Rob is just now discovering the value of shooting on a roster that isn’t in the form of a 35+ year old player. Crazy, I know…

1. Team almost. We almost beat the Clippers. Whee. Didn’t realize we’re giving out participation trophies after the 2nd game of the season now. We didn’t and that’s what the record at the end of the season will reflect. If this was OKC it might be newsworthy. We are not. We have perhaps the greatest player of all time who at 37 going on 38 tied for the game high in minutes played at 37 minutes played (fellow Klutch Kancer, er, Klient Lonnie Walker IV also played 37 minutes, unfortunately). That is what is known as unsustainable and unintelligent. Almost gets you nothing.
2. AD’s latest, greatest injury concern. That didn’t take too long. For those on “AD Injury Watch 2022!” your wait is over. AD took a hard fall after biting on a Kawhi Leonard fake, fell over the self-same player, and landed hard on his already balky back. This after yet another off-season of great work put in, healthiest he’s ever felt, blah blah blah. Here’s another one for Team Almost: Anthony Davis is almost healthy, which means he’s not, which means he’s thinking about it, which means he’s compromised on the court. You saw it in the last 25-30 seconds of the game: AD gets the ball on the three point line with the Lakers down 4 and a wide open three in front of him! His play to win the game was to begin a meandering dribble inside the arc that wasted another 8 or 9 seconds but did result in a tough LW4 floater that changed an 8 for 20 night into 9 for 21! Lakers lose. The dude needs to get outta his head but I don’t see that happening.
3. 1-25. Astounding that three players could create such a futile looking stat. Yet here we are. That we…almost…won the game with that stat as a backdrop should be some kind of accomplishment. Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverley built themselves a house, 2 car garage and a shed last night. Here’s a prediction: this won’t be the last time we see something like this from the Lakers until the front office finally waves the white flag and admits ineptitude.
4. Speaking of ineptitude. Remember when we traded Zubac for Beasley and Muscala? Yeah, me too. There is a place in the game for centers who do center things like set good screens, hit shots in the paint and (I know this is crazy because I’m not going to type “shoot threes”) rebound. Zublaca did all that and more last night and was absolutely rock solid for the Clippers last night. Solid like someone you can depend on to cover the paint on defense. Solid like he’s fleet of foot enough to hang with AD on the perimeter. Solid like he had as many blocked shots as our whole team. Sometimes you don’t need flash to get it done. Sometimes you just need solid.
5. The construction of this roster is worse than last season. I find it astounding to type but it is true. At least last season we had skill and talent. This year we have youngish. In all the wrong ways. Reaves looks like he’s trying but still doesn’t have the skills, body mass or foundation to defend the kind of NBA players he’ll get switched onto. JTA can’t shoot. Matt Ryan can’t do much else and even that he ain’t elite at. This is the consequence of two choices and neither is the Westbrook trade: when we let Dennis Schroder 1.0 and Alex Caruso walk for no compensation whatsoever we didn’t just lose players we lost cap placeholders that gave the front office more tools to improve the teams. We’ve got two MLE signings, Beverley and three guys making a combined $130 million dollars. The cap this season is $123. You won’t get good value on a Beverley trade. You won’t get enough back in a Russ trade, although you hopefully break that massive sum up into a t least 2 players. None of those things are happening this calendar year.

Buckle up. I expect we’ll have a lot of almost games. Games where we defend stoutly, take care of the ball, and even make our free throws but it won’t be enough because we have a roster full of NBA cast-offs and after thoughts. That ain’t on Russ. That ain’t on AD and his numerous injuries. That ain’t on The King. That’s on Rob and Jeannie.

Go Lakers.

Not much to say. Hard to blame this on Russ. Kings just beat us in all facets.

1) Only LeBron scored double-digit points. Some of these guys are fighting just to stick in the league. Be hungrier.

2) Kings got what they want. Coach Ham wants to be a defensive coach. Frank Vogel was a defensive coach. Rob builds defenseless rosters. Something gotta give.

3) Kings kills is in the paint. Since we missed just under 60% of our shots it let Sacramento get out on the break. A lot. So that’s a fun issue that hopefully doesn’t define us already.

4) Bad offense. I saw all those nice looking plays in the playbook the other day. Didn’t really see them executed on the floor last night. Sweet.

4) AD out with whatever, who cares. Dude is fragile. Physically, mentally, who knows maybe spiritually, too. He’ll never “take the mantle” or “grab the reigns” or whatever colloquialism you choose to insert. When your hopes rest on the fine China making it through the 82 game grind you might be pinning the tail wrong.

5) Russ out. Hopefully he’s Ok but it’s hard not seeing this as just being disgruntled at the idea of coming off the bench. Since we’re a tax payer team Russ really costs us $94 mil. He’s not going to be paid to stay home. They’re not going to rush a trade. Buddy and Myles don’t fix this roster, they just add two more guys who won’t play in the last 5 minutes. This season was lost last summer.

I’m already seeing the cracks that will become unfillable fissures. We have 3 or 4 glue guys, a couple motor guys and nobody good. When you can only use minimum contracts to fill out 10+ roster spots this is what you get. Want to hope Rob is at least learning something from all this but, honestly, I doubt it.

Go Lakers.

Frankly, it’s not about the wins or losses but the habits that are formed in preseason. You want to see your best players looking ready to play their best. You want to see role-players who look hungry when put into a situation where that role expands. Above all you want to see the team play hard and just compete at a high level. All those boxes got checked last night.

1. Davis looking dominant. Between his legs still coming back into shape from the bubble-2020-21 season grind to his wrist injury it has been awhile since AD looked like AD. This preseason looks different. He’s moving better, playing stronger, and he’s looking smooth in every facet of the game. The best indicator of his legs and arms being right in terms of shooting has been his return to elite status from the free throw line. Davis imposed his will on whomever the Warriors sent his way scoring inside and out, making plays on the defensive end, and generally showing everyone he’s back. Bring that game into the regular season, stay healthy, and the narrative around this team changes instantly.
2. Kendrick Nunn making everyone a believer. I love how Kendrick has showed up this preseason. Looking fully healed from The Bone Bruise That Would Not Heal we are seeing exactly what the Lakers were missing all of last season. I love the idea of Nunn coming off the bench and being the first option in that unit as opposed to Russ or Beverley. Nunn can get his own shot, is excellent on catch and shoot plays, and is decent enough on defense to be included in potential closing line ups. As the first option of the bench unit he can just go out and play freely and get buckets without worrying about stepping on anyone’s role.
3. Both Two-Ways should focus on improving in the G league. I like the potential in both Christie’s and Pippen Jr’s game, but I don’t need to see them work out how to make it work on the game’s biggest stage this season. Both are too raw for significant roles on the real team, for now, but could certainly see some spot duty later this season. Pippen is crafty with the ball and, like his Pop, has a solid all-around game minus the elite size/skill combo. Christie has the tools and mind set of a potential elite defender but just needs to get reps in everything we’re doing which is exactly what the G league is for. Both can use time just getting shots up at real game speed.
4. Thomas Bryant looking free and fiery. I just love how Thomas Bryant attacks the game of basketball. I well remember all the talk about his skills and abilities while he languished on the Laker bench only to see him get away for nothing (a common theme for the Laker front office) and sign with Washington. Back again but with some NBA pedigree and a fire that missing most of a season (but with a summer of work) gives a player, Bryant is the best player to start, in my opinion. It gives the first unit someone who wants to get down the court on the break every play. That’s not LeBron, anymore, and I want AD in the paint on defense as much as possible for altering shots and rebounding. Bryant is fast, he can score in a variety of ways in the paint with athletic finishes or nifty jump hooks and he has a three ball to help in the half court. Jones just has a less dynamic game and he picks up fouls. Fast. Let him be a solid addition to the second unit and let’s go.
5. Wenyan Gabriel trying to stick. I like Wenyan’s hustle and he has the physical tools to be an impactful defender. He had some real nice plays last night but his attention to detail can wane, often in key moments when he gets caught looking. He’s still raw (77 NBA games played in total, not even a full season’s worth) and he needs the right role to give him the best chance to succeed, however. Is that on this team? We need guys with size and he’s quick enough to hang with most wings. I can see him being the primary backup to AD or I can see him as the 15th guy on the bench. He doesn’t have a great stroke but he’s athletic. I would put him in with the best second unit guys and see what he has early but could see his minutes go to someone with a more developed and specialized skillset (Ryan, Christie or Harrison, should he make the team over Ryan).

Kudos to Matt Ryan showing everyone who can shoot. Took 9 threes, made six and hit a couple from the stripe. Shaquille Harrison is making more money (due to service time) and is a far better defender but Ryan has the ability to suck a defense out of the paint when he’s hot, as he was last night. We’re talking about the last guy on the roster unless Gabriel is waived, which I don’t see happening but certainly could, so it’s not a team altering choice. Basically comes down to what coach Ham values more: shooting or defense.