5 THINGS

Even the superstars have an off night. For the Lakers, this was the case for both Reaves and Luka as both players had an off night scoring the basketball. They did keep the ball moving and it was to their benefit because on a night that both Doncic and Reaves will quickly put behind them, their teammates stepped up. That’s why you trust in the team, the stronger the team, the easier the road.

1. Jake LaRavia finding his place. With the injuries, games missed and overall rotational chaos to kcik off the season it was kind of easy to overlook Jake’s arrival as a Laker. Luka’s extension and LeBron’s mood dominated headlines all summer long. So, while everyone acknowledged the signing was a positive one for thew Lakers, I don’t think anyone saw this level of potential impact. To put it plainly, Jake’s on a solid little 2 game tear right now. He’s hitting from three, he’s scoring at the rim, and you generally count on him to make the right play. He was 10-13 from the floor, 2-3 from three point land, and grabbed 8 boards. Jake’s role is largely undefined and his skill set fits that perfectly. Dude just plays hard and plays smart. That’s a solid combo and, while the league is filled with specialists, it’s worth noting that guys who, in Coach Reddick’s words “can just play”, are good at everything has it’s upside. I don’t expect Jake to score or have statistical impact high enough to be considered a sixth man of the year candidate, but he was the Lakers best player off the bench last night by a country mile.
2. Hayes stepped up. With Ayton a late scrub due to back spasms, Hayes showed he can be a pro and was ready to step in and fill the void. He even hit a 3! There’s a world Jaxson Hayes is a better defender, and I hope he becomes one in this world, but the lack of defensive timing and footwork is what’s holding him back more than anything else. He can pass well, has a decent handle for a big man, is athletic as the day is long and has a great attitude. He just fouls too much instead of properly contesting shots. I’ll add he almost never gets the benefit of the doubt from the whistle but that’s a reflection of how often he gets caught reaching and leaning.
3. Marcus Smart winning me over. I’ll admit, Marcus Smart was my least favorite pick-up of the summer. He looked over-the-hill and burnt out in Memphis (although that now looks like a culture issue as much as anything else which tracks) and he’s getting up there for a modern NBA guard. Marcus set the tone early and was a solid contributor throughout the game. Other than the tech he caught for taunting the Miami bench (which I actually didn’t mind much since it seemed like they were the one’s chirping), he was a force for good all game long.
4. Bronny’s great 4th quarter. With injuries to many key players, Dalton not being able to keep up with the pace the Heat played at (although he did make a three and is looking more like last season’s early version of DK4) it was Bronny James who was playing late into the 4th quarter and was a key contributor on defense. His stat line won’t jump off the page: 18 minutes, 1-4 , 0-2 from three with 2 assists and no turnovers. But his 3 steals were clutch, especially since 2 of them came during a stretch in the 4th when Miami was making a push. He passed up some open looks I’d just as soon see him take (one an open 3 and the other when he drove across the lane and nobody really picked him up…those are the shots you have to take when the defense gives them to you), but overall Bronny showed why his defense could be his calling card in his young NBA career.
5. Coach Reddick and his growth and regression. One of the things that irked me about Darvin ham was how slow to adjust he could be. Reddick was the same, last season, when it would take 2-3 games to make an adjustment to what were clearly tactics to take us out of our comfort zones as a team. Fast forward to last night and the pressure the Heat applied to our guards in the back court was easily released by having screeners in the backcourt, having a 3rd player come back for a pass ahead to break the pressure and it was very pleasing to me to see us quickly adapt to teams that want to switch up the coverage in the backcourt. We didn’t deal with Portland’s full court press well at all 4 games ago (a good test for that will be tonight) and since then we’ve see 2 teams try and emulate that pressure but the Lakers being a lot better prepared to counter it. That’s the primary function of the coaching staff: having the players prepared for unexpected scenarios. Where Reddick regressed was losing his shit on national TV…again…and stomping all over the court, yelling at his team on the sideline, and looking like an angry teenager. Dude. Learn the ways of the Zen Master, Mr. Phil Jackson, and take a page from his book of cool. I get it, Hayes wasn’t rotating properly and nobody picked up cutters for like 3 plays in a row on defense late in the game. Just do your job without the hysterics and the drama, nobody reacts well to that. If Jaxson Hayes came to the sideline screaming, yelling, flailing his arms like a bratty kid you’d send him to the locker room and rightly so. You really think grown men are going to take your tantrum well? If there’s major knock against Reddick is that it’s known fact that he will lose his cool. Whether it will cost us games or not is the question. Last night it did not.

First off, I don’t have, nor will I ever pay for, Amazon Prime. I think it really stinks that the league is putting games on that platform. I do not give money to Amazon, if it can be avoided, and as such won’t have anything to say about those games. But last night’s game, that I got plenty to say.

1. Reaves. If you’ve been paying attention ’round these parts you will know that I’ve been pretty consistent in my stance on Reaves as a Laker. They’re all in, he’s all in and the rest will get sorted this summer. His “worth” is a curious question because a lot of lakers fans act as if he’s the first player to be better on offense than he is on defense. News flash: that’s a good 65-70% of NBA players. Where Reaves is different is that he can go get 50 in a solo act or seamlessly mesh into the background as the 3rd option and he plays the exact same way. No carping like Kuminga about his minutes or role, he just goes out and plays hard. I even think he tries his best on defense it’s just that he doesn’t have much in his back pocket and can get moved around by bigger players quite easily. Again, news flash: that’s a lot of guards in the NBA. Point is, the Lakers have long publicly stated that it would take a “can’t say no” offer. Heck, the Lakers even managed to keep Reaves AND trade for Luka. If that doesn’t tell you what he’s worth to Rob and Jeannie I’m not sure what will. At any rate, Austin was masterful last night but my favorite moment was during his post game interview on Spectrum Sports Net right after the game when they informed him of the elite company he had just joined in the 50 As A Laker club and the even smaller 50 points/10 rebounds club. One assist would have meant creating a club unto himself. His reaction? “Oh, I don’t deserve all that. It’s a team game.” Dude…get-the-fawk-outta-here. If that’s not the perfect response I don’t know what is. To top it he listed, multiple times that he had to step up his game with “Luka, LeBron and Jax” missing. Everyone would have put the first 2 on the list, adding Hayes shows what caliber of teammate Reaves is. A most excellent one, indeed.
2. A tale of 2 Rui’s. I was as pumped as anyone watching Hachimura dissect the Kings defense like a surgeon in the first quarter. Three ball, post moves, midrange, open dunks: all of it was working like a Swiss watch. Then came the rest of the game and Rui vanished for just about all of it until he woke again to help close it out. It’s the aggression in his game for 48 that Rui needs to work on more than anything else. Especially with Luka and LeBron out, we cannot afford Hachimura to ghost the 2nd and 3rd quarters and then re-appear in the 4th. We need 48 strong minutes from the dude.
3. DeAndre Ayton’s best game yet. Ayton seems to play better off of Reaves and Vincent than he does Luka and I think I know why. Luka makes plays and passes nobody else sees, including his teammates. So, if you’re not mentally ready for the pass it takes a second to recognize what’s happening around you at a quicker pace than you’re ready for. Vincent and Reaves set things up a little more normally. Luka is almost too good for Ayton. I love how hard Ayton is playing, he’s running up and down the court like a G-Leaguer, he’s playing stout defense, and if we can work out the kinks between his scoring and Luka’s elite passing we have something to build on for a couple of years. Ayton is also likely just finding a level of comfort in an offense that, in all honesty, still hasn’t been fully fleshed because of the LeBron-sized hole in it. So, keeping all of that in mind, I have been very pleased on Ayton’s performance thus far.
4. The Old Guard(s). Vincent left with a badly rolled ankle (left the arena in a walking boot which is never a good sign, X-rays were negative though so hoping for the bets) which means I’d normally type “which means Marcus Smart will likely slide into his role” except we saw Marcus Smart getting his knee checked out, went back to the locker room, but returned to play in the 4th although he didn’t do much. A lot is riding on the health of these 2 dudes, especially with Luka and LeBron being out. I won’t be one bit surprised if both Smart and Vincent were already scheduled for rest days for today’s back-to-back but that just ends up putting a ton of pressure on Reaves and the pressed into duty last night Chis Manan. I hope Smart is OK but this was a big reason why I wasn’t as stoked about picking him up for the price we paid as a lot of other Lakers fans. After a rough first game he’s even out and blended his hustle and grit better but if he can’t play none of that really matters.
5. Jake LaRavia’s big game. Jake is going to get some time to shine for at least a couple more games. I like his overall level of play. I don’t like his inbounds passing and, overall, he needs to find better passing angles. Flat passes led to quite a few transition buckets off of steals for the Kings last night. The good news: that’s an easy to fix error. Jake is a real potential gem we can develop for a couple seasons, so I think it’s good he’s in the mix of the rotation. His first goal should be to work the passing angles better and not back down from his man. Learn where the contact is being applied from and use it against your defender and you’ll open a whole new level to your game.

There were other positives or things to critique. I feel like Reddick is still moody as the day is long in losses, that Vando needs to really apply himself when he attacks the rim (and just keep shooting those open 3’s man) and that we’re a good guard short based on what it looks like Vincent’s and Smart’s availability will be early on but that there are a lot of really solid pieces on the team right now that look like good building blocks.

That’s not even close to the haul they’ll get. Should read “Best Trade the Lakers Can Make In-Season” lol. They’re going to get better than that, should he ask out now, guaranteed.

According to ESPN (so dubious, at best) the Knicks were the team he’d go to this summer. Evidently that is no longer the case and you’d have to expect Milwaukee will do their utmost to get enough draft assets to hit the reset button now. That’s not our offer, which is admittedly the “kitchen sink” offer we could put out there.

Honestly, for the Lakers, it would be better for him to have waited until the summer when we’d have 3 more picks to add outright along with the kitchen sink. Could have balanced the contracts better by signing and trading Rui and Reaves.

Top 5 in-season suitors:
-Bulls
-Heat
-Clippers
-Raptors
-Pistons

Top 5 summer suitors:
-Bulls
-Heat
-Raptors
-Pelicans
-Celtics

All of those teams can trade more draft picks outright and also cobble together the $$$ to make it work.