5 THINGS

While unlikely, the possibility had entered my mind that we had maybe seen the last win of the season. Given the malaise, public vibe and overall accomplishments to date it wasn’t too much of a stretch seeing just enough break wrong for us to lose out. Instead, behind a spirited game from LeBron, the Lakers were able to forge a victory and avoid a total derailment of the season.

1. Witness. We have come a long way from the first two weeks of LeBron’s season where James looked, for the first time, pretty pedestrian. 56 points on 31 shots, a rocking 6-11 from three, and 10 rebounds means we watched a very engaged and focused LeBron James. While he didn’t approach a triple double based on his 3 assists that’s more an indication of how poorly the Lakers shot overall (other than LeBron, Melo, Russ and newcomer D.J. Augustin no Laker shot above 50%). We needed everything LeBron brought and got enough from a few other sources to pull out the win.
2. Russ playing in control. Not a small amount of ink has been spilled detailing in exhausting details all the ways it doesn’t work between Russ and the Lakers. Last night, and for a few games leading up to the ASB, I’ve though Russ has not been the problem. No, he’s not a three point marksmen, yes he misses a few too many layups, and sure you could ask for fewer unforced turnovers. Those are things I often ask of LeBron James, as well, albeit generally to a lesser degree and LeBron’s superior resume’ garners him extra leeway. Last night Russ attacked the basket the way we need him to, found the open man (a stellar wrap around to Monk for a late three was particularly awesome) and, yes, he turned the ball over 5 times to LeBron’s 4. The accounted for more than half our 17 miscues and that’s not out of character. Don’t see the benefit in benching Russ either to start or end games. Are we going to start Wayne Ellington or Avery Bradley or the walking corpse of Trevor Ariza? DJ? Please…
3. Carmelo Anthony and the home crowd. I hope Melo retires a Laker, I really do. It’s just a gas to watch him play to the Crypto crowd, get juiced from the cheers when he walks up to the scorers table to check in. His scoring was a big key to the win last night, especially a dagger three to close the game out, but he delivered in all sorts of ways last night with some stout defense and 8 rebounds. Of all the vet minimums Melo has long been the best of the bunch.
4. THT’s off game. Talen had another forgettable game and it begs the question what anyone ever saw that would make you choose him over Caruso if you want to win this season. I’m sure Horton-Tucker out in good work over the summer, his physical assets are appealing from a GM standpoint, but the overall foundational skillset has yet to materialize. He still uses his long arms to reach as opposed to bodying up and moving his feet on defense, he still looks to dribble into the paint when he first catches the ball and doesn’t trust that jumper enough (I am of the opinion that his jump shot has improved but not to the degree he trusts in it enough to let fly off the catch enough). THT is one of the reasons I’m not really in favor of bringing Russ off the bench. I don’t think moving Talen to the starting five is going to jump start his game, he needs the next few summers to work on that, it won’t happen in just a summer or two. He needs to hit Defense 101 next summer and work on that footwork, he needs to figure out a way to finish better at the rim, too. He’ll top out as a mid-grade role-player otherwise.
5. Monk needs to diversify a bit. This is on a more than Malik. He’s more than a three point shooter and the Lakers need to do a better job maximizing his ability to get to the cup. Monk was 4-10 overall, 4-9 from three. That’s a much too one-dimensional use of his talents from my perspective. The coaches need to continue to encourage him to attack, his teammates need to give him the ball and clear out once in awhile. I think we can get a lot more out of Malik than we are and we can’t squander his skillset limiting him to spot up shooter, although he’s really good at that.

All in all, we got a few teams that fall into the “we should beat them” category coming up. Well, then we should go out and beat them. This team has too often fallen into the “we’re destined for something great” mode and not showing up to play hard and intensely for 48. Take it easy and we continue to flounder, still with the possibility of not making the playin very real. Compete like we did last night, even if LBJ doesn’t drop a big scoring number, and I like our chances.

Another game, another loss. The reasons to keep LeBron on the court diminish with each game. While it’s nice that LeBron has ultimate faith in his increasingly aged body the truth is we’ll need him in top form next season. Losing the first two games out of the gate post ASB have all but doomed our chances of cracking the top 6 meaning, at best, playin, again. At worst we fall completely out of the playoff picture into lottery land. A place nobody, and I mean nobody, thought the Lakers could end up this season.

1. Why LeBron should shut it down. If Russ and LeBron can’t pull wins out in the 4th quarter (and they haven’t been able to consistently do that, yet) it means we have to blow teams out. We’re not a team capable of a defensive effort that can blow teams out because of our personnel, that has been proven at this point. Thus it stands to reason that the Lakers have almost zero chance of playing at a .500 pace until Davis returns. Davis won’t return until 9ish games remain in the season and that’s a best-case-scenario right now. So, if we can’t at least tread water like we were able to during the softer portion of the schedule it means we’re only going fall further back, that LeBron will continue to try and do even more and thus risk a catastrophic, possibly career-altering injury. For what? Getting a couple hundred points closer to Kareem? Passing Wilt on the 30 points in a game list? No, if what he said a few weeks back regarding his knee not getting back to 100% until the offseason is true then let the offseason begin now.
2. Why Russ should keep playing. Really, it doesn’t matter. If he sits we have one less player to play. The only reason I would consider keeping Westbrook on the floor is that he does something to up his value in the offseason which can only be described as borderline nonexistent beyond the worth of his contract and the fact it’s expiring. If the Lakers stretch his deal this summer it would certainly give them some more tools to use to build a better roster but the pain of this season would linger on like the Deng pain we’re finally about to move past. I haven’t given much thought, yet, to the stretch idea. I’d prefer we trade him for somebody(ies).
3. Let Frank sink with the ship. Flipping Fizzy for Frank or Phil for Frank won’t turn this season around. It’s a fun dream, a cozy notion but the coach isn’t on the floor and playing Monk and Reaves a few more minutes here and there isn’t going to make this all better magically. We’ve hashed the reasons out as to why this season has been so epically bad more than enough I can repeat them by rote. The wacky rotations Frank has used are as much to blame as any other reason we suck but the roster was so poorly constructed that it cannot be ignored. I also don’t think Frank has “lost the team” which is a convenient excuse for the fact that we are old and the one guy we signed with the spending tool we allowed ourselves to use other than THT’s Bird Rights has yet to play this season. But you can see this team is trying, despite all of it. It’s not any single player’s fault we’re here. It’s been a total team effort to be this awful. Frank is the captain and I say let him salute the sea as he passes beneath it’s surface. Is there a world where I see Frank coming back next season? Yes, there is. We won’t go there, yet, though.
4. Play the kids for 40. Let ’em run wild. Reaves, Monk and whomever young player we sign for 2 ways should be on the floor. A lot. Again, it’s really admirable and all that LeBron wants to slog it out. It’s just that makes about as much sense as starting DeAndre Jordan which is to say absolutely none. A couple more losses and i think even The King will see the reason in getting himself right, letting the kids loose with Russ, and building something up for next season.
5. Karma for the AD trade. That’s what this is. We got the Bubble title for Kobe and now karma has chosen to enact it’s vengeance upon this season for messing with a player under contract on another team. It’s the only explanation that actually makes any sense.

Hey we play the Clippers tomorrow. maybe we can end a bunch of streaks and win.

Worst game of the year, maybe the worst game of the LeBron James era.

1. Nothing good to say.
2. Nothing positive to take away.
3. Nothing but more of this coming our way.
4. Nothing to do but buckle it up and try again tomorrow.
5. Nothing will change though.

Couple more games like this they actually might fire Frank. At that point better to put Fizzy in and let him sink with the ship rather than throw Phil under the bus. This season is done.

Well so much for hoping a long break away from the game would allow the Lakers to hit reset. Continuing a season-long theme of showing up for 1/3 to 1/2 of an NBA game they are scheduled to play in the Laker no-showed the second quarter and went down by as many as 16. Lacking enough overall talent, a coach who can draw up plays, and one of the three max-salaried players whom we rely extensively on the Lakers lost a close game. Again.

1. LeBron’s 25+ point game streak ends. The law of averages finally swung in such a fashion as to end one of the more compelling plot lines of this mostly dreary season. LeBron had a really off shooting night going 6-18 overall and 2-8 from three. He also had a team-high 6 turnovers to just 3 assists. In all fairness, since nobody on the Lakers shot well last night, the dimes being low is understandable. Still, too many of James’ shots came outside the paint on a night he didn’t really get the jumper going.
2. Russ being aggressive, but not successful. Stu Lantz has a saying I just love: let success be your guide. Jump shot working? Great, hoist ’em up. Three ball on point? Fire away! Defense can’t stop you in the paint? Drive it in, baby! Russ, like LeBron, didn’t find much success shooting from any distance and also turned in a fairly pedestrian scoring affair. Just one assist, but zero turnovers, shows that Westbrook wasn’t doing a great job getting his team going off the pass. Again, some of that can be attributed to the Lakers generally miserable shooting last night. Westbrook impacts the game for us the best when he is an aggressive rebounder, which he wasn’t last night with only 3.
3. Dwight’s big game. Howard turned in a vintage performance and pretty much single-handedly kept us in the game in the first half. 16 rebounds and 3 big blocks helped the Lakers defense and his 7 offensive rebounds were a great reminder of what a true big man can bring to the game. Unfortunately, like so many of our guys off the bench, this kind of showing hasn’t been the norm for Dwight. This seems to be a “once every few games” kind of effort. Some of his earlier struggles were due to COVID and likely Dwight had really fresh legs post ASB so it’ll be interesting to see if he can keep up this level of activity. That is if he even gets to play given Frank’s penchant for wild rotation swings this season.
4. Awful from distance. 8-31 is a pretty terrible mark for an NBA team from three and half of those were made by Melo. Of the entire team only THT seemed on point from distance going 2-2 but, like Reaves, he doesn’t really search that shot out. He prefers to drive the ball or semi-probe before moving the ball around the perimeter. LeBron, as mentioned, went 2-8 and the rest of the team went 0fer from three. Not a recipe for success against any team on any night. Hopefully this was just some rust being knocked off.
5. Ariza still looks slow and old. The layoff didn’t bring any speed or quickness back to Trevor’s game as he continued his season of playing in mud. 1-5 from the floor (0-3 from three), 4 rebounds and turnover in 18 minutes that could have gone to Monk and Johnson. It took Frank far too long to relegate DeAndre Jordan to the bench and he seems more than willing to do the same with Ariza who I think has had exactly one good game this season. I don’t want to dump on a guy who helped hang a banner but there’s just not a lot of positives to be drawn from the minutes were doling out to Ariza right now.

We’re 5 games under .500 and closer to the bottom of the western conference standings (12 games up on the Rockets) than the top (21.5 back from Phoenix). Think about that for a second. A team that has LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook is in danger of not winning even 40% of it’s games this season. A team that won the NBA Finals just 2 seasons ago could miss the playoffs after they added a 3rd superstar. If that doesn’t debunk the myth of the “3 superstars are awesome bro!” scenario I don’t know what will. I like and admire Westbrook’s game and tenacity, I thought this could work if the Lakers were willing to spend to make it work. Not only was I wrong but people who are paid a lot of money to get it right got it terribly wrong. So, we’ll see. I don’t have much optimism left at this point. We’ll probably make the playin round, might even get out of that just to face a rested and hungry Suns team looking for some fresh meat. We can all keep peddling the line of “Davis and James are dangerous when they’re healthy” but I don’t even buy that anymore. They were dangerous when they were on a good team.

This isn’t a good team.

Go Lakers.

With the All Star break in the rearview mirror and a much needed break before the Lakers tumultuous season resumes it’s time to look at what the team can do to re-write the narrative. Written off for a title chase by fans and media alike, trying overcome yet another leg injury to Anthony Davis and making the most of an unbalanced roster the Lakers are looking one place right: up at their goals that seem more and more out of reach by the game. For a team that had banner aspirations as recently as December and won a title 2 seasons ago the Lakers are at a crossroads.

1. The Klutch Konnundrum. Honestly, I’ve wanted us to sever this tie since the summer when we chose THT over the more impactful and better suited to win-now Alex Caruso. While there are no time machines around for us to go back and see how things could have been if we swapped Alex for THT we can recognize the toxic relationship with Klutch for what it is: bad for Laker business. I have no real issue with Klutch, they do their job well which is to represent talent on the open market. But, for a flagship franchise like the Lakers to be as beholden to one agency like they’ve become I think it’s an issue. So if Klutch, and by extension LeBron and AD are grumpy that we didn’t make a (widely considered bad) trade for John Wall in an effort to preserve some hope of a future…well…that’s the business. It’s not a one way street of gimmee gimmee gimmee. That’s how children behave. Besides, based on everything we know about the dinner and AD and LBJ pressuring Rob to make the Westbrook deal there’s a fair amount of blame to share. So, as I’ve said a few times now, this is the bed they all made together. Best get cozy.
2. The Anthony Davis question. Again, it’s amazing to me how quickly things can change in pro sport. Considering trading Anthony Davis was nigh unthinkable as recently as January. After his return from his first major injury of the season he was playing well. Maybe not Bubble-level AD but certainly having a very positive impact on both ends. Another ankle injury and, at least for me, a lot is starting to change. Davis may simply not be durable enough to reliably be counted on to lead a franchise. You can’t lead from the bench in street clothes and, outside of his first season here in LA< he’s been trying to lead from that position in those clothes far too often. Davis getting traded likely means the Klutch Konnection is getting blown to smithereens. IMO, not the worst thing that could happen. I am of the opinion that, if it’s for the right deal, trading AD wouldn’t wholly alienate LeBron who seemingly has two goals right now: Winning a cookie and playing with his son Bronny.
3. The LeBron James situation. I don’t think LeBron is going anywhere. he chose LA because he wanted to be near his family oin a nice city where his son was going to attend a private high school and hopefully build some cache as a NBA draft prospect. So, while that is still a work in progress, I expect for James to want to at least stay in LA. Were his All Star media comments curious? Sure, I guess. I mean, Presti is probably one of the shrewder GMs in the Association. I can see how giving Sam props was a subtle way to give Russ props (Presti drafted and shepherded Russ through 2 superstars leaving and then helped him find a situation he wanted to go to in Houston). I can also see it as a dig at Rob who was purportedly in Cleveland attending All Star game festivities. Honestly, it’s clickbait at this point to me. LeBron had as much of a hand in our current situation as anyone. So if he wants to throw himself little pity parties to the media he’s earned that right. Doesn’t mean anyone needs to take it too seriously. The dude is frustrated and I get it: nothing has worked out even close to how they likely hoped it would go. I have a hard time seeing how the Lakers and LeBron can break up with one another this summer. While certainly not impossible I think it would take us falling completely out of the playoffs for that bridge to be crossed. Maybe not even then. The Lakers need LeBron, I don’t see him pulling a Simmons or a Harden and whining his way out of a tough situation or quitting on his team. It would have to be a summer trade and next summer feels the more likely of the two. But, you never know, it is the NBA where weird and unlikely are kinda commonplace. I will say this, it’s obvious The King is unhappy and nobody wants to be around when a grumpy King starts looking for heads to chop. Lakers need to nail the rest of the season and the summer.
4. Where are we going to find help? The only answer that seems likely to me is from within. Probably not the most inspiring thing one could say but I’m being real. Don’t see us making a splash on the buyout market. First off there aren’t a lot of teams with cap space next season, everyone saw what went down with Andre’ Drummond here last season, our team really isn’t all that attractive a destination right now and the positions we need the most help at aren’t likely to see a ton of buyout candidates emerge. Three and D wings don’t usually get bought out. Elite rim protectors don’t really get bought out. So that leaves the dregs of the NBA big men and old and slow vets. Sure, we could switch DeAndre Jordan for Willie Cauley-Stein. Heck, WCS might even see more floor time than Dwight but I kinda doubt it. Drummond couldn’t find a major role here last season and that was with only Marc Gasol as his biggest threat of PT. Davis was out a lot, as well and still Dre’ couldn’t carve out a role here. WCS isn’t the rebounder Drummond is and I just feel like Frank sticks with whom he knows. The Lakers would do themselves a big favor if they adopted the mindset that the cavalry isn’t riding over the hill, that they need to find the resolve to compete better inside themselves, and anything other than that will be a (hopefully) pleasant surprise.
5. How does this season end? Honestly, I don’t see much hope that it ends anything but badly at this point. Let’s say we play .500 ball the rest of the way, no guarantee since we have the 3rd toughest strength of schedule remaining in the NBA. That means we’re facing opponents whose current winning percentage averages out .538. So, while that’s not good news we will be facing the now CP3-less Suns twice, the semi-floundering Warriors twice, Utah, Philly and Cleveland as well. Oddly enough it’s the games against the young athletic Thunder, Rockets and Wizards that makes me worry more. We also face the Clippers twice and winning any game against conference or division opponents is essential at this point. Is there a way I can see the Lakers bumping that winning % up to .600? Well… Uhm… Not really, simply because it would require a multitude of things to break right for us in a season where almost nothing has broken our way. So, in order for me to get behind the idea the Lakers can win 60% of their remaining games the following will have to start happening consistently:
   -the young players need to play better overall and that’s not just on them. Frank needs to give a larger role and trust in Reaves, Monk and THT. We desperately need youth and energy to offset the rest of our geriatric squad and that’s all we got. If Nunn ever plays for us I’ll take that for what it is when I see it.
   -no more injuries. Like zero. We need Melo back, we need AD to make his 4 week timeline and not see it stretch into a 5 to 6 week deal (although he also has to come back right or risk suffering catastrophic injury) and we need LeBron in as good of health as he can manage at this point.
   -Russ needs to keep playing smart. His cuts, his offensive rebounds and his secondary play-maker role are all things he is capable of doing well at. He needs to do just that and be the best offensive rebounding guard in the Association, making the smart cuts we’ve started seeing, and being ready to get the ball off a failed drive with fewer than 10 seconds on the clock and go ahead and make a play.
   -Lakers need a little luck. Odd losses to key opponents, unlikely wins of our own, a decent buyout candidate comes our way, health…you name it. The Lakers could use a heaping portion of good luck to close out the season.

It all starts back up on Friday, hopefully just a couple weeks or so after that we get Davis back, and maybe we see some sense from Frank and he starts Monk even when Bradley returns from his hamstring injury. We’ll see. If we can collectively hit the reset button and come back focused and energetic we can make a nice run to end the season. Not sure how high in the standings we can climb at this point, though.