5 THINGS

This has gotten beyond critiquing. There’s really just nothing more to say. You could make a case that the Lakers could see an uptick in the quality of their play when AD gets back but, if one is honest, that won’t be enough to crack the top 8 teams in the Association. These issues have been here from the beginning: porous defense, suspect offense that relies on one or two players, and a general lackadaisical attitude towards their opponents. It’s not looking very bright in Laker Land these days.

1. The team Rob built but that LeBron and AD signed off on. While I doubt Rob called James and Davis regarding every move made they all agreed that Westbrook was the way to go. We can all wish things had worked out differently, they didn’t. We can all wish that we had retained Caruso who honestly probably wouldn’t be enough to “fix” the defense but would certainly have provided the coach with a better tool than is currently available. We’re old, slow and entitled. Not a good combo.
2. A referendum on Frank. The defense isn’t working. He was never a great offensive coach as he basically relies on his star players to just kinda make it work. Unfortunately, with the roster he was delivered, Frank needs to do more. A lot more. Does he have it in him? I’m not so sure.
3. The spark of competitive spirit burns low. Russ and Dwight spoke after the game of playing hard. Well, that would be a helluva place to start. We are getting outplayed, outhustled and out worked in too many games. You could argue that a veteran team could lose a handful of these kind of games. We’ve lost a ton. The heart of this team is not strong.
4. They can improve, right? Yes. But it’s going to take something they haven’t shown us, yet. LeBron is playing his heart out. Russ is Russ. Davis, the fragile being that he is, won’t be enough on either end. We need the team to compete harder and more consistently than they’ve shown the inclination or ability to do.
5. The trade solution. While nice to imagine player X, Y or Z could come riding in and save the day it feels unlikely to me. Our trade “assets” are playing like garbage right now. Russ might be traded (sic: will) this summer but his play now makes it highly unlikely we’ll deal him this season. I don’t see anything other than an elite three and D guy (unavailable given our assets) or an elite center (same) who can help shore up our awful defense in the paint. Really, we need both. Given the lack of maneuverability we’re fairly locked into this team. Sure, we might move THT and Nunn and maybe even the pick in 3099, hell, some team might coerce us into tossing in Reaves or Monk. Doesn’t feel like that would be enough.

I pride myself on being pragmatic and honest in these assessments after games. Losses like this can make it difficult. When you question the heart of your team it’s never a good look. Yet that’s where we find ourselves.

And so it goes. The Lakers started the second part of this NBA season on an even worse foot than how we started. AT least when we started the season we got beat by the Warriors. The second half kicked off with a loss to the lowly Kings. Standby traditional excuses, everyone get in position to repeat the company line that this is still going to take time, cue sound aaaaaaaaaand action! Time has ceased to be a luxury the Lakers should feel entitled to. They are running out of it and fast as they have now sunk back down to the 8 seed after dropping the last 2 games and lead the Timber Wolves by a scant half game. Not sure what can be done at this point, Westbrook’s trade value probably could only go lower if he seriously injured himself or was caught pulling off a high society jewel heist.

1. The Russell Westbrook situation. I would give up on Russ except for that I generally refrain from disbelieving that the great players can overcome the obstacles placed in front of them. It’s not his effort but his execution that is failing him over the course of the last four games. His shot has gone MIA and doesn’t seem like it’s due back any time soon. The fact that this is happening around the trade deadline only further complicates any trade scenarios one can concoct involving #0. I have faith that this stretch will end for him but it’s not looking like this is working the way any of us hoped and has actually managed to find ways to look worse than I though possible. Vogel and Co. need to figure out a way to get Russ going on offense because if we can get that right he’s otherwise playing decently. Not great, but at this point I’ll settle for good to pretty good.
2. LeBron getting fed up. I think this was a game LeBron was hoping for some help on. Missed a lot of threes and didn’t consistently attack the paint like he had been doing. He’s not going to be in full blown attack mode every game and we need to be able to do a better job covering for that. He also is going to wear himself down completely if he keeps playing this much center. I like him at center, I think in most match ups it’s the way to go, but we need to better recognize when the defense needs size and use Dwight. That’s just a reality of a player who is 37 and not accustomed to banging down low all game, every game. Acknowledge the truth and work with it, not against it.
3. Reaves looked solid. Love him coming off the bench and would like to see us get him involved with Russ in some P&R more. They run it really well and Reaves can shoot from the outside or roll and finish. For a rookie he’s done a good job not coughing up turnovers and keeps himself in the play. His role should all but be etched in stone and he could be one of the things we have to use to grease the wheels of a trade. If you ask me, I think we should hold onto him, though.
4. THT’s short leash. I thought that, in part due to foul trouble but also due to turnovers and porous defense (and in that he was certainly not alone), Talen had a pretty short leash last night. This is the guy we need to figure out how to feature if we want his value to increase. We just saw the Hawks move Reddish for a player struggling to find a role, you telling me THT couldn’t have been a piece the Hawks would want? While it was more likely the draft pick that was the Knicks target we have to figure out if we’re keeping Talen or not and we need him to play well one way or the other.
5. Ariza still looks really slow. This was my fear before camp, when people were singling out Trevor Ariza to be the one that could make the defense work because he can play 3 or 4. While he has the size to play the 4, he doesn’t have the strength or speed to compete well right now. he might still be getting into game shape but I think it’s as much the last few seasons worth of injuries to various parts of the body and age that is the true culprit. That’s why I think Frank made the call to start him over Stanley, to see if he could warm up and go rather than warm up and sit then go. AT least for last night it didn’t work out very well as Trevor was basically a non-factor. He’s 8 games into the season so I expect him to get a little better with reps and time but not to the degree that he can massively swing the fortunes of the team.

More and more I feel like this is the year Rob finally does it. I don’t see us ending the season with the team we started and a buyout candidate is unlikely to tip the scales in our favor a whole lot more. This could be the season Rob makes his first in-season trade. While I still think it unlikely we shake up the roster by moving Westbrook I do expect the Lakers to start getting more aggressive. Less smoke, per usual, and more fire. THT, Nunn, Monk, Reaves are all likely players to be moved in various deals. Not sure what the return on that will be but we need to do something because this team isn’t playing well and there’s no guarantee there will be a sea change when AD gets back.

The Lakers have now entered unfamiliar territory for this season: a winning streak longer than 3 games. The plucky Hawks did their best but the combined efforts of the newly guaranteed Bradley, Monk and of course LeBron James were too much for Atlanta. We’re also a season-high 2 games over .500 and a re looking to sweep the 5 game homestand tomorrow. Riding a smoother looking offense, some added youthful size and a healthier team overall the Lakers have come into 2022 looking like a different team than the one that started the season off.

1. Malik Monk’s emergence. Monk had a huge game, especially in the first half. Monk was NBA JAM style on fire. He hit shots from inside and out, moved the ball and didn’t force his offense, and played seem really solid defense. His highlight of the night was the soaring dunk he jammed home off an offensive rebound that brought the house down and got the bench up. Inserting Monk into the starting line up has added a lot of scoring, better defense than advertised, and enough playmaking to alleviate that burden for Russ and LBJ. Monk has entrenched himself on my list of “gotta figure out how to keep” players. It’s why that, barring an NBA championship run, I see us making a Russell Westbrook trade this summer.
2. The Guaranteed Man. Not Reaves but Bradley. It was an afterthought for many when we picked up AB off the waiver wire after we started the season with all our young guys hurt. It didn’t take long for Bradley to show what we had missed out on when we didn’t retain his services after the Bubble. His on ball defense is still on point and he takes the open shot when he finds his way. Like Monk he brings a dash of playmaking that helps keep the ball moving and, frankly, I’ve always felt like he left some unfinished business behind after he (for good reasons) opted not to come into the Bubble. I’ve always been a fan of his game and I’m glad we’re keeping him around. He may find himself on the bench a little more when Nunn returns (whenever that may be) but it’s never a bad thing to have a plus defender who’s not afraid to take the shot on the bench.
3. THT getting his legs back. I want to believe that Talen was suffering from his COVID symptoms prior to the homestand, that the travel and wind he lost battling the disease sapped him of his energy and left his shot looking short on almost every attempt. Regardless of the reasons THT looks like the guy we hoped he would. Filling in here and there as needed, a swiss army player who can score inside and out, defend at a decent level and make a play or two. I’ve never seen “superstar” or even All Star in Horton-Tucker’s future and there is nothing wrong with that. Not every player is and many have been solid to above average contributors to champion- level teams. THT had another really well-rounded game and here’s hoping that’s what we get from here on out.
4. Russ doing it all. Russ is on a rebounding tear right now. He was the best rebounder on the floor along with the larger and more focused on the task Clint Capella, boxing out, finding seams and tipping the ball to himself to ignite breaks and find his guys in their spots. While he didn’t have his best outing scoring wise and fouled out (on a nonsense call that Danillo created by falling down all on his own) I like where Russ is at right now. He followed up his 0 turnover game with a modest 3 turnovers. So, when you count the 9, 0, and 3 that’s an average of 4 per game which is just about what he’s averaging (4.6 for the season to date). When you have a hurricane on the team you’re going to get a high degree of intensity and results. Those are things I can live with as long as everything continues to improve, which it has and many of the improvements honestly aren’t on Russ. Health of his teammates, the overall cohesion on defense, and shot making from the rest of the team aren’t really things Russ has the power to alter other than his own effort and involvement. While he may not have a long Laker career (as mentioned above I think only a title keeps him around next season) he’s on the team now and he’s playing the best he has all season. i expect that to continue to trend upwards.
5. The new look offense. LeBron at center, or power forward if you want to believe that Stanley Johnson is now the starting center, has been the balm our mediocre offense needed when AD went down. I think we’ll see LBJ slide over to the 3 or 4 again when Davis returns but we haven’t seen the end of the King as a center this season and maybe ever. At least with this roster it’s a necessity because as much as I like the big man game we don’t have enough good big men to deploy. Dwight hasn’t looked anything like himself post-COVID and DeAndre Jordan has continued to be a mystery as to why he’s still on the roster. We needed help from somewhere it turned out it was a future HOFer already on the roster. I’m intrigued to see what we can do once AD gets back but this tool is certainly a useful one in the right situations.

It would be great to sweep the homestand as that, to me, would signal that the team has turned a corner. They’re playing with more energy and focus, we’re getting guys back, and we’re not falling apart in any one quarter and digging a hole to deep to climb out of. Those trends need to continue all the way into June. We’re in the 20 win club now and it would be great to get to 30 wins before we get to 22 losses, that would mean going at least 9-3 over the next 12. Sunday also marks the halfway point and I don’t think anyone would debate that the team at the 1/4 point has vastly improved over the team we’ve seen in the second quarter of the season. If we continue to put together little things we improve on, build a defense out of the guys we have, and keep guys healthy and returning this team might just find it’s groove in the sweet spot of the season. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again: this was always a question of when and not if the team would figure out how to play at a high level. While there are questions about how we’ll play when fully healthy, where Nunn fits into the rotation and can Monk sustain his current hot streak I think we have the pieces in-house to do some serious damage in the playoffs.

For the first time this season the Lakers beat an in-division rival on their homecourt, regardless of the corporate sponsorship. They also remained unbeaten in 2022. Riding hot finishes from James and Monk along with a zero turnover performance from Westbrook the Lakers held off a 4th quarter rally from Sacramento to move 1 game above .500.

1. The motherf@#$ing problem that is LeBron James. The 30 point streak ended against the Wolves and through 3 quarters it looked like it would stay that way. But when the Kings came out swinging to start the 4th LeBron had been trying to answer with threes. They made an adjustment after an early timeout and LeBron started driving to the rim and the Kings were really slow to re-adjust and play him to drive and not shoot. LeBron got himself going on his drives to the rim slipping past the King “defense” for pretty easy buckets along with earning a couple trips to the line, as well.
2. Malik Monk earning his next big payday…wherever that may end up being. If I’m Rob I’m penciling in whatever amount we can off Malik via the MLE come the offseason. It’s highly likely he could earn more elsewhere but, seeing as we gave him a shot at PT, he may be open to a one season deal and then re-upping long term once we have his early Bird rights. Regardless to what goes down after this season Monk is straight hooping right now. His defense is a lot better than advertised, he’s able to get his own shot, create for others and he can get white hot form three. His game is already expanded beyond my expectations this season. Love me some Monk and I hope we figure out a way to keep for a good long while.
3. THT plays up to his hype. Talen ended his long, multi-game 0-fer streak from three, looked a lot more confident in everything he was doing and in general played like the player we all hope he can become more consistently. He created a lot of shots for others, scored efficiently, and played solid defense. I’ll forever want THT to rebound better, I think, but all in all hard to find fault in such a positive game for the young man who is still going through his NBA growing pains.
4. Dwight Howard’s season high night. Dwight hadn’t yet scored 14 points this season as last night was his season high. Not sure why that surprised me so much but it did. Dwight was the force on the glass that we so desperately needed grabbing a game high 14 rebounds with a 50/50 split between offensive and defensive rebounds. We may or may not start Dwight ever again and it doesn’t matter. The dude puts on his yellow hard hat and goes to work when called upon. We only need one, though, and between DAJ and himself Dwight is, by far, the superior player. Time to let DeAndre loose into the wild and see where his true home is.
5. Alvin was right to be so pissed off. That rule is insane and how it hasn’t been abused by some random clock keeper to OH MY GOSH DID I JUST FORCE A JUMP BALL?!?!?! an NBA game is kind of astounding. I read it as “If the clock starts before a player has touched the ball off of a missed free throw the teams must jump center” which, in theory, makes sense. The thing was, in this case, everyone had left Fox to grab the rebound on his own. He was, basically, the only one going for the board for whatever reason. So it REALLY set the Kings back a possession late in the game when they had already secured the rebound, clock being right or not. Odd rule that certainly needs some revisiting.

For a hot minute I thought we had poo-poohed this game away and the Lakers came back and took it from the Kings, odd rule or no. We did a great job maximizing our possessions by valuing the ball and getting way more FGAs than the Kings did. We need to keep that mentality and score better and we’ll hold the fort until AD gets back just fine.