5 THINGS

It’s no mistake that I didn’t do a 5er after the win over Boston. I was excited, I was pumped, I was stoked because for a few moments I thought “we’re turning a corner here!”. Then I remembered how the only consistency thus far for the Lakers has been inconsistency. So I waited a game to see if we would play the way we did against Boston or continue our Paula Abdul “Opposite’s Attract” theme by taking a step forward followed by a step back.

Cue the Cat:

1. LeBron’s declining impact. I’m not wondering anymore, it’s here. The decline has begun and you see it in the pace we play (something that can be traced back to the post-groin injury in year 1), his shot selection (weighted more and more towards the 3 point line, and in how he finishes or rather how he doesn’t. It’s early-ish but The King is on pace to shoot, by far, the most threes/game of his career. 40.6% of his shots are from beyond the arc but 54..9 % of his points are of the 2 point variety. In short, the King is settling for threes. Often after dribbling out the shot clock. No offense to one of the greatest to ever play but is the definition of bad basketball. If it holds up over the course of the season his 8 3PT FGA/game would represent a career high (one which he set 2 season’s ago at 6.3 and replicated, exactly, last season) but he’s only making 2.6/game for a mediocre 33%. It’s showing a lot in his rebounding which is currently 5.9/game (rookie season is his career low at 5.5 other than then and now no season where he averaged fewer than 6+). He’s also picking up more fouls than he generally does. Some of this are his minutes at center, I would imagine. That being the primary defender in the paint, having to rotate out onto guys on defense rather than hiding on a dude in the corner is sapping him of valuable energy. Look, the man is 36 years old, this was always going to happen, and the Lakers are simply ill-equipped to absorb an ever-aging LeBron on this roster. We have almost no up-and-coming talent; no offense to THT but we’re basically hoping he tops out at KCP level impact if one is being realistic. Russ has been doing his best for the most part, but there is simply no replacing what LeBron brings. Could some of this be alleviated by pulling him out of the center rotation? I’m not so sure. Age has a way of just affecting everything. It may be that he’s working his way into game-level conditioning which, if so, means there are better days to come. I sure hope it’s the last point otherwise the rest of the points below don’t really matter.
2. Anthony Davis has to figure out how to be dominant every game. Watch tape of Shaq, dude. Nobody got beat up more in the post but still brought it hard every single night like Shaquille O’Neal. It’s not like AD has been playing poorly, he’s been fine. But with roughly a 1/3 of the Lakers cap space occupied by his salary and given LeBron’s decline we need him to be more than he’s been on a nightly basis. We need more than fine. We need 30 points a game and 10 rebounds and that’s all there is to it. Be a champ on D, sure, hold guys accountable and thank you for doing so, but we need you to be the difference-maker on offense we all know you can be. AD is, again, not really in the MVP conversation. If he can average 30 and 10 he will be and he needs to get on that ASAP or, frankly, the season is done. Russ and LeBron with the rest of this team is not enough to win a title with AD playing a side-kick role. Time to put on the super suit and take to the air, Mr. Davis, the hopes and dreams of Laker Nation are counting on it.
3. We need one dominant quarter from Russ/game. There should never be a game where THT takes more shots than Russell Westbrook does. Russ had scored all of his 9 points in the first half and was largely shut down after that by…himself. 4 shots in the second half. I didn’t see the Grizz scheming for him to not get the ball or aggressively doubling him when he drove. He just kind of took himself out of the game. Again, as a player that roughly 1/3 of the Laker salary cap is dedicated to that simply doesn’t cut it. We absolutely need Russ to p0ut the kind of pressure on the defense that he is still capable of doing. That means more than 9 FGA. That means capping the turnovers at 3/game (he had 6 last night and half of those were just him losing the ball all on his own). Russ is the wild card superstar as he can turn a competitive game into a blowout but can’t seem to be the one that helps the team win on a consistent basis.
4. The rest of the team. I mean…we’re old, man. Outside of Monk and THT (and Nunn who has yet to play and Reaves who is a rookie) there’s not an impact player on the roster under 30. So, with that in mind, it’s small surprise we have trouble staying in front of guys and defending at a level we’d become accustomed to as Laker fans. They all score in ways relative to their roles and they’re doing fine at it with nobody really distinguishing themselves from the rest in terms of consistency or impact. if anything the only thing that’s certain is Monk is our best young player to date passing THT fairly easily. THT still seems to be the apple of the organization’s eye but one has to wonder how long that will continue. Asking more of the role guys is pretty absurd, as well. They don’t bring the ball up, they’re taking up a 1/3 of our cap space each and they weren’t brought here to do that. They take the shots they get, they play defense the best they can in our system. They collect that vet minimum paycheck. Also, hoping Ariza and/or Nunn will drastically change any of this point is fool hardy. Ariza is one of 3 36 year olds on the roster and Nunn hasn’t played in months. Both of them will need practice, game reps and time to get to even so, hopefully they’re contributing come the ASB…depending on if they’re even playing by then.
5. Frank needs to…oh wait, Frank has already changed everything like three times. You can’t coach around age. It is impossible. We play at the slowest pace, with Russ on the squad. We waste entire possessions watching LeBron James dribble and heave. Frank isn’t going to talk LeBron into turning back the clock to 2011. We’ve seen Frank go from one kind of line up to another, from man defense to switching to whatever it is we try in this game or that. As a coach he certainly has limitations but he is also quite open to trying whatever works. The issue being that, because of the duality of the team he was given, it’s overall age and lack of size this is the best he can do. He can’t coach around shrimpy players or aged vets. The irony being that Frank will also be the one to go first because that’s just how it works in pro sport. Coach gets fired, GM next, then players get shipped.

Look, it’s not all doom and gloom. We’re still 6th in the west with teams like the Clippers, Nuggets, Mavericks and Trailblazers all under-performing, as well. If we can shake off our habit of playing .500 ball we can certainly get up to 4th and have home court advantage in the first round while avoiding the play-in. Our longest winning streak this season is 3. Our longest losing streak is also 3. So if LeBron can turn back the clock just a tiny bit, Russ figures how to dominate one quarter/game and AD plays at a close to MVP level we’ll be OK. Maybe not win a title but certainly be more enjoyable to watch. As it all currently strands there’s no way we get past the Warriors or Suns in the west. It ain’t happening, we simply lack in too many areas that they excel in.

The Lakers fell to the Clippers with the usual suspects leading the way: defensive let downs, missed free throws and a shaky offensive identity. While the Lakers did do a decent job containing Paul Heorge they let the rest of the Clippers get pretty much whatever they wanted.

1. Too much LeBron, not enough AD and Russ. LeBron had a subpar game shooting-wise. I’m not sure if he was forcing his own action in lieu of going to Russ or AD more butane. We don’t diversify our already simplistic offense we become extremely predictable.
2. Missed Free Throws rear their heads, again.Ninsokution to this other than AD needs to recapture the form he had Laker year 1. Since then he’s been a 70%er and his outside shot has been mostly MIA. I’m sure it’s all still in there he just needs to bring his complete game more consistently.
3. I’m not freaking out about the starters. We only have so many tools in the shed. Few of them are defenders. Most of them are floor spacers and old. This is mostly on the front office and ownership as they had a chance to retain Caruso who hit threes and defended well. I think that until Nunn. Ones back we’ll see Bradley start because you do need someone to come off the bench and score and Monk has been good at that. I also don’t see a trade where we bring in anplayerbthat surpasses what we would have to send out. A lot of this is on Frank and Co. to squeeze more blood from the rock.
4. Waive DeAndre Jordan and pick up James Ennius. There’s not enough time for Frank to tinker and daydream about which big man is the better one. It’s Dwight by a country mile, we need him to play 15-20 mpg and we need another wing defender like now. DAJ is the only true flotsam we have, let him drift on down the river.
5. The time for mucking about and fiddling with line ups ha well -passed. We know Melo and Monk work well off the bench, leave it alone until the playoffs. We know that we want to start a big, make it Dwight and leave it alone. That leaves deciding between THT and Bradley who ought to start. Choose one and let it ride. At this point it’s shaping up to be the mosh mosh of line ups we saw last season and that doesn’t bode well. Find something that works and the. Build it up but stop with the DNP-CD to “hey want to play like the whole game!’ BS. It’s not helping anyone.

Had to do this 5er from the phone in various locals so likely some spelling errors or poor grammar, my apologies. Need to string something together or this season will be defined for all it wasn’t as opposed to all it was.

It started like so very many Laker games have started this season. Easy buckets, poor transition D, offense that looks rudimentary and general malaise about the team. The Lakers seesawed back and forth with the Kings in the first half and would get within five before watching the Kings run out to a 12 point lead before the half. Then Malik Monk made a three point shot at the buzzer to close the first half. It all turned around after that.

1. Dwight Howard’s impact. This game is a perfect example of why I favor playing Dwight over DeAndre in just about every conceivable situation. His energy is better, he knows the frank Vogel defense inside and out, he compliments AD better and he’s never afraid to mix it up down low. If we are going to play a big is simply has to be Dwight and the arguments against are paltry and flimsy, at best. Dwight’s stat line won’t be going in any record books (12 points, most of those in the first half to help keep us close, 13 Union man rebounds with 5 coming on the offensive glass, 2 steals and 2 blocks) but his effort and intensity are what we need as much as his production. Unleash Dwight, Frank, you know you want to.
2. Malik Monk proving his worth and earning his role. Monk hit 6 of 10 threes, accounting for over half of the team makes from distance, played pretty solid defense and continues to be a solid guy to have on the team. If he plays like this all season he’ll likely play his way right off of our team and I, for one, hope he does. We need this kind of impact from someone other than the big three and after THT went out with a leg injury in the first half Monk really shined. His three to close the half started a Laker run that basically went on throughout the rest of the game. He isn’t just a three point specialist, either, Monk can get to the rim, score in the paint and make plays for others. Monk was stellar off the bench for the Lakers last night.
3. Laker bench showed up big. 58 points were put up by the Laker bench and that wasn’t the best stat, in my opinion. The bench also nabbed 30 rebounds and were a huge factor in a game that actually saw AD and Russ sitting on the bench in a win to end the game. I’m not sure that’s happened yet this season, if it has it hasn’t been often enough. The bench came to play, and we need it happen a lot more often.
4. AD and Russ leading the way, of course. Anthony was solid throughout the game, scoring more in and around the paint as has been his way this season. I’m all for it. Yes, he can stretch the floor and of course his three point shot is a weapon. There is just so much more to his game than that and when he relegates himself to spot up shooter or stands around on the perimeter our team suffers for it. Westbrook started slow and got hot to start the second half. While not his best shooting night (some of that due to questionable non-calls) we needed these guys to step up and play large with LBJ going into the NBA health and safety protocols for a minimum of 10 days.
5. 65-26 run to take control of the game, outscored the Kings 67-33 in the second half. The saying “A tale of 2 halves” is a common one and it certainly applied here tonight. The Lakers utterly dominated the second half tonight and hopefully this signals the end of our terrible third quarters. While it’s nice to see consistent effort and great production in every quarter if we have to choose one area to dominate in I will take the second half every time. You can’t win a game in any half, it’s a slow build to a finale’. But if you’re going to have a dominant stretch I feel like the second half is the place to make it happen.
   
   All in all, a solid win. Something to build on in terms of the defensive intensity in the second half. Beating a team we should beat in a convincing fashion is certainly something to carry forward. The next 5 games can really help to turn the narrative and the season around. It’s unlikely LeBron plays in any of them except for, maybe, the 5th as the King has 9 days, minimum, remaining in NBA H&SP. The Lakers have all the tools they need to start to turn this around and redefine a season that has, thus far, been defined for the things they lack rather than the weapons they have. Time to turn the beat around. Go Lakers!
   

This team isn’t going to make it easy, it would seem. Even when we get a big lead against a team we should manhandle we seem determined to let them back into the game. Whether it be sloppy execution, poor D, or a lackadaisical attitude in general this incarnation of Laker basketball lacks a killer instinct. It may come back to bite them but there’s fading hope it will change. After all, you are what you is.

1. Lotta donuts. Avery Bradley and Melo both put up scoring zeroes. Both added something to the box score but starters need to bring more and Melo is our best scorer off the bench. Against the woebegone Pistons who struggle nightly to score 100 points it ended up not resulting in a loss, however for a team that could use an easy win or three it only added to the rep of a team with banner aspirations playing down to inferior opponents. It wouldn’t hurt for us to be able to rest our star players in the 4th, either, as LeBron’s re-aggravated abdominal strain shows. It’d be nice to beat up on teams we should beat up on.
2. Lakers three point shooting remains an issue. The guy taking the most is the guy we want attacking the basket (LeBron) and the guys we brought in are either getting a low amount of shots and/or missing them in bunches. Last night saw the following players go 0-fer from three: Bradley, Melo, and Monk. Key reserves Ellington (1-3) and THT (1-4) made one but this isn’t a recipe for continued success against most teams in the NBA. AD has been so bad (20.5% for the season after last night, around 16% prior to) he’s taking more shots in the paint than ever. Again, no easy answer presents itself as the issue seems to be that LeBron would rather take threes than create them for guys like Ellington, Monk and so on. In some ways that makes sense since LeBron is one of three guys whom most of our cap is dedicated to. In reality I think the team would function better if all the tools were used to the best of their capabilities. Hopefully this works itself out over the course of the season but, so far, there isn’t a lot of evidence to support that notion.
3. Credit that Detroit Piston free throw defense. I kid, but LeBron and Russ need to be better. LeBron and Russ missed key free throws in the triple overtime loss to the Kings, and again missed key free throws down the stretch that could have helped us pull away earlier. We breathe life into teams in so many ways we have to look to cut down in some area or another and free throws seem the likeliest place to start. It’s nice we’re getting to the line more, but we need to make them for it to matter.
4. Small line ups score a little better, get killed on the boards. As Frank continues what one now has to assume will be a mostly season-long experiment we saw what was the only DeAndre Jordan at center line up. other than DAJ it was AD and LeBron manning the center position. In his 21 minutes Jordan managed only 6 rebounds and as a team we got killed on the boards 53-42 with the Pistons grabbing 12 offensive rebounds. This is unsustainable, especially against teams with true centers and a crash the glass mentality. We don’t box out, we don’t jump for rebounds, we simply stand there and hope. My biggest issue with LeBron at center with a bunch of guards isn’t the defense it’s the rebounding. Russ can’t do it all, somebody has to figure out what the phrase “put a body on him” means and box the hell out. Getting killed on the glass has become yet another constant issue in just about every game we play. More oxygen for inferior teams.
5. The ball was moving though! One super positive in my opinion was the 32 assists and the fact that all three superstars had solid and efficient games. This wasn’t a win to celebrate by any means, we should have beaten Detroit even more than we did. But when something goes right it starts to feel like you have to mention it since so little has thus far. So, in the spirit of that, the ball movement was exceptional last night. Also, Russ, LeBron and AD all had solid games without getting in one another’s way. So, if this si something sustainable and can be built upon I’ll take it.

The good thing is that rest of the west is kind of a mess, too. We’re lucky that Denver is this season’s walking wounded team, that Portland didn’t find new fire under Chauncy Billups and that teams slated to be rebuilding teams have, for the most part, played like that. We’re 6th in the west and we need to solidify that spot and look to push our way past the Clippers in the coming games. If we can fight our way into a top 4 seed by the All Star break and stabilize the ship I feel like we’ll be alright. If we keep up with this up and down play, stay around .500 we’re just as likely to have to go the play-in route, again. Nobody wants that.