5 THINGS

JAMIE SWEET’S ‘5 THINGS
Lakers’ Post Game Reports & Analysis

Jamie Sweet wrote a new post

• 5 years, 1 month ago
5 Things: All quiet on the western front

5 THINGS, Posts

March 25, 2021

0

If you woke up this morning dreaming of the big, splashy trades the Lakers were destined to pull off you are likely currently feeling a sense of disappointment. The Lakers made exactly zero moves as the trading deadline expired to improve the roster. The roster we’ve all become increasingly frustrated watching in the last few games remains wholly intact as before. So…what do the Lakers do now?

Laker leaks. Again, none. Regardless of how you feel about the lack of trades or even the contracts doled out this past summer you have to respect and admire how the Lakers are once again a leak-proof ship. When Magic helmed the team it was quite common to see this or that tidbit leaked to various news outlets if not openly proclaimed on Twitter. That’s all in the past as the Lakers have plugged those leaks and once again become a franchise that operates in the shadows. I consider that a good thing.
Ok, ok, nice…I guess…but what about the trades we didn’t make? That could be a problem depending on your viewpoint as to how the Lakers need to alter the roster in order to compete. Listen to coach Vogel and the Lakers a re fine as-is. I, who am of the run it back school of though, don’t see the on-court product as fine. Even when LeBron was healthy we had glaring issues on offense and a points in the paint problem. We’re near the bottom of the league in three point accuracy. That might fixed simply by the law of averages, it might swing back to the nova hot shooting we saw to kick off the season. If it doesn’t our chances to repeat are going to take what could be an insurmountable hit.
Howzabout that nifty buyout market? Ay, there’s where the Lakers can strike gold albeit to a lesser degree. If the rumors are to be believed Andre’ Drummond is going to be bought out and the Lakers are in the mix to acquire his services. While not a modern center he is a solid old school center. His rebounding is game-changing and he will certainly not further reduce our points in the paint issue if not slightly alleviate it. At any rate it gives us an option beyond Gasol or small at the 5. I wouldn’t be surprised if Avery Bradley negotiates a buyout from Houston. I don’t see him wanting to stick around for a rebuild and the team option in his deal won’t be a sticking point if he asks out. Houston, in the middle of a rebuild, doesn’t really need him. If those two things happen, and that is certainly an “if” and not a certainty, the Lakers can improve the roster by a significant degree. Other options are LaMarcus Aldridge, J.J. Reddick and a few more (we won’t name all the buyout candidates).
Should we start throwing Rob under the bus now or wait until we get booted from the playoffs? No need to entertain such thoughts. It sounds like the sticking point in acquiring Lowry was THT. If so, and Rob chose not to part with him, bet on Rob Pelinka here. He sees the work the kid puts in, he talks to the coaches and knows how coachable he is, he understands that keeping THT could be an issue this summer. It means he has a plan. I’m willing to trust in that plan.
So…what now? The reality is we were not going to bring in a player that changes anything about the core identity of the team. The Lakers under Rob Pelinka and coach Vogel are built on defense first. They might say the right thing in the media about shooting more threes but if you’ve watched all the games you know that we’re not designed to search out transition threes. We don’t often search out contact when we shoot threes in an effort to draw fouls on defenders. We do a decent job at creating corner threes but certainly are not elite in that regard. The Lakers best chance at doing damage in the playoffs has always been getting LeBron and Anthony healthy. That didn’t change and is still the main focus of our training staff.

Big game tonight. Could be a nice moment to shine for some guys who have been struggling (Dennis Schroder I’m looking at you). We could do a lot to start the home stretch off on the right foot with a win against Philly tonight. FWIW I still have Philly coming out of the east. Go Lakers.

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Jamie Sweet wrote a new post

• 5 years, 1 month ago
5 Things: Moving On

5 THINGS, Posts

March 22, 2021

3

Look it’s going to be easy to kick the team while it’s down 2 superstars. Put any basketball team in the same boat and watch it sink. You take Dame and CJ off Portland? Sunk. Tatum and Brown off Boston? More sunk than they are. And on and on. The Lakers are going to have to fight and scrap for every win they can get. Today’s fiver is how some key players can do just that. It’s a race a against time right now, we need to tread enough water to stay relevant until we get Davis and James back. But those clock-hands keep on spinning…

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Dude, where to begin? You’re shooting has fallen off a cliff, you don’t do much with the basketball when you get it and you don’t really ever try to force your own action. In theory KCP is our 3rd option on the starting unit. In reality he’s now become almost an after-thought. If you listen to Bill and Stu on Spectrum they now routinely ask the question, flippantly but pointedly, when KCP will take his first shot. That has to stop and the team will be better for it, both now and on down the line. The drives to the rim off shoulder curls are gone. The side-step threes are gone. The pump and go’s are gone. They all need to come back. Otherwise I’d start giving his minutes to literally any other player on the roster.
Talen Horton-Tucker. We don’t need THT to replace what LeBron brings and it looked he was trying to do that last night. We need him to be the efficient scorer he’s shown he can be when he slows down on and focuses on each possession. What we really need for him is to diversify his offensive attack: he was 6-16 from the floor, but 0-2 from three. You gotta take threes to make threes. The good thing is he was able to get the kind of contact that generates trips to the stripe, which is another thing this team will need to excel at during this stretch. We need THT to better anchor the bench scoring if Kuzma is going to start.
Kyle Kuzma, same thing. We don’t need Kuz to become a superstar overnight but dig down and find the best execution you can deliver on a consistent basis. Kuzma didn’t have an accurate game last night but you have to give him credit for trying as hard as he did. Other vets didn’t put forth that amount of energy and it showed in the results. More on that in a second. Kyle just needs to do what he’s been doing which has been filling in the gaps. We don’t need you to drop 25 ppg out of nowhere, just stay steady and elevate the things you’re already doing well.
The starting 5. When 3 out of 5 starters amass a total of 9 points, 10 rebounds (thanks almost exclusively to ‘Kieff in that department) and 4 assists while going 1-9 from three…it’s a problem Kyle and Schroder can’t fix. The trio of Wes Matthews, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Markieff Morris are NBA veterans and should be better. They cannot turn in performances like this anymore if we are to have any hope at all of keeping pace in the west. Even when AD comes back if this is all we get it’s just not enough. Play with some *@%#ing pride gentlemen.
The bright spot? One Montrezl Harrell. Honestly he was it for me, I wasn’t overly pleased with Schroder or Caruso as the PGs but they at least performed up the baseline of their roles. Trezz shined and we’ll need him to keep shining. If he keeps at it he should be inline for a big payday from someone, if not us. In all honesty I would pay Trezz before I paid Schroder at this point. You know what you’re getting from Harrell night in and night out, he’s consistent in his energy and his effort. I can’t say the same for almost anyone else on the team. Pay the man, somebody, he’s earned it.

If the Lakers swing a big trade I’ll be surprised. The hard cap issues are going to make it nigh impossible to maintain the roster size required by the NBA. Just about every trade proposal I see here puts up against the hard cap and once there you cannot add salary. The NBA will not allow teams to carry fewer than 14 players. The best option I see to pull off a big trade is to trade a player like KCP, Schroder or Trezz into Boston’s room exception they have from the Hayward trade. That would free up the space to make a trade and fill the remaining roster spots w/ vet minimum deals. In all honesty, it may come to just that.

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2 Comments
- LakerTom
  5 years, 1 month ago
  
  Good realistic fiver, Jamie.
  
  1. KCP. Time to go, Kenny. He’s like the player who won’t take that half court shot less he hurts his shooting percentage. Kenny making sure he finishes the season with a high 3-point %.
  
  2. I’ve been on THT Island from the beginning but he’s our equivalent of a first round pick and will be sweetener to close a deal we need. Can’t waste a LeBron James year.
  
  3. Kyle, Can’t do on his own but is a valuable role player and we do need some of them. Could be in a trade for a $20M per year player though.
  
  4. Starting 5. Can’t play 2 against 5 even when we have LeBron and AD back. Nor can a bunch of great role players really sub for a third star. But a group of semi-stars who can score can.
  
  5. Kills me to have to trade Trezz, who’s shown he can play with or without superstars. Same with Dennis. Problem is we need more playmaking than Dennis can give us and more rim protection than Trezz can give us.
- LakerTom
  5 years, 1 month ago
  
  Jamie, hard cap is not a problem. While we can take back 125% of what we send out, we can also opt to take back just 89% of what we send out, which also works in matching salaries.
  
  In the 3 trades I proposed, we sent out salaries totaling $41.8M and only took back $34M, opening up $7.8M more under the hard cap, allowing us to sign IT and Boogie and go to 15 players.

JAMIE SWEET
Associate Publisher

Jamie Sweet and his eagerly awaited ‘5 Things’ post after every Lakers game have become a staple feature of Lakerholics. Jamie’s the Laker fan who jumpstarts and drives conversations with his informed comments and insightful observations.

Another refugee from the LA Times Lakers Blog, Jamie’s a must read Lakerholics poster and commenter whose reputation as a savvy but objective fan is well deserved

You can always get in touch with Jamie on the Lakerholics blog. You can also check out his work with the Garage Theatre in Long Beach or with his band Gnarwhal.

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5 THINGS