Another under-manned opponent, another Laker loss. The team looks very dispassionate, moody and like they want the season to be over. Hustle seems like it’s optional. This has gotten hard to watch.

1) Too much Luka. It’s a fine line to walk. Too many shots and you’re not passing enough, hogging the ball. Don’t shoot enough, you quit on the team. In this case I think that there’s a problem with our lack of play calling. Can’t have Ayton getting only a handful of shots, or he’s going on the banana boat in his brain.

2) Reaves too passive. Might still not have his legs back yet, probably still knocking off some rust, but he’s not really driving and attacking like we know he can. As a result he’s become more of a release valve than creator.

3) So many dumb turnovers. Whether it was one of our guards dribbling the ball off their foot, Marcus Smart not getting the ball across the timeline when absolutely nobody was guarding him, or the listless passes that were easily picked off, this game was not a pretty one in terms of execution.

4) Too many offensive rebounds surrendered. At some point you have to look inside and say “I need to put some effort into this, those other guys are actually jumping for the ball and stuff!”. Inexplicably we lost the rebounding battle despite Mark Williams being in foul trouble and Jordan Goodwin not playing.

5) Time is running out. Nobody cares that we haven’t had the time to develop wonderful and beautiful chemistry as a team, that Luka, Reaves and LeBron nigh not play 30 games together this entire season or any other excuse one might care to cobble together. It’s either important to you and worth sacrificing for or it’s not. Petty issues with refs, teammates, coaches or your role won’t help right now. Reddick has to figure out how to get this team to play harder. He may also want to consider putting the league’s leading three pointer shooter by percentage in when you need a game tying three…I’m sure Maxi Kleber was hot, though…while Kennard sat.

I can think of several words to describe last nights woeful outing against the under-manned Celtics but I’ll settle on one: pathetic. Not worth the watching but I did anyway. Only thing to take away from this loss: we aren’t a contender.

1) Too much whining. Sure, the Celtics got away with 2 obvious goaltends and 2 obvious offensive fouls. Evidently that was enough to take the team and coaching staff out of the game. Luka is going to complain, LeBron has earned the right to complain. Marcus Smart flapping his yap for 3 minutes just to get a tech doesn’t need to stay in the game plan. Any player who just lays on the floor and whines should be benched next time…except our coach whines as much as the players do. Weak.

2) Speaking of Marcus Smart, fine time for a donut against the team that once called him
it’s heart and soul right before shipping him out and winning a title. So much for getting revenge or playing for pride… At this point I hope he opts out, the negatives aren’t outweighed by the positives, IMO. He’s clearly a step slow on D, takes it out on the officials, and shoots far too often based on his ability to actually make shots. Play Kennard more if you need buckets or Vando if you need stops. Have him slide into a mentor role or whatever.

3) Same goes for Ayton. Please, please opt out. We don’t need your skillset on this team and we need someone whose head is in the game for more than 7 minutes. It’s a 48 minute game, dude, show up for more of them or just go away.

4) Reddick got vastly out-coached. The Celtics pressured us full court all game long and we let them, they outhustled us and we stuck with our slowest, most myopic players in the 2nd half. Pat Riley could have done a better job coaching these guys, not 80’s Pat Riley, the near fossilized one that showed more pep than our entire team last night during his speech.

5) Reaves checked out early. Evidently he just can’t keep up with Payton Pritchard. Dude got outplayed by Payton for the full 48 and whined a lot while it happened. Reaves might get paid a lot of money this coming summer but games like this make me wonder if it should be us…

Games like this make me wish our record reflected the effort this team puts forth. Honestly, this is a playin team riding on the coattails of early season success and injuries to key players on other teams. It’s sad that this is how LeBron will go out as a Laker because I’m not seeing a lot of reasons for him to put himself through this ever again. I fucking hate losing to the Celtics but I really hate the way we no-showed a big game last night. Just proves what a lot of us have seen in this team since last summer. Which is to say not much. I suppose there’s time to turn it around but this feels like what the team it is now. Weak, slow, and no heart.

Curious move, plenty of players that can help now available and we rush to secure…a G Leaguer?! If we’re gonna do that why not lock up Nick Smith Jr. or Drew Timme? Weird.

I don’t mind when the team wins ugly. This was another fairly ugly 1st half. A stellar 3rd quarter propelled us to a back-to-back home win and we need to grind out 3 more before the All Star break.

1) Welcome Luke Kennard. 6-7, 2-4 from three with the first shot being a nifty quick flick release on a close out. More impressive was how he adapted to the defense quickly with drives to the rim. He got blown by a few times on D but it’s his first game. We’ll chalk it up to that.

2) LBJ and sloppy excellence. Back to back double-doubles for the this season. Far too many unforced turnovers in some of the worst passes I’ve seen him throw: the ASB is coming soon, though. We’ll chalk it up to that.

3) That 3 man defensive unit of Smart, Vando, and Kleber has been getting after it. Add in Rui and Reaves and you wonder if there’s a world where Reaves can see his way to playing off the bench. I think he would have to ask for it to happen and it would have to be very personally organic because Reaves off the bench truly does solve a lot of problems. It’s a contract year and I’m not sure Coach has that level in him, yet. Wish he did or would figure out how.

4) Speaking of Maxi, release the Kraken! Dude is all over the place and moving as smoothly as I’ve ever seen him. Back to back solid outings where the box score doesn’t show you the true level of his impact.

5) Three games to go, close it out solid. No SGA? Don’t show any mercy. If Luka is out until after the break (my personal hope) come hard at the Spurs with this grind then down energy we’ve been showing of late. Smart and Vando have been a big impact on D. This team needs to get the TO’s under control and continue to embrace this level of defense. There’s enough scoring to win if they can.

Still unable to get to the site at work, evidently it’s being blocked. So I gots to use the phone lol. Anyhoo, as we pass the halfway point on the road trip and near the trade deadline there are some things to get into.

1) Jake LaRavia is the best starter. Of the 3 candidates to start at the 3 (Rui, Vando and Jake) LaRavia has been the best fit. While it could be argued that Vanderbilt hasn’t been given a shot at the starting spot his impact off the bench remains steady: LaRavia off the bench isn’t as impactful as it is as starter. So, despite Rui’s superior shooting, I feel like Jake impacts the game on both ends more.

2) LeBron decision won’t be made in-season. Lotta fuss being made over a dude who has earned the right to end his career when he’s ready. He got emotional during a tribute, no big whoop. He’s not pulling a CP3.

3) Dalton Knecht is HILARIOUS!!! Dude…you don’t need to demand a trade. Writings been on the wall since last season. You might not even get a deal next season man.

4) Lakers defense isn’t up to playoff standards. We can shuffle guys, make tweaks, but this group of guys and this coach need 3 things to work if they’re going to win; make threes, get to the free throw line, and have the other team miss open shots. That’s how we’ve been winning a lot of games lately and it’s not sustainable in the playoffs.

5) Sea Change Summer. At this point I’m just hoping that we see a massive amount of change around the roster this summer. I have zero faith in Rob and never had much in Reddick. I’m personally convinced neither has what it takes to succeed at a high level in the NBA consistently. Reddick can’t coach an NBA level defense and Rob can’t build a complete roster. Is it possible a different GM could better align with the coach on staff? I suppose…but the basic issue seems to me to be a lack of focus on that end. Basic stuff like “guy who wants to right is allowed to go right…all…game…long” have been issues since Reddick Day 1. I’m willing to give JJ another shot with a different GM but neither the coach or GM has inspired much confidence in me.

5) Threatening to be a playin team. Which is inexcusable given the talent currently on the roster. We’ve had injuries, sure, and so has Denver that didn’t miss a beat without Jokic and Gordon. Or Boston that actually blew up their roster because effort and execution will defeat talent every time. Or the fucking Clippers who, once they bought into Lue’s vision, have rocketed up the standing despite injuries to key players. The issues with this team are, by snd large, top down driven. There are some roster weaknesses, especially with our drafted players, but those are small compared to the issues with the front office and how we play defense on a philosophical level. Don’t see a tweak trade changing that.

The problems with this team are all upstairs and inside of their chest’s. Their sense of urgency and passion to compete have to be questioned after yet another double-digit loss to a contender.

1) We beat mediocre and bad teams and we can hang with older teams, sometimes, but young talented teams have our number. OKC, Phoenix, Houston and now Detroit. The Lakers seemingly expect young teams to succumb to their age and experience. It’s not happening.

2) Points off of turnovers is where we lost the game. 30-12 advantage to Detroit.

3) No easy buckets in transition while giving up a ton. The 31-12 Fastbreak point differential was the other key. A lot of that is our live ball turnovers off of lazy passes from Luka. This is on him and it’s probably the 3rd or 4th game we’ve given up because Luka just gets into trouble and tries a ridiculous play. LeBron had his share of bad passes and gaffes and add that in with a decent amount of TO’s from other players and we’re giving up too many easy baskets to overcome.

4) Bench needs a better backup guard. This is where the loss of Reaves hurts a lot. When Austin, LeBron and Luka are all available we have 3 solid playmakers. Nick Smith Jr. is too streaky to be relied on, sometimes if that comes down to lack of reps but in general guys like him run real hot and cold. A general lack of strength for us is consistent guard play, especially when we don’t have Austin.

5) Just fucking compete. Every team, every player and coach can come up with a reason why they lost. Everyone’s got something to work on and improve. Hustle and heart come from effort. You either give it or you don’t. The results generally indicate which choice was made.

4 weeks, 15 games until the grade 2 calf strain is re-evaluated. That will remove Austin from post season award consideration, likely from being voted in as an All Star and basically marring what had been shaping up to be a career defining season into one defined by availability or lack thereof.

As a result, the Lakers that can play need to pivot and find a new set of rotations that will allow them to be more competitive than they’ve been in the last 3 games.

1) Starting 5: Luka, Smart, Vando, LBJ, Ayton. The LBJ/Ayton/Rui minutes are slaughtering us these days. There’s only one position that can really be tweaked. You could argue that Nick Smith Jr. could start but I’m not sure why you would. He’s streaky and not a good defender. Smart is streaky and an above average, potentially elite defender. Same goes for Vando. You could swap LaRavia for Vando and hope starting jump starts his offense.

2) Nick Smith Jr., Bronny (or Smart), Rui, LaRavia, LBJ. LeBron is gonna have to play some center. The Lakers should look to put him at the top of the key with the ball and let him pick the defense apart and have guys moving all the time.

Honestly, there’s not a good, clear way to replace Austin Reave’s production and skill set. He had become that essential to what we do and need. There’s not a guy on the bench threatening to break through, we don’t have many other guys who can score and make plays. This is a challenge for the coaching staff.