I don’t see another move the Lakers can make that would have as positive benefits as trading for Turner, moving AD back to the four and LeBron to the three, and playing Russ and THT in the backcourt.

Lakers can’t continue to play Too-Small-Ball instead of Small-Ball-on-Steroids. Best way to fix that is to trade for Myles Turner. He would enable us to continue to play the same small ball five-out style but with monster size like last season.

A Russ, THT, LeBron, AD, and Turner starting lineup would be the biggest small ball team in the league. Thast’s exactly the physically dominating type of team Frank wants with two bigs. AD gets to play his preferred four and LeBron his preferred three.

Considering THT’s jump, he and Nunn and DJ should be enough and we can throw in a pick or Monk to close the deal. It’s the single biggest move the Lakers can make at this time and much better than trading for a bigger 3&D wing or power forward.

Well, with LeBron out we’re not at DEFCON 5 yet but man this is looking like a season of uphill battles thus far. Gone is any lofty talk of a 70 win season, at this pace the Lakers will be lucky to avoid the play-in. If this team doesn’t figure some things out, get (and stay) healthy and begin competing at a higher level you can kiss the banner goodbye and add another wasted season in purple and gold to LeBron James’ resume’.

1. Talen’s big game. The best Laker on the floor last night was THT. He attacked the defense in a variety of ways and his three point shot was on full display. With Vogel announcing that Kendrick Nunn is still “a way’s away” with a bone bruise we desperately need production from Horton-Tucker. The evolution of his three-pointer is a huge key to unlocking his potential as it will force teams to stay on him on the perimeter opening chances to drive the ball into the paint and attack. The next step is getting his teammates activated and involved and continuing to improve on defense. If THT is going to be a force he needs to bring that trifecta of impact.
2. AD getting tossed. This is becoming a theme: Lakers struggle for this reason or that, get into it with the refs, lose game and talk about how they need to stay better composed. Well the time to start that journey is now because this version of the Lakers really lets officiating bother them. From Dwight on the bench yapping to Melo every time down the court to DeAndre Jordan looking for touch fouls in the paint (hint: DAJ…they ain’t calling that stuff bro) the Lakers just need to suck it up and realize the refs aren’t bailing them out of their poor play. Everyone’s unhappy with the officiating so that indicates that at least there has been some level of consistency there. Now did AD deserve to be tossed and/or was he right about usually the refs give a a player a quick moment to re-shoe? Sure, but that ought not obfuscate the fact that the game was all but decided by the time he got tossed.
3. Play with some pride. LeBron alone won’t fix this. He’ll help but until this team comes together and starts sacrificing for one another, selling out for loose balls, and competing at a high level regardless of the opponent it won’t really matter who is on the floor. This team seemingly wants to be able to rely on talent, not get down on it in terms of defense, not focus on the minutiae and execute at a high level and in general has an air of laziness about it that simply won’t get it done most nights. Right now if 2 bench guys don’t get red hot from three, AD doesn’t pour in 30+ points and Russ have an above average game we have no shot to win against most teams. So when LBJ gets back we’ll see less of Monk and Bazemore, most likely. At this point that’s a good thing. While I’m high on Monk and his skillset it’s obvious we need someone to restore order and if it’s not LeBron it won’t be anyone. The trio talked a lot about sacrifice in their dinner where this was all envisioned, now is the time to start.
4. The question of Alex Caruso vs. THT. I mentioned this on the podcast. That i think this debate is absurd as it frames two guys who in and of themselves aren’t the reason the Lakers are in luxury tax land. The reason that happened is we traded for Westbrook and have two other max salaried players. So the idea that the smallish contracts that THT and Caruso signed respectively is just a false narrative that obfuscates the fact that the majority of resources available to the team are dedicated to 3 players. That in and of itself isn’t the problem. The problem is that, after committing so many resources to the three players and trading away the aspects of the roster we could easily retain we were left with 2 players whom we could go over the salary cap to keep, although the doing of that would be costly and those 2 players were AC and THT. If you’re going to build a 3 superstar team you have to do so with the correct mindset. 3 players does not a championship roster make and I hardly believe that could news to anyone inside the Laker front office war room. We needed the skillset of both THT and Caruso in order to field the most competitive team that also has some championship pedigree and experience playing alongside LeBron. So, in my mind, this debate is being framed all wrong. The issue is that the Lakers went big on 3 guys and cheaped out big time after that. End of discussion. Really the reasons don’t matter at this point either as this is the team we have.
5. How can we turn this around? Honestly, I don’t think any one thing can turn this around. James coming back re-creates the same problem we have now which is our offense is fine but our defense is not. We’re not elite in any way except roster payroll, at least we’re not playing elite. Russ doesn’t have the right kind of guys around him to be the best version of himself, but adding LeBron and THT will marginalize Russ (somewhat) so that may be the answer there is just having more guys who can get their won shot on the floor and hope Melo can keep his roll going on the road (although his last 2 games have been drop off games for him). We need 30 points from AD every single night, it would appear, because after AD and The King we don’t have anyone that can score in double digits consistently. Melo, maybe, but Anthony is old and isn’t going to have the mojo every single night. Russ will score in double-digits but the efficiency is a huge issue in regards to those points.

It’s certainly fair to say that I am now in the position of having to re-examine my opinion that adding Russ was the right move. At the time I could imagine how it could work, in reality I have yet to see anything consistent or organic from the team for the most part. This isn’t working, especially against teams that have an identity established or have gelled quickly. The Bulls in many ways were the perfect team to face at this crux of the season: they had a huge amount of turnover, have done the job early against a favorable schedule, and a re playing like champs already but with guys who haven’t won a thing (except Caruso). But thinking of a world where we could have had DeRozan and kept AC and THT is certainly a “hindsight is 20/20” kind of world. We didn’t go that route, nor did we trade for Buddy. We have Westbrook and now the guys have to find a way to make it work.

That was a needed infusion of youthful talent. Between THT and Malik Monk the Lakers have been able to send some guys out there that are both under 30 and have some decent game. Anthony Davis set the tone and the team followed in one of the more complete games the team has played to this point in the season.

1. Anthony Davis starting to assert himself in ways the team desperately needs. We can go on and on about how this role-player or that isn’t playing quite up to type or what-have-you but the truth is this Laker team is only going as far as Anthony Davis takes it at this point. LeBron has been hurt, Russell is the new guy and the team needs AD’s elite impact that only he can bring on both ends of the court. Not to minimize the contributions of any other player on the roster but Davis alone can massively change the tone of the game on either end. Last night he was dominant in the paint helping us to an (for this season) uncommon advantage in that department. He also canned 2-3 three pointers, grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds and dished 6 assists. His 34 points led all scorers and he looked like the unstoppable force inside and out that we need him to be. When AD plays with that much force, focus and intensity the Lakers are a lot tougher to beat. When he lets the game or his teammates dictate his aggression we suffer for it.
2. Welcome back Talen Horton-Tucker. I’ve written a lot of words about the advanced age of this Laker team and I likely will throughout the season as long as Frank continues to rely on the over 33 players. THT made his season debut following thumb ligament surgery and he looked like he hadn’t missed a day. The Lakers and the fans might have to live with some questionable forays into the paint, passed up shots and the learning curve any player who is still trying to reach his ceiling will have. I’ll take it because Talen is probably our most accomplished slasher other than LeBron James. He uses angles better than any other Laker and he has an array of finger rolls, floaters and mini-hooks to get his shot off over (or around) defenders. While it was only one game against the rebuilding Spurs he looked decent on defense, certainly no worse than the struggling Kent Bazemore.
3. Malik Monk building a case for a consistent role. Monk started the season with more questions than assumptions. Could he defend well enough to earn minutes on Vogel-coached team? Would his shooting transfer over from a mostly bench, mop-up duty role in Charlotte to a team with bonafide banner aspirations? Could he carve out a role amongst so many other more established p[layers? Monk is answering those challenges and he’s doing it pretty well. His 36.1% from three is weighed down by early season struggles and inconsistent minutes, of late he’s been shooting the ball better and is creative at getting his shot off in the paint with an array of floaters. He’s not really creating much for teammates (2 assists/game) but that’s not really his role on this team. He, like THT, are being asked to be Swiss Army Knives with a little D, some scoring and some playmaking while fitting in among HOF players. Monk has started to shine in the absence of Kendrick Nunn as one of our better young players.
4. Russell Westbrook taking it to the bank. I hadn’t realized until this season how many shots off the glass Russ takes. It makes a ton of sense because Westbrook is so strong, his shot so forceful, that using the glass to soften it just plain smart. Russ will never be Ray Allen efficient but he brings a lot of other things to the table. His bank shot has been solid thus far and, like LeBron, I think he’d benefit from shooting a step or from beyond the line on his threes. Russ had a solid game against the Spurs and seems to be trying to do a little less which has taken some of the pressure off of him with LeBron out.
5. Wayne Ellington making it happen. It’s been whispered and rumored of for awhile now: the Lakers are where three point shooting specialists come to die. Guys who shoot lights out on smaller market teams (or where there are coaches who devise plays specifically to get them their shots) come to LA and can’t throw it in the ocean. Wayne started his season playing that way but, of late, has started to look more like the gunner we need him to be to bolster our bench scoring. If THT is going to start that leaves it to Wayne, Malik and whomever else gets into the rotation on any given night to bring some firepower off the bench. Wayne took a few games to get his legs under him and has said that the new ball has taken some time to adjust to. That all sounds about right to me. Wayne was great in his role yesterday afternoon taking 7 threes and making 5.

It begins tonight. The easy portion of the schedule is, essentially, done. One could argue that no team in the NBA should be considered easy to beat but the truth is the Lakers didn’t do themselves many favors easing into the season (especially in regards to training camp where it feels like a lot of these questions could have been answered specifically “should DeAndre Jordan play at all?” NO! No he should not.) in the manner that they did. Sitting just 2 games over .500 with a 5 game road trip after the back-to-back tonight facing mostly eastern conference teams in the hunt for the playoffs the Lakers have some work to do to show that they’re better than their record suggests.

This road trip takes us through a struggling Milwaukee team that I’m sure would love to bring some oxygen to their season by beating us: don’t let it happen; we need to become the team that beats struggling or rebuilding teams. Don’t be the one that gives them a feather in the cap by running us out of the building. Our lone game in Boston to a similarly struggling Celtics squad gives us another chance to show we can take advantage of the issues other teams are having rather than let our own issues define the season. Can they make all this happen? I’m not so sure but tonight is a good test: the Bulls are coming off a win against the Clippers and it’s Alex Caruso’s first game against the team that cheaped out in regards to retaining his services and choosing the hopeful promise of THT over the proven defender and glue man that is Alex Caruso. While tonight will not be the end of that debate it’s sure to be fun to watch. Watch ACFresh go for 50, lol.

Go Lakers.

That was pathetic. Let’s get this over with.

1. 83 points, to date. That’s the amount the Lakers have been outscored in the 3rd quarter by the opposition to this point in the season. We come out of the half like the game is in the bag. It’s a bad habit that started in preseason and has been consistently displayed throughout the season.
2. Lazy basketball. In the 3rd quarter, after the Timberwolves had run out to a double-digit lead in a not double-digit minute span, the Lakers fell back on the laziest shot in basketball: the early shot clock three pointer. Most of those came within a Mike D’Antoni-esque 7 seconds or less in regards to the shot clock. The five out sets mean there are no rebounders for these lazy shots and it allowed Minnesota to get out on the break since we also chose not to really get back on defense after bad shots like we took in the 3rd.
3. No pride shown. This got so embarrassing so fast I was surprised the starters played as much as they did in the second half. If you’re not going to compete, if you’re just gonna jack up lazy shots (everyone, no one player did a good job of trying to make a basketball play, throwing inane passes out of bounds under little to no pressure, and basically choose not to show up then do the fans who shelled out over $100/ticket a favor and just leave your ass at home. Nobody wants to watch NBA level talent play lazy and silly. Nobody.
4. This Laker team is soft. Like Charmin soft. We get out-rebounded consistently. We play defense without moving our feet consistently. We settle for bad shots consistently. Those are the defining characteristics of this team, I don’t care what name is on the back of the jersey. We rarely work inside out, almost never run a set play unless it’s an inbounds (and even there it’s iffy) and have shown that we are more than willing to play down to lesser competition. Weak.
5. Kiss that banner good bye. AD called out the team in his post-game but even that, in my opinion, fell short of what this team needs which is a swift kick in the butt. We’re coming up on the 20 game mark which is generally a barometer for the kind of team you have. That being the case, welcome to the 2021-22 version of the Los Angeles Lakers: a collection of names, not playing cohesively, showing up for 2/3s of every game and trying to get by on talent alone. If I were the coach I’d bench every player who isn’t getting back, who grabs instead of moves and shoots a three with 14+ seconds left on the clock. Be better or go this will become one of the biggest collection of losers with HOF credentials ever assembled in any sport.
   
   This glass is full, 100% full of reality people. I’m sure this post could be considered more arm-waving and hand-wringing but we’re almost done with what was considered the easy part of our schedule and it’s only going to get harder. That doesn’t bode well for the LA Lambs, er, Lakers

I have been saying that before. Having AD and Russ figure out things while LeBron waits is the first step in developing a synergy among the three of them. So LeBron out for some time might help in a big way while it hurts. Chemistry takes different forms to materialize.

The Trailblazer’s game was garbage. Terrible effort on every front, got played off the floor by the better team and the biggest issue is this is happening when we face what are considered to be bottom-feeding teams. The Lakers have an age problem in that we are an old team. Our superstars are old, our role-players are old and all but 1 of the young guys signed over the summer and a rookie are injured. On top of that we are counting on guys who put their bodies through a lot just to feel healthy. As soon as they get dinged up a little, it seems to mean they get dinged up a lot. Pro sports are a younger person’s affair, for the most part, and this ain’t golf or baseball.

1. LeBron’s injury-riddled time in Los Angeles. However you care to quantify this it’s becoming an unavoidable topic of debate: LeBron is getting older and it’s showing in his shot selection and his availability. LA got vintage LeBron, a finely aged player still capable of putting up quality performances. Then came the groin injury and a mostly lost season. 2019 will always be looked at through the lens of LeBron turning back the clock in the playoffs and helping bring banner 17 to the rafters. However, that also has to come with a big “But” in the form of a 3 month break midseason as planet Earth grappled with COVID-19. Then came the following season where LeBron was playing at a high level, again. Until Solomon Hill accidentally took him out with a high ankle sprain. Since his, at times shaky, return from that injury one thing has stood out: LeBron now shoots a lot of threes. Now he’s out with another ankle injury, one that some say could take as long as a month to heal. At 36, with the mileage that body has accumulated, it makes sense for the Lakers to be as cautious as they can afford to be given the impact James’ health has on our title chances.
2. Anthony Davis aka The Man Who Falls Down A Lot. I love AD and the way he plays the game. He really does play in the style of a throwback power forward a la Bob McAdoo but with better range (“Doo” would have been a beast in the modern game, btw). If you listen to Bill & Stu on the Spectrum broadcasts you’ll there’s a running joke about AD hitting the floor and how many times he picks himself up off of it. It will not surprise me if, at some point, we see AD attempt a FG from said floor. The dude is elite, no doubt, but he also gets nicked up easier and quicker than a lot of other elite players. I’m not questioning his heart, the world of pro sport is littered with guys who had the talent and the heart but their bodies simply did not cooperate for them to have the kind of careers many expected. AD, like LeBron, benefitted greatly from the COVID time off when he turned in a playoff performance for the ages. That is not something that will be replicated and so the question facing him now is: can you do it within the confines of a true, 82 game NBA season? I believe he can. I am of the opinion that, if the roster is relatively healthy and LeBron is at something like 80% we can win a 7 game series against any other team, east or west. That will depend, as it always does, on a modicum of luck. But good health, especially to your superstars, is a must for any team that wants to do more than place SHOW.
3. The Russell Westbrook puzzle. I’m not too proud to admit that I might have been wrong. That Mr. Sean Grice and Mr. Gerald Glassford may have been correct when they said that Russ was not a good fit on the Lakers. I still believe they will all figure out some way to make it work, though that way has certainly not yet been discovered. Westbrook had a golden opportunity against Portland to impose his will on the game. Instead he turned in the worst performance I have personally seen from him, ever. Toss in that the bench we normally deploy gave us nada and the route we all yearn to forget went down. It’s almost impossible for me to conceive a world where the Lakers entertain trading Russell Westbrook, it feels like it would take Dame specifically telling Portland “trade me to the Lakers” and that Russ would be the one to swap. We would also have to still be at, or below, .500 for that to happen. I just can’t see that happening…yet. Even I, of the realistic and pragmatic approach (as opposed to those with glasses of rose), really have a hard time seeing what lead the Lakers to such a dismal conclusion to the Russell Westbrook as a Laker saga. But it is starting to take shape in my mind, which is not a good thing. Because if I can kinda see it now then there are people within the Laker organization that saw back in the summer and likely submitted a memo or bent Rob’s ear for a hot minute only to be over-ruled. I still believe that the Lakers, as constructed now, have enough to win a banner. They suffer from Brooklyn-itis right now: too many pieces that have specific needs that really haven’t played together much. If we can cure that, we got a great chance.
4. The rest of the team. It is certainly no secret that, as a result of having three max contracts on the books, the rest of the roster is essentially filler. Composed of a lot of aged vets on minimum deals, Malik Monk on a minimum deal, Nunn for the MLE and THT on his extension with a dash of “hey look at Austin Reaves go!” that’s the Laker bench. This is another area where the age of the roster is an obstacle to overcome, especially in the regular season. All of the guys we play in support roles with either the starting five or off the bench are over 30 except for Monk and Reaves since both THT and Nunn have been out since camp. Carmelo is going to come and go, but like any aged gunslinger he’s only good until the bullets run dry in any one gunfight. Dwight hasn’t been able to recreate his 2.0 Laker magic, DeAndre Jordan looks as washed up as he did at the end of his tenure with the Clippers, Ariza has been hurt and Bazemore and Bradley are decent support, at best. There is no young blood who has the skill and talent to impact the game in a winning way that i available. To be honest, I don’t really see that in him, to begin with. Whatever the impact they can make, we need some of the younger guys to get back competing and see what they can do to help turn this around.
5. All things filter from the top down. Rob built this team. Yes, it was with a nod of acquiescence from AD and LBJ but it was his hand that put it together. It’s now Frank’s team to coach. I wondered before camp if Frank had the gravity and voice in order to bring these disparate identities, skill sets and egos into a cohesive force that could consistently win basketball games. I still have many, many doubts in this regard. It’s not Frank’s fault that he was given a roster of either old guys who have defensive reps or young guys who do not but that is in essence the team he was provided with this season. His rep as a defensive coach has been put to what I would imagine is the biggest test it has faced, yet. The Lakers suffered a pretty significant brain drain on the coaching staff, the team is not built for the style the coach likes to play, and many of the key pieces have yet to play significant minutes with each other. In an of themselves, none of these are enough to sink a team’s season. Taken as a whole and at at the same time and this looks more and more like an iceberg in the ocean…waiting…waiting…

I still believe we can overcome all of the above. The question is when more than if. This team was always built with the playoffs in mind, even with Westbrook. While not as much as in the past there is generally more time between games, you’re facing the same team and we got guys who know how to perform under pressure of all kinds. I don’t think too many teams will be trying to position themselves to face the Lakers in the playoffs, so long as we’re relatively healthy. Time, however, is a major factor. We want to be assured of a seeding, not fight for a play in. We want to make what we have work as is, not add more time to what is already a lengthy process of discovering fit, building chemistry and figuring things out. We want the coach we have to do his job right and stick around for awhile because Frank’s a funny guy, helped us win a banner, and if you bring in another coach (even one off the bench) you’re still going to have to re-adjust on the fly. None of that is desirable. So, in the interest of title #18 here’s hoping this group can push through this time of difficulty and figure out a way to win now. Go Lakers.

Michael’s comment about good Russ and bad Russ kind of encapsulates this Lakers team. Good Melo, Bad Melo. Good LeBron, Bad LeBron. Good AD, Bad AD. Good Baze, Bad Baze. Good Reaves, Bad Reaves. Good Vogel, Bad Vogel.

Or maybe it’s just early in the season and players haven’t had a chance to develop rapport or chemistry because of all of the crazy lineups due to injuries and inconsistent play. After all, we did have 11 new players and right now are missing three of our five highest paid players who are out with injuries.

Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct answer.

Well that felt like it was closer than it needed to be. A lot of extraordinary things happened in last night’s game but perhaps the most was the fact that the refs decided to just lose 2 points the Lakers had as a result of their terrible officiating. In the end it didn’t mater (barely) and the Lakers came away with the W. More important to me is that after holding a Houston team to 85 points that exact same team blew up for 116. Defense is still a work in progress.

1. The Legend of the Missing Points. So the refs made a mistake. Cool, it happens. The way they “fixed” that mistake was absurd. To simply remove those points from the board doesn’t fix a damned thing it only penalizes the Lakers in the form of a lost possession for something they didn’t do. This needs to be addressed by the NBA on down the line but at the end of the day it is not a team’s fault, nor should they be essentially punished for, an officiating error. Players don’t get do-overs. Coaches don’t get do-overs. Officials shouldn’t either. A cooler, in-house way of dealing with that would have been to tell coach Silas about the error and let him know there would be some gift free throws coming his way. but to take away the points, and thus the possession which nobody can say how it would have worked out, is just plain wrong. NBA refs have a tough job, agreed, but they still need to do it well and they are not handling much of anything very well at this stage in the season.
2. In reality, those two points shouldn’t have mattered, The Laker defense was by far the uglier issue fromm last night’s win than the blown officiating. We almost let the young Rockets run us off the floor, with some transition buckets off our own made baskets and with some terrible three point close outs. Credit the Rockets for a bevvy of adjustments but also you have to worry about a defense that is still giving up a ton of points. The issue is the bench and centers not named Anthony Davis. However, since the roster is essentially minimum contracts, the onus is on Frank to make it work. The man has his work cut out for him. Getting some guys back in the next couple weeks should help as well as more film sessions but at the end of the day defense is a heart and hustle stat and the Lakers as a team need to show a little more and rely on talent and past accolades a little less.
3. Best game by the trio to date. This game did give us one particularly awesome highlight: solid games by Russ, LBJ and AD. They all scored 27 or more points, as a trio they only turned the ball over 11 times (considering what it’s been in some games this is a vast improvement and one that I hope continues) and chipped in 22 rebounds, 20 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks (AD handled the blocking all on his own). That is gonna work more often than not to bring home a W. The rest of the team only scored 35 points so the balance between the Trio and The Others is still a work in progress but give me solid games from those 3 every night and we’ll have a chance to win. Nice to see them gelling.
4. The Lakers three point shooting. I’m sure it’s no secret that I don’t have a strong belief in the power of the almighty three in the modern game. It’s an unreliable scoring mechanism unless you have the following: elite shooters at multiple positions, a well-integrated offensive system that enables and maximizes those specific shooters, and the will to let it fly in the face of absurdity. We have had decent three point shooters on this roster for years. Be it Danny Green, Wes Matthews, Wayne Ellington, or whome-ever the Lakers have brought in they, to a man, seem to regress here in LA. That is, in my opinion, because of points 2 and 3. Much was made of the new offense Frank installed but on the court, in reality, I’m not really seeing much of a difference. We come down, guys screen, the ball moves from strong to weak (often with an ill-advised cross court pass) sometimes we dump it into AD at the post, sometimes Russ asks for a screen, sometimes LeBron does LeBron things. Really, to me, it looks very much like the same offense we run which is to say a pedestrian one at best. 5 out sets could be the answer, I suppose, but the team has to commit to running them and they don’t seem to be. But the real issue is point three: let it fly in the face of absurdity. This isn’t just from the coach but it definitely starts there. Mike D’Antoni, I’m sure, talks about defense when he’s coaching. I’m sure he spends just as much, if not more, time talking about how if you see daylight you shoot. That you will never be taken out of the game for missing a three, that there are no bad shots, and he drills that into your head. I don’t think Frank is that kind of coach, at least not on offense. I’m sure he drills defensive terms and conspets in a similar fashion and then, of course, talks about how it would be great to shoot the open shot. But not in the face of absurdity, he wants the quality shots, the good looks and not the “I’M FEELING IT MAN!!!!” shots. In truth there is but one, maybe 2, Lakers who are possessed of the correct shooters mentality and that is Carmello Anthony and maybe (we’ll see) Wayne Ellington. Hence the 6-25 from three because that wasn’t great Rockets defense, just bad shooting on our part and a lot of that comes from within.
5. The Kent Bazemore effect. While I’m not sure that Avery Bradley as a starter is set in stone I feel like Kent Bazemore has etched his name into the Stone of Lakers Starters for the season or until something displaces him. The dude has been beyond solid on D, takes and makes the shots that are created for him and flat out plays the game the way you want to see when sharing the court with multiple HOFers. I don’t think Kent has had a single “Wow, look at Bazemroe go off!” but rather has been the model of stability and even-keeled contributions. That low level of variance in his play is a huge factor in my wanting him to stay a starter. Melo has all the tools and all the credentials but a lot of his impact relies solely on his shot falling. That can’t be counted on every night. Bradley has a lot of the tools but is on the small side and we have a PG in Westbrook and a need for a better-defending playmaker off the bench to keep Rondo on ice until the playoffs. Monk is just too inconsistent on both ends. I’ll be surprised if Frank sticks with AD at the 5 but we’ll see soon enough, still i think it likely that both the matchup provided by Houston and the injury to Dwight are what’s pressed Vogel to this point, I suppose the only thing we can collectively hope for is that he likes what he sees so much that he lets it roll for a few games. Bottom line for me is, even when Nunn and THT and Ellington come back (and eventually Ariza but I’m thinking we want to keep him on little bit of ice until the playoffs, as well), I think we need Kent on the floor to start games. Maybe someone comes on like gangbusters and changes this equation but nothing I saw in camp, which was admittedly limited because of injuries, makes me think his fit isn’t nigh perfect for the style of basketball we want to play.

2 wins against a team we ought to beat. Good enough to keep me pleased if not ecstatic or willing to declare this team anything but one that is slowly improving. if we can improve while we win, so much the better . Seeing the Trio thrive the way they did last night was awesome, more of that please but with better contributions from the bench. Go Lakers.