Aloha,

Well this should be interesting. After going through Dennis, Russ and DLO we are back to where we started in the bubble, with LeBron at the point. On the defensive end, I think this can work. The bubble team had really good 6’ 5 and 6’ 6” wings with LeBron. This line up has 6’ 8” Cam and 6’ 10” Vando. Vando is still playing himself back into shape but Darvin obviously believes he is ready. The offensive side is the concern. Prince will have to continue to knock down 3’s and Cam will need to find the range as well. We still need AD to dominate and we need guys hitting 3’s to space the floor. While DLO has been slumping, teams still had to account for him.

I’m curious to see how the rotations will look. That will be key. Our bench will consist of 3 guards, Rui and Probably Hayes. So the rotation will be super important. I really don’t want to see 3 guard line ups. You might see Vincent as the first guard off the bench. We brought him in to guard the quick guards like SGA. This certainly will be interesting.

If it works you may not need a point guard back if we were to trade DLO. We could always sign an emergency PG if we traded DLO for a non PG. But I don’t know who that would be yet. I don’t think we will know who is really on the trade market for several weeks. Right now it’s mostly speculation from writers. In thing I don’t want to see is Rui in a trade unless it’s for an upgrade at the 4. I do not want Wood as our primary back up at the 4. He has been terrible.

This experiment may tell us a lot about the direction we go in the trade market.

Aloha,

What a difference a couple of weeks can make. A couple of weeks ago the chatters was about the Bulls blowing it up. Then a strange thing happened. LaVine got injured and the Bulls got good. Now before his injury they were a plus 6 when he sat, but I don’t think anyone saw 6 and 3 coming. .

Not only have they been winning, they have beat the Bucks, 76ers and Heat. And two of the losses were to the Bucks in OT and by just 2 to the Heat. One wonders if this stretch will change anything. They may hold tight to see what happens, or they might try and see what they can get to bolster their roster by moving just LaVine. They may turn into buyers. Bottom line, they are a dangerous team and we can not over look them.

Aloha,

Missing 3 starters is a killer. It messes your game plan up. The first quarter was an example of that. We were completely disjointed on both sides of the ball and it took some time to settle in.

We saw why AD is so important to this team on defense. First the Spurs were not afraid of Hayes and Wood. They attacked the paint, getting a lot of little baby jumpers and points at the rim. And on the perimeter, we could not be as aggressive without AD having the teams back.

It also impacted the offense. Not just for what he scores, not just because we run the offense but also we didn’t get nearly as many open looks, especially from three because they didn’t have to collapse on AD.

Missing both Cam and DLO also took a toll. Basel had a career high 36 without Cam to check him. And we really missed DLO’s play making. And not having Austin to run the 2nd unit really hurt as well. We might have survived without AD if those two had played.

LeBron also was missing AD. They bottled him up pretty good. He made them pay with 14 assists but it made it difficult to score.

At some point it would be nice to be healthy. What a concept. We may see Vincent in the next couple of games which will be great. Hopefully we will have these other guys back for the Knicks.

Aloha,

I wrote before the game that it was the classic defense versus offense game. And as usual defense won.

AD is going to be remembered as one of the great defenders in the history of the game. Despite his desire to play the 4, no coach in their right mind would take him out of the middle. While fans would love to see him score more, he puts so much energy into his defense that one wonders how he manages to score as much as he does. There just isn’t any centers that can switch one through five, trap a point guard and then fall back in time to block or alter a shot in the paint. His mere presence deters players from even trying to score at the rim. And it’s that presence that allows guys like Cam and Vando to do their thing knowing AD has their back. Heck even DLO was up on people, playing solid D.

LeBron is playing so well this year that he dominates even on an off night.

I am so impressed by Cam. He did an amazing job on Haliburton. While he doesn’t score a lot, it’s his defense that matters most. And I think he enough offense to become a consistent double digit scorer. We won’t know what the cap looks like until that TV deal is done but Cam should be our main free agent target. Hopefully we can have the full MLE available again.

I just don’t understand the Pacers game plan. I know Turner is a good shot blocker but the rest of the front line is small. Why put so much energy into chasing shooters off shots? Factor in AD that required Turners full attention, it was almost a layup line, LeBron, Austin, DLO all attacked the paint and the Pacers couldn’t stop them. I was surprised when the Pacers didn’t adjust at halftime. By the way this was an example of why I was against adding Turner to the Lakers. He is a good center but he can’t compare to AD in the middle.

Playoff Austin is beginning to show up much more often. Which is a good sign moving forward. 22 points in the first half was amazing and necessary. It bodes well for the rest of the year. He just shines in big moments.

DLO’s offense is streaky but his defensive effort this year has been really nice to see. It earned him closing minutes yesterday.

It’s really hard for guards to shoot over 6’ 8” and 6’ 9” guys with
7’ + wingspans. Just saying. Haliburton had 3 AIRBALLS!

It’s a shame that the win doesn’t count but the Pacers were on a historic year offensively and we shut them down. If we stay healthy, this defense is going to win a lot of games.

I’m looking forward to the Mav’s game. We should have beat them last time and we didn’t have Cam or Vando available. I think it will be a different story this time.

The very first NBA in season tournament champions. That has a nice ring to it.

Aloha,

While I could write about how magical Lebron’s 23 minute were, there is a never ending number of articles that tell that story. I will write a few different things.

When we got off to a slow start the talk was what’s wrong with the Lakers, how to fix the Lakers. Who can we trade for. We need shooters etc. what all the writers were overlooking was the row of players sitting on the bench in street close. The Pels had a number of injuries also. I read a few articles on how the guys coming back were long and athletic defenders and that was going to really make this Pels team much better. Well we had long athletic guys coming back as well.

The truth is, our depth is our 3rd star. We are 9 and 2 when Cam starts. While he isn’t scoring a lot his defense has been elite. Add Vando to him and AD and now you have the recipe for an elite defense.

As for shooting, I said all along that we had shooters, that just weren’t making their shots. Prince is a very good 3 point shooter along with playing quality defense. He slumped early but over the 6 or 7 games he’s raised his season 3 point percentage to 36% and climbing after his 5 for 8 last night from 3.

Austin is also a proven 3 point shooter. He was slow out of the gate last year as well, but finished at 39% and 44% in The playoffs. He too is beginning to hit his shots. He is a big time player in big moments as we saw again yesterday.

Rui is back and shooting 40% from 3. As he plays his way back into shape I expect his shooting to continue to improve. And DLO is at 40% along with 6.5 assists. Dlo is a perfect point guard for us.

On any given night we have 3 guys that can put up 20 points to complement AD and LeBron.

Speaking of AD, the offensive criticism he receives it bit unfair. Teams come into the game with goal of taking one of the stars out. It’s easier to take AD out than LeBron because AD plays in the post and you can surround him. And teams have had multiple guys around him most of the time. With the DPOY defense he plays, I’m okay if he doesn’t hit 25 points every night. And with a full squad it should make it easier on him to score.

This team will not become an elite scoring machine but with the defense we play we won’t need to. I suspect the 3 point percentage to continue to improve but we don’t need to be at the top, just respectable.

This team really doesn’t need a 3rd star because we already have one. Our depth.

Aloha,

just watched the Pacers take down the Bucks and I watched them beat the Celtics. They are definitely for real. Haliburton is a legit MVP candidate. The rumors out there is they will be buyers looking for a front line player to pair with Turner. Grant out of Portland and OG out of Toronto are their targets. They have the salaries, draft picks and young players. If they land one of those guys, look out. If we get by the Pelicans, we will have our hands full for sure

Aloha,

Expect these games to be Laker home games. I’ve been to Vegas for the pre-season and summer league and the arena is packed with Laker fans. It’s a definite advantage over the other teams competing.

Aloha,

On a night when we shot the worst percentage of the season, we caught a glimpse of what this team can become. We had 21 offensive rebounds, 11 steals and forced a total of 20 turnovers. Our size and length on the defensive end is going to be a problem for a lot teams moving forward.

Vando, Cam and Rui are all coming back from injury, but with AD as the defensive anchor once this group can gets a few games together, the size they represent will lead to more games like last night.

I understand that Beal is still out, but even with him, we match up very well with the Suns. They have no answer for LeBron and AD. They are also a relatively a small team that has difficulty with our long wings. They also do not have a point guard. Booker is a tremendous shooting guard but he couldn’t hold up against taller defenders that can stay with him. He just was unable to run the offense effectively.

While we are not a great shooting team, we are not that bad. It’s good to know that we can win on even the worst night with a smothering defense that will only get better as they have more reps together as a unit.

Aloha,

This was kind of a weird game. We dominated more than the score would indicate, even when we led by 18. We just missed a lot of easy shots. AD missed his first 6. All good looks. But in defense of the shooting, it has been a while since I saw so many in and outs or balls rolling around the rim. As Chick would say on his night, Heartbrrrreak.

Even though it took AD a while for his shots to fall, his campaign for DPOY rolled on. 5 more blocks to go with his 14 boards. And if there was a stat for altered shots he would lead in that stat as well. I know he would prefer the 4, but Darvin is a smart coach. He won’t do that. When someone is the best defensive center in the league, you don’t move him.

Max Christie is growing up before our eyes. The 3 for 3 from three was nice, but it’s on defense where he has shined. The last thing that comes to young NBA players is defense but Max at only 20 is way ahead of the curve. He is making a case for playing even after we are at full strength.

We saw playoff Austin for a quarter last night and that’s all we needed. 15 points in the quarter and a tremendous amount of energy on both sides of the ball is what drove our comeback and win. Now if he can just start making his 3’s.

Speaking of 3’s, Prince seems to have found his stroke again. He is 11 for 20 over his last 4 games. If the rest of our current players shoot as well as they have proven they can, we will be all right.

LeBron is playing amazing basketball in year 21. And that 360 spinning lay up was just ridiculous. But there are two areas I wish he could clean up. Turnovers have been a real problem this year. He had 5 of the teams 9 las night. Perhaps this an effect of aging, maybe his reflexes are not keeping up with his vision. But he makes a lot of WTF turnovers. He also needs to be shooting better than 69% from free throw line.

On a night he didn’t shoot well DLO did other things. He had 7 assists and 5 steals in 24 minutes. His D has been visibly better this year but last night he looked like a defensive stopper.

Vando came back last night. He played 14 minutes. While he didn’t score he played smothering D and had 4 boards. Paired with Cam who always seems to be everywhere on defense and AD allowing them to be even more aggressive, the skies the limit for this team.

Evidently they decided to hold Rui out one more game, even though he dressed. I think that was the right move. He didn’t even make the road trip after the surgery. It now gives him until Tuesday to find his rhythm.

I fear Wood might be out of the rotation soon. He only 11 minutes, most of that was in garbage time.
He is not a very good defender but his offense was supposed to make up for it. But with the exception of a couple of games that hasn’t happened. He is shooting 26% from 3 and only 46% overall which isn’t good for a big. If he is not going to score Hayes might end up getting the minutes when AD rests .And Rui can cover Lebron’s rest minutes.
Hopefully his shot will come around soon.

We have the Suns next and it’s huge that we will have both Vando and Cam available to throw at Booker and AD. When we play top heavy teams like the Suns the bench really becomes important. And with players back our bench will be stronger then it’s been all season.

Aloha,

We are getting 4 guys back today. Finally! It will be interesting how Darvin uses everyone. I do believe that eventually we could see Can and Vando starting together. But I’m curious to see if Darvin eases Vando in or if he throws him in the fire. Considering this is his first game and he has had no real practice time I think he will probably come off the bench.

It will probably look a little ragged for a few games but hopefully we can stay healthy and build that chemistry that’s been impossible to construct up to now.

Aloha,

It is not just the holiday season, it’s the season when the trade rumors start to flow. Of course no one really knows who teams are really interested in. There are so many people with agendas out there that it’s impossible to tell who a team covets. Per the rumors Buddy should have been a Laker, not Westbrook.

One thing I have heard is the Lakers are focused on internal development. And that may be closest to the truth. I mean I’m still waiting for our season to start. Vando hasn’t played yet and with every passing game it is apparent how much we miss his defense, hustle and rebounding.

We have only had 4 games that we were not missing at least 2 rotation players and we have had up to 5 rotation players out in a game. We were missing 4 the last game. With those 4 one could say that the 76er game would not have been a blow out.

When you have this many players in and out of the line up it becomes more than just missing a player. It is also impossible to build any kind of chemistry. I’m sure the Lakers didn’t have a lot of practices with Max starting and a bench of just Austin, Wood and Hayes.

Even with all the injuries, rebounding issues and inconsistent shooting we are 10 and 8. We are 2 games out of the 2nd seed and 3 1/2 out of the first. Two made shots would have given us two more wins. 4 made free throws would have given us another.

It looks like we may get everyone except Vincent back within the next week. Our depth has allowed us to hang in there. The Piston game normally would make me nervous. Teams can let up against really bad teams but after the 76er humiliation I don’t believe that will happen. Cam is probable which will help. OKC will be a big challenge on the 2nd night of a back to back. But even if we are 2-2 under these circumstances on this road trip I won’t be discouraged. Our season will be starting soon.

Aloha,

The Lakers reminded us yet again why it’s a bad idea to be down by 20 going into the 4th quarter. Still it was a spirited comeback. But 4 missed free throws, Austin playing too far off Kyrie and I don’t know what LeBron saw on that forced pass into AD but it doomed us. Still if we can get our best defenders back I think we are in good shape.

Aloha,

The blow out win last night night was not a surprise. But holding Utah under 100 was. Offense is not their problem. They came in 9th in scoring with 116 a game, so our defense was impressive.

LBJ is amazing. Yes he has some head scratching turnovers and his perimeter defense isn’t what it used to be but sitting back in 4 spot, playing free safety makes up for it. And man. a career best in offensive efficiency is truly amazing.

AD seemed to moving freely for the first time since the hip injury. Thats a great sign.

Can we catch a break on the injury front? Cam’s defense was an integral part of our current success. Groin injuries can linger. I guess him coming back to the bench was a good sign, instead of receiving treatment in the locker room. Perhaps it’s just a mild strain. Fingers crossed.

I’m not particularly concerned by our inconsistent shooting. Overtime the guys will begin to trend towards their career averages.

Austin had a great game. For us to contend we need more consistency from him.

Wood had a bounce back game. It needs to become the norm.

Vando will be back soon. I’m looking forward to seeing him with Cam and AD. Could become one of the best defenses in the NBA.

With our 3 best on ball defenders out, the Mavs will be a challenge. While we won’t have an answer for Luka and Kyrie, I don’t think Dallas has an answer for AD and LeBron. It’s the 2nd night of a back to back. We really need to come out with energy. We can’t fall way behind again, may not have the energy down the stretch if we do.