Aloha,
The Lakers start to the season has been impressive. Not just the wins but wins against quality teams. What’s more impressive is they are doing it while trying to learn a new system. There are a lot of kinks to work out but it’s great to win while you are still trying to figure it out.
Actually the Lakers could have blown all three teams out if they hadn’t shot themselves in the foot. If we shot even 25% from 3 we would have blown the TWolves out. We had good looks, just missed. While the Suns shot an insane percentage from 3 early, the 7 early turnovers were as responsible for that 22 point deficit as the Suns shooting. And last night 19 turnovers fueled the Kings transition game. I don’t mind a turnover when it’s due to a great defensive play but I hate sloppy turnovers. Austin and LeBron accounted for 11 of them. They are both gamblers but there were just to many forced passes into tight windows. I see turnovers as our number one problem right now but it’s nice to win even when we are turning it over.
LeBron had sat back and played a supporting role in the first two games. But the Kings were determined not to let AD beat them and doubled and tripled him all night. So LeBron said fine, be that way and proceeded to score 16 points in under 3 minutes, on his way to an impressive 33 point, 14 boards and 10 assists game. He reminded the league that you have to pick your poison. You maybe able to shut one star down but not both.
And AD, 30 points. That’s 3 30 point game in a row.Considering the effort the Kings put into stopping him, those 30 points must have been disappointing for the Kings.
Rui continued his fine play with 18 points and 9 boards. He is becoming quite the master at finding seams along the baseline for easy baskets. He’s also shooting 50% from 3 so far this season. Not bad.
DLO finally broke out of his shooting slump. He is to good of a shooter not to. 3 for 6 from 3 is more like it. I think he has been the biggest victim of the new AD centric scheme. I think JJ will need to find him a few more looks a game.
Austin was Austin. He continued to rebound, defend and knock down his 3’s. Just need to take better care of the ball. Those 6 turnovers were way too many.
Max continues to struggle while Dalton continues to shine. When Vando comes back he will be the 6th man and come in for LeBron. But it very well could be Dalton coming in for Austin when he needs a break.As long as Dalton can continue to compete on defense, his offense will win him the job.
When you think of 3 point shooting, which is more important. The Lakers made 14 on 34 attempts while the Kings made 15 on 44 attempts. It’s the made number that’s important.
So it’s the Suns next to begin a 5 game road trip followed by a tough Cav’s team. Thats 5 games against contenders, one back to back and a long road trip to start the season. The schedule makers didn’t do the Lakers any favors but we are still 3 and 0. Not bad.
Not bad indeed, Michael. Great post. You have to love how JJ has gotten this team off to a great start despite not having three important bigs is a testament to how widespread his impact has been. It’s rare to see so many positive signs in so little time.
What’s most impressive has been JJ finally engineering the long talked about handing over of the Lakers’ torch to Anthony Davis, with a cute reminder from the King that he can still be the GOAT whenever the Lakers might need it.
Reaves, Rui, and DLO all played great, as did Dalton and Jaxson. Christie won’t survive once Vando or Wood returns. Dalton will take his minutes. If Wood and Vando are both healthy, we may see a 10-man rotation. Wish we would get word how long before Koloko will be ready to play.
Lakers obviously still need a backup center and point-of-attack perimeter defender, although the presence on the roster of Koloko and Vanderbilt provide possible in-house solutions.
If Lakers look like legitimate contenders, Rob might spend the picks to after a couple of major upgrades that could be difference makers, like Marcus Smart and/or Robert Williams. At any rate, Lakers are in excellent position and may not need a trade other than one to dump JHS, Lewis, and Reddish and open up a couple of roster spots.
Tom, I don’t think that Smart is a smart move for the Lakers. He is an offensive liability. 11 points per, 39% from the field and 32% from 3 for his career. He is would destroy our spacing. Not to mention I don’t know who we would trade for him. DLO is a poor fit for the Griz because of his defense. When you have defenders like Vando and Gabe you can call on for D, we just don’t need him. As for Williams, he’s been out sense Oct 3 with yet another injury. His risk is not worth the benefit. By the way he has never even taken a 3 in the NBA.
We’ll have to A2D on Smart, Michael. I think he is still an elite point-of-attack defensive player, which is something we’re going to need, and a point guard. That’s a unique combination. A Smart/Reaves backcourt would be elite.
I also love Smart’s heart and think he’s the kind of player the Lakers need. He may not be as good a point guard offensively as Jrue Holiday but he’s just as good a defender and a perfect for the Lakers. Worth a pick imo.
Tom he’s not close Holiday. Holiday has an offensive game. Smart isn’t even a good assist man. 4 a game is not stellar. If you want to run the offense through AD you have to have shooters around him. Smarts man would be able to double AD, because no one fears Smarts shooting. We have defenders we can plug in if needed. I rarely say never but I believe that Smart is even on the Lakers radar. Besides we don’t have anyone the Griz would want. Smart is their lone starting perimeter defender. Not happening