One thing can unequivocally stated: the Lakers aren’t earning any style points with their play inside the Bubble. While the lack of execution, shooting and overall lackadaisical nature of how the Lakers a re playing is certainly not without concern, it’s still not what will define their time in the Bubble. That is still to come.
- One way or another the Lakers need to come together fast. It’s all nervous Lakers fans want to see: LeBron effortlessly dropping 10 dimes/game like before, Anthony Davis being a threat on both ends, the bench playing with fire, role-players executing their roles. Unfortunately, as in all life, it’s just not that easy. We’re seeing a Laker team in a state of mid-season flux. Not only are we rebooting the season, we lost a major rotational player and we’re incorporating 2 new ones. Breathe, relax, there are a lot of positives to take away from this stretch of play.
- Laker defense is still pretty solid. We have a top five defense inside the Bubble. Given the loss of Bradley and the fact that the new additions aren’t defensive stalwarts that’s impressive. It’s also good news concerning our playoff chances.
- biggest issue is our outside shooting followed by no offensive flow. Free throws are third but I don’t see an elixir or balm that will soothe that woe. Outside shooting needs to improve, no question. It’s obvious that we’re still finding our legs and our grooves. We’re an older team, the younger squads seem to be adjusting to both the disputed schedule and life in the Bubble better than older teams. Just a feeling, no hard data on that notion, just a vague sense watching the games. No offensive flow I’m less worried about. We’ve barely played the same rotation game-to-game as Coach Vogel continues to see what combinations produce what results. This, for the Lakers, was always going to be a weird training camp/preseason hybrid. Especially after we clinched.
- T.J. Warren is a baller. Suns will kick themselves for letting such an explosive and talented scorer go. For cash considerations, at that. That dude is destroying right now and could be a big factor in the eastern conference playoffs. Don’t quite see how Indy goes all the way…but it is the playoffs and anything can happen.
- 8th seed might not be easy pickings. If we face a full-strength, hungry team from Portland I can only say this: I’m glad we’re not playing at the Rose Garden. We play terribly there, LeBron plays terribly there and if we do have to play the Trailblazers it feels like the Bubble is as good a place as any for that to happen. If it ends up being the Grizz, I like our chances much better but will still be a hard contest, especially if our issues scoring the ball continue.
Look, these games haven’t been exciting or hope providing. Most of them have been the polar opposite. But take heart, Vogel is still experimenting, still tinkering. Last night in his post-gamer he said he had yet to use his playoff rotation. That’s good news. So here’s hoping we win out and have a shred of momentum going into the real season.
Thanks for posting, Jaime.
There is not much to say about the state of affairs of our Lakers except that I saw improvement in our our defensive intensity, which came in spurts. The Lakers are at their best when they forced stops, leading to easy fast break points. The 3 point line is where we slacked a bit, but that has to do with the red hot shooting of TJ Warren. There was nothing anybody could do about that. This guy is just phenomenal. Remember a young Paul Pierce?
Regarding the rotation in this game, I must admit I am becoming a big fan of THT. This young man is fearless and has the poise of a veteran. He reminds me of a young Derek Fisher, only if his 3 point shot comes into full bloom. He certainly can also disrupt the passing lanes, which shows he will be a defensively capable guy just by measure of his steals per game that will be trending up.
Watching how Dwight has played these past few games, I am beginning to think Vogel needs to start him and bring McGee off the bench. The bench should be able to get McGee to do his thing: alley hoop lobs for dunks, blocking shots and terrorizing the paint area.
As for Quinn Cook, I had agreed with Tom in an earlier post that he is not the answer to our ball handling duties off the bench, but I do like his speed with the ball. His weakness is on defense, but if he can shoot the ball well like he did in this game I will keep in the rotation.
Now comes the most frustrating trend coming out of the Bubble. Is Anthony Davis ever going to be able to figure out how to be effective when double teamed? Ever since Nick Nurse deployed the tactic of double teaming him, his production has gone into a tailspin and teams are trigger happy to use the same tactic. It’s certainly not all his fault to a certain degree as our shooting and free throw woes continue to hurt us like you mentioned. But are we going to be able to win games if he averages less than 10 points and 10 boards like he did in this game? Is he having injury issues unbeknownst to us? These are questions that have me scratching my head.
Honorary mention: KCP. This dude is as tough as nails. He gets knocked out pretty badly, but would get up, absorb it, shake it off and keep on playing just like that. Many players will be headed to the injury list. He has the body tolerance of Allen Iverson. This dude is tough.
Buba,
Great post but very hard to read as one giant paragraph. Please break it up into multiple paragraphs in future. Thanks.
You can use Shift+Enter to start new paragraph without submitting the post.
Thanks, Tom. I will let you know if the problem still persists.
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The problem is still there. Just found out I can only create a paragraph when I am editing.
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Not working after saving changes.
Thanks Buba.
Re; THT – Agreed, I think he’s probably earned a spot over Kostas and is the more mature of the 2. I don’t think giving PT to KA is a ‘must do’ in order to lure his brother here. If he wants to come, it’ll happen. Personally, I feel like the Bucks have to flame out early for that to even have a ghost of a chance to happen.
Re: Dwight – Not so sure on this one. One thing that I feel is true about Frank Vogel is that he prefers to keep the line ups that work intact. In his current role as starting center we rose to the top of the western conference. That tells me something is working on most nights. He’s done that with both KCP starting and AB so I feel like it’s a solid take.
Dwight often finishes games, or at least plays more often in crunch time and that feels apropos. Let Dwight get going against inferior talent, get him involved in the game (he had his best effort in the loss to Indy but was mentally MIA up until then) and he’s been stellar off the bench all year. Feels like a lot for Frank to change up at this point but you never know. Could happen.
The double team issues have been infuriating. Davis is incredibly slow to react, allows himself to get doubled, and often trapped, after he picks up his dribble, and worst of all tends to turn it over a lot when he passes out of it. I think he anticipates and deals with it better in the low post. Nick Nurse (and just about every coach since) has done it from the three point line down and a hard double after he picks up his dribble. Davis and Vogel needs to address this in some film sessions. We’re sunk if all it takes to disrupt his game is a hard double team.
KCP is tough but gets zero respect, I worry he’s going to seriously hurt himself before the playoffs begin so I’m glad he’s sitting out.
Cook had a great game. One hopes it’s a harbinger and not an outlier. Once Rondo comes back I don’t expect him to play all that much. But, again, you never know. Frank may have a whole new thing ready for the playoffs.
Great post as usual, Jamie. Thanks.
‘Come together’ is the perfect theme for this Lakers team but it looks like the plan is to continue to experiment with lineups the last two games and then use the week off while the play-in tournament happens to fine tune the rotations to be used in the playoffs.
It’s a good thing we’re still playing fairly good defense. It’s one positive that keeps my worry meter from overloading. That plus the realization that these games don’t really matter. And we are missing Avery Bradley. Starting to worry that he may opt out of next season or opt to become a free agent. It’s not like we hear he’s in touch with or still feels like he’s part of the team. His declining to want a ring may be a sign.
I agree 100% that we need better offensive flow. Easiest thing to defend is guys standing still. Hardest is always the guys in perpetual motion. We need a lot more off ball weakside screens and cuts to open up players going to the basket, especially when AD gets doubled. Our offense is way too simplistic and static. That’s on Frank Vogel.
TK Warren was a salary dump mistake by the Suns. Still has two more years on his contract for around $12 million. He’s certainly found a home with the Pacers. I would still like to see the Lakers pursue Victor Oladipo. We need a guard with his quickness and atheleticism to go with LeBron and AD. Don’t want to give up Kuzma to get him though.
I actually think facing a tough first round opponent could benefit the Lakers, get them immediately focused on playing great basketball. Bring on the Blazers but yeah, thank God they don’t play in the damn Rose Garden.
I have a hard time seeing them trade Kyle. He’s due to make a paltry $3.5 mil next season. With LeBron and AD on the team you don’t need a volume scorer, you need elite role-players and Kuzma has worked hard to become just that. For the money it’s going to be hard to find the proper player to insert into the machine.