Until the Lakers can figure out how to play defense nothing else matters. One could choose to quibble over this or that but it truly does not matter. When you give up 50+% shooting from everywhere, allow the other team to just dominate you in the paint with no resistance, and in general play without energy you will lose the game. Every time. That, Lakerholics, is exactly what happened today.
- Compete. Written that word too much this season. Lakers did not show up ready to compete which is inexcusable on multiple levels. From the coaches to the Gatorade person, show up with some kind of intention that you will be competing. Play with energy, focus and intent to win. Showing up is not enough, I don’t care what the resume’ has on it. Lazy 35 foot shots, often quite early ion the shot clock, are not a recipe for a success and certainly not a comeback. Our screen roll coverages are a joke right now. Compete boys or just pack it up and save us all the drama.
- Three point game is not our strength. Hasn’t really been all season long. Not sure what Rob was thinking this summer but it’s obvious it isn’t working in terms of “improving” the offense. Our offense stinks. We don’t get the specialists shots which begs the question why we play them at all? If you’re not going to get Wayne going from the outside why are we playing him at all? At least when we had Wes you could argue he had a presence on defense. No, the three ball is not the weapon the Lakers need to focus on right now. Frankly, the offensive end isn’t where the largest issues lie, either.
- Too many donuts. Sometimes I really do wonder what this team works on between games. If it’s defense I don’t see it translating on the court. If it’s specific shots we don’t see them executed on the floor. Ariza, in his 17th season, ought to know where he can make a shot from. Donut. Dwight played 11 minutes…donut. Also couldn’t defend the paint against a stream of Miami players. Reaves is a rookie and has had an uneven distribution of minutes but also brought a donut to work.
- LeBron continued his 25+ point streak!!! Congrats on your Spirit award, Mr. James. We need more on defense at this point. Especially when you play center which isn’t really working anymore.
- A late push? Cute. Seen it this season and it’s Fool’s Gold. We’re mediocre, at best, and simply not good enough to rely on a few minutes of “Wow…we’re getting our asses kicked tonight…again. Time to play hard guys!!!” every few games. Had they played like that all game literally everything would have been different. They didn’t. Show up consistently. Play hard consistently. Don’t worry about streaks, stats, or the record books. Be better.
Getting AD back will help a little but we have a lot of issues. Westbrook’s fit, a lack of players with anything resembling defensive acumen or pedigree, and a general lack of competitive spirit from the tip. Late rallies should be needed every so often not once a week. We can’t even reliably beat bad teams, which has been the biggest issue, in all honesty. Had we shown an ability to beat inferior teams and come up short against top teams that would be one thing. We play down to everyone, get up for no one and spend a lot of time preaching patience. Well, we’re coming up on 2/3’s of the way through the season. Patience and time are ever-dwindling luxuries.
A very sad commentary indeed but one that encapsulated the very hard truth about the never-ending exposure of the Lakers glaring weaknesses on both offense and defense that can’t even remotely lend credence to any sort of viability.
Tentativeness has hampered this team’s functionality to a point where taking ownership of the game tends to paralyze and drag the whole team into a hole which in turn reflects the ugly truth of lack of energy. The energy has been lacking on many occasions and poor communications on defense have led to easy buckets in the paint. 50/50 balls don’t seem to go our way most of the time. Offensively, they can’t seem to sustain any confidence when their shots are not falling. We have shooters who can’t be part of the offense for prolonged periods.
Jamie, you are right. There is something about this team that makes you wonder what they do in between games to prepare for the next game. It seems like nothing goes right and nothing changes. The team’s poor start to the season and especially games was déjà vu all over again for us long-suffering fans. The only exception being the bubble championship year.
But like I said numerous times before, time is not on our side anymore. Let’s hope for a turn around.
There is nothing in this post but the hard truth. Thank you for being candid, as hard as the truth may be.
Thanks Buba. Nothing pisses me off more than when pro athletes half-ass their way through large chunks of a game and then turn it on in the final frame. it’s infuriating and insulting. On the podcast with TJ he made a ton of great points about the work ethic, or lack thereof. I’m sure they put in time, but with the intent being….what? I can’t see it and it’s not translating onto the basketball court.
Anyhow, hoping AD’s return eases some of the defensive issues. Not sure what the rest of the season holds in store for us fans but it’s hard to see it getting much worse so hopefully brighter days are ahead.
This game was it for me as far as Frank Vogel is concerned. I will no longer support him remaining as the head coach of the Lakers. He should be fired ASAP. He is a stupid idiot who has no idea how to put together a winning starting lineup or rotations.
Starting Russ, Bradley, LeBron, Ariza, and Dwight for the third game in a row despite horrible stats and eyetest was too much. I loved the decisions Frank made in the bubble but his decisions on lineups and rotations all year long have been brain dead and illogical.
Just look at the stats for the Russ, Bradley, LeBron, Ariza, and Dwight starting lineup the last three games despite the team ending up trailing by double digets in each game due to the poor offense, defense, and overall play of the team’s starting lineups. In fact, the only reason we won one of these three games is Frank replaced Dwight with Stanley but left Ariza and Bradley in the starting lineup.
Yes, we had injuries and Covid but the real culprit to this season was an old school coach who refused to accept the direction of the front offfice and figure out how to play the shooters Pelinka signed and instead contuinued to play DeAndre Jordan and two bigs and refused to embrace the small ball style the front office wanted to play to make Russ work.
Basically, we had a coach lead an insurrection that derailed the first half of the Lakers season. Time for a change. Bring in Mike D’Antoni or any coach who will run plays to get our shooters shots and motivate this veteran team to play defense. Right now, it’s obvious Frank Vogel can no longer do the job for which he was hired.
I’m not so certain Frank is the sole reason for a lot these struggles LT. I am a fan of the Vogel defense and have long questioned the Vogel offense. Wish we would have brought in a keener mind on offense when Kidd left. We didn’t. Don’t know if Frank picked or Rob picked Fizzy but he’s here and there aren’t a lot of good mid-season replacements.
I don’t think I like many of the re-read names out there floating around. I’d just as soon see someone who hasn’t coached at the NBA level or someone LeBron and AD trust to get it done. So far the team seems to still back Frank, at least when a microphone is in their face and a question has been posed.
If we come back from this roadie a couple games under .500 it’s Fizdale or Rambis. Hard to see them going outside the organization at this point and, in all honesty…I prefer Kurt who at least has been a part of both a championship culture and the Lakers for longer than Dave has. Also, Dave has never once impressed me as a coach. Neither has Kurt but it would seem those are the in-house candidates.
In terms of this summer…I dunno. I fear Luke Walton 2.0 or MDA 2.0. Too green and too old, respectively and MDA doesn’t feel like he’ll be back ever. Another obstacle not talked about yet is money. We hired the cheapest coach we could find and he turned around and won a banner. So it’s hard for me to imagine the Lakers shelling out top dollar for a coach these days, especially after how business was handled in the summer.
I will say that it’s hard for me to see Frank coaching past this season here. It’s my hope that Jeannie really cleans house: goodbye Rob, Frank and hello new brain trust. Promote some of the better scouting guys into bigger roles, they obviously do a solid job. Really conduct a coaching search and when you find the guy pay him right. Stop cheaping out on literally every facet of your team.
I can’t remember a more disappointing, frustrating, or dysfunctional Lakers’ season than this one. In the end, I blame Frank Vogel for the travesty this season has become.
I understand the arguments about how the front office should also be held responsible for putting together a roster that ultimately became unbalanced partly due to poor construction and partly due to untimely injuries.
But in the end, I’ve always believed the buck stops with the coach. who deserves the credit when the win and the blame when they lose. Coaches for me have always been the difference makers. The difference between winning or losing.
Coaches are more than just play callers or guys who just roll the ball out for superstar players. They’re who builds the chemistry, camaraderie, and culture of winning on championship teams. It’s their job to coach around the roster issues, injuries, and other obstacles life throws in the way of winning.
Frank Vogel wasted half of this season playing lineups that made little sense in terms of spacing on offense or rim protection on defense. His starting lineups led the team to starting every game behind. His prioritizing of analytics disasters like DeAndre Jordan and now Avery Bradley continue to prevent this team from developing consistent good starting lineups and rotations.
There is little a coach can do to damage his teams’ chances of winning more than playing the wrong players at the wrong times. Bradley and Ariza have about the same justification for starting as DeAndre Jordan did. Not only has Frank consistently chosen the wrong players to play but he’s then grouped them together with other players who don’t complement each other. The end result are lineups that are not capable of playing good offense or defense. Lineups like Russ, Bradley, LeBron, Ariza, and Howard lineups that started the last three games.
Frankly, I doubt the Lakers will fire Vogel just as I doubt Vogel will give in and bench Bradley, no matter how poorly he plays or how many times he allows the man he is defending to turn the corner and get into the paint. Vogel is toast in my book and as long as he coaches, the Lakers have zero chance of winning another championship. There’s nothing positive or good to say about lame duck coaches. Waiting until summer is stupid. Vogel has shown already he is not the solution going forward. Better to fire him now even if it means going with a temporary head coach. Hell, give the ball to Phil Handy. I bet he would at least play the right guys.
I’m also not saying Frank Vogel is the only problem we have right now or the only reason we need change.
What I’m saying is that it’s the coach’s job to deal with the rosters, injuries, Covid, matchups, stars, shadow GM’s, and somehow craft together a way to overcome and win.
Some of it is strategies and systems but honestly most of it is about the art of building lineups and rotations that work, create synergy, and energize the players to play their best. It’s about figuring out what are the right combinations to start and the right rotations.
That’s where Frank has totally failed. He has wasted so many opportunities starting DeAndre Jordan, Avery Bradley, Talen Horton-Tucker, Dwight Howard, or Trevor Ariza and taken so long to finally learn none of them are the right solutions to start. And every personnel decision made seems to favor defense at the expense of offense.
Eye test or analytics, Vogel’s lineups and rotations have been unacceptably bad. His job as coach was to figure this out and frankly, he’s failed to perform his job.
I, for one, have never subscribed to the fire him now or later proponents. Vogel is not the right coach for this team right now. Once that’s decided, fire him regardless of who you have to replace him. No lame duck stuff.
Instead, get serious about LeBron James career. Talk to Mike D’Antoni. Run an extensive coaching search. Lakers head coach is best job in the world. Hire a temp coach for now – Phil Handy? – if you have to, but don’t leave Vogel running things. That’s like just giving up.
No disagreement from me. I have always been 50/50 on Frank. Very much appreciate what he’s been able to do with what he’s been given, this season included.
I think the real issue is the gravity of specific personalities. If Frank has input on roster construction (and I think he has minimal at best, that it goes Rob, LBJ/AD/Frank) he needs to do a better job advocating for kind of players he needs to do his job well.
As you said, and I’ve said, and everyone has been saying: we don’t run an offense. But we did have an elite defense when we had the personnel to run it. That was the biggest difference between this season and last. Bubble year was a perfect blend of all of the ingredients: vets who could still play at a high level, shooters who could defend, and LBJ/AD playing at a high level consistently throughout the year. Last year, with not much AD or LBJ, we still had an elite defense that got us into the playoffs and then AD and LBJ just weren’t there.
We over-corrected that issue, too much I would say, and now we have old guys who can’t do anything at all, young guys who aren’t ready, and AD and LBJ not both playing at a high level. LeBron is simply not enough. Even Russ and LeBron isn’t enough because Russ is the guy we need to scheme and cover for a bit on D. With AD out and nobody stepping into a good role defensively we’re sunk. The Lakers under Vogel have never, ever been about the offense just the D. The offense is named LeBron James.
Pringles>Vogel? Wow.
Exactly. That’s beyond a non-starter for me, lol.