5 Things: Let’s Get It On

And so it begins…again. We have a new (but mostly the same) team! As summer turns to fall and the leaves, well, don’t do much of anything around here that is the time when folks round LA know that hoops is-a-comin! In what can only be described as about face for the current Laker front office, the Lakers prioritized continuity and chemistry over replacing role players with bigger names. A change this fan has been advocating for for awhile. Today we’ll be looking at the 5 Things I think will make the biggest impact on the upcoming season.

1. The health of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. As always this issue takes center stage. Honestly, everything else after this could be considered filler but we’ll keep it to point #1, anyhow. AD has been saying the same things he says every training camp. Feels good, worked out all summer, body is in a good place, etc. LeBron James was far more coy about what he did this summer (other than deal with Bronny James’ unfortunate heart attack scare). Did he get surgery? Consult a shaman? Get a bionic foot? Mum’s the word from Camp James and thus fans amedia heads are with naught but speculation and theory. While not surprising it is a little disappointing given how much of the team success rides on his shoulders. Still, I respect LeBron wanting to keep details of things private. He’s got more than enough limelight. In the case of AD my hope is that a combination of playing a little less at the 5, having more versatile depth around him in the form of Hayes and Wood, and a small dose of better luck when it comes to contact-induced injuries will be the remedy. AD ain’t all that old, but he seems to go down like a fighter on the take every time someone brushes him. We need him on the floor, competing in 65+ games for all those cool awards he says he aspires to if we want to avoid the same scenario we’ve encountered in season’s past: poor regular season record meaning we need to go through the playin (or miss the playoffs altogether). So, to all of that, I don’t much give a fig how much LeBron or AD plays in preseason. If they play enough for the coaches to evaluate what they need to to get the season rolling, that’s good by me.
2. The elusive 5th starter. Ham has been coy and rolled regarding who the 5th starter could/will be. If he is to be taken at face value he already knows but is keeping it a secret! I think they’re actually going to use the preseason to get a better grip on how they want the team to play off the jump and how they hope they can finish before the final horn sounds. My guess is that it’s Jarred Vanderbilt’s gig to lose. He wa such an integral part of the stretch that got us into the playin and, up until midway through the series with Golden State, looked like the perfect compliment to James and Davis in the front court. The playoffs, like they do for many players (especially younger ones like Vando who is only 24!), reveal weaknesses in the overall game. That’s not a knock, that’s what cranking up the level and intensity of competition does. Jarred’s proved to be scoring under pressure when open both inside and out. Split second hesitations under the rim can be doom in the playoffs, just ask Ben Simmons, and missing wide open threes can be a reputation killer. Just ask ben Simmons. Vando was often tasked with guarding top scorers, often guards, and making their life Hell while continuing to bring the energy and impact he had on offense. That proved to be a task beyond him last May in the western conference finals. I was happy to see JV taking and making open three point shots in the first preseason game, this was a good start to what is basically a security season for Vanderbilt. He can’t be traded for 6 months from when he signed his extension which falls after the trading deadline. So he has, essentially, a no-trade clause for the season. Hopefully this offers him the kind of comfort that comes from knowing where home is gonna be for awhile and that the Lakers, as an organization, see him as more than just some numbers to help fill salary for a trade. Close on Vando’s heels would be Rui Hachimura but I still see his role as being the first, best player off the bench and spot-starting for LeBron on load management days. Same thing for Christian Wood. I suppose Jaxon Hayes is still in the mix but, if we’re being honest, we want to see a defensive tone set from the start and that has Mandolorian written all over it.
3. Scorers not named Davis or James. Two guys have the greatest impact on scoring for the Lakers but this team is a lot bigger than just 2 guys now. D’Angelo Russell, with a new extension and a waived no-trade clause so he could both secure more guaranteed money and give the Lakers options later on in the season, should be next on the scoring list, in my opinion. We saw Russell end up deferring more and more as the season and playoffs wore on, we need him to be a lot more assertive consistently for us to get where we need to go. A lot of media pundits and fans already have D-Lo penciled as “out of town-trade bait” for this season. I’m not one of them, I can see D-Lo hitting a comfort zone where he uses the gravity of LeBron and AD along with maybe a little two-man game with Wood to free himself up for slithering drives to the rim and off the dribble jumpers. He looks a little bigger, hopefully that lets him finish even better at the rim. His jumper is smooth, always has been. He’s making better and better reads and training camp is where they can work out some sets for him to rock in. Next up, for me anyhow, is a dead tie between Rui and Reaves. If he comes off the bench I have a hunch Rui could be in the mix for Sixth Man of the Year. Feels like the benchmarks are 15+ ppg, 8+ rpg, 3+ apg and in a limited role…but not too limited. Those numbers can be bumped up and lowered but that’s my rough guess for what it will take to be in the convo. If Hachimura can average 20+ ppg off the bench with some decent splits and impact numbers in other areas he might run away with the award. I think we won’t see a huge stat bump from Reaves but we will see an increase across the board and with the same level of efficiency in all things. As in pretty much all our categories Wood is a big dark horse that could find his way into all these convos if he plays well on both ends.
4. Which youngster might find a larger role than anticipated? While I think JHS has what it takes to be an NBA-level rotation player i also tend to think he needs a year of G-league reps to get better acclimated. This team just doesn’t have a lot of minutes for in-game growth. Max Christie will likely be the best young player and has been turning heads in camp and was the best player off the bench in preseason game 1. With Cam Reddish already dropping a donut things can only look up for the over-hyped, under-delivering wing and he’s going to feel the heat on his heels from young Max. It’s not that I don’t want Reddish to succeed, I just think Christie is better prepared to take advantage of this moment as he’s both Cam’s equal (if not better) on the court but without the baggage of expectation or history. Plus he’s a guard, where we’re already thin. He’s going to at least get a shot early on, I think, and they’ll turn to Cam if/when Max hits a wall.
5. The Christian Wood Conundrum. Like Reddish I’m not actively rooting against the guy, I just have very low expectations of the return on the Lakers’ investment on this particular project. Like Reddish, Wood comes with baggage. Which is putting it mildly. Cam’s baggage comes in the form of expectation based off his hype/what he’s delivered to date equation. Wood has delivered, at least on offense. It’s what he does, or more specifically what he doesn’t do, on the other end that seems to drive his narrative at this point. A lot of folks are framing this as Wood’s last, best chance at being an impact NBA player and that’s not being hyperbolic. Consider the case of the better in every facet of the game Demarcus “Boogie” Cousins. Despite injuries to his legs Cousins has shown he can be an impact player off the bench and, despite sorely needing some form of stability in order to get his feet back under him has been bounced off of every team he played for after the season ended and is now, essentially, out of the league. Wood ain’t got half of what Boogie could do when he was healthy and even limited as he ended up becoming my feeling is Boogie would still give Wood a run for his money today. So Wood has a lot of stigma to overcome this season but he’s got all the tools and the right environment to do just that. If he chooses to.

All in all this is a redemption season for a lot of Lakers. Last season was about trying to outplay the narrative that Russell Westbrook and LeBron and AD couldn’t work. It never happened and Rob’s masterful wheeling and dealing at the deadline breathed new life both into last season but the Laker’s future, as well. Because multiple teams basically considered Vando an after-thought he landed in our laps as a throw-in. Reaves and hos agent doubled-down on Austin’s talent again and again and it’s paying off. Big. The work he’s done and his self-confidence have put him in a great position for an undrafted (even if that situation was in many ways self-created). Guys like Prince, Wood and Reddish are hoping to dramatically change the narrative of their respective careers and thus their potential earning power over the next couple of seasons. The biggest point of redemption is the health and availability of our two superstars, can LeBron and AD play in enough games for the Lakers to be truly relevant this season and beyond? Lots could break right and lots could break wrong. Only way to find out is to get through training camp and preseason as healthily as possible. Lets get to it.