Lakerholics

There are clearly two packs of teams hunting for playoff seeding and as we enter the second half of the NBA season tonight it’s important to remember that the Lakers have clearly entrenched themselves in the lesser pack. We might be considered the lead dog in the west to push through into the upper echelon but, to date, the Lakers have proven that they are one thing: mediocre. With three superstars and a collection of parts assembled by Dr. Frankenstein (Vogelstien? Dr. Frankenlinka?) the Lakers are surely in need of something to kickstart the second half of the season. We need a little bump.

You can choose to place the blame on a variety of fronts. Injuries, sure we’ve had ’em. So has every other team. Kyrie Irving only recently started playing for Brooklyn after they reversed course on him being a part-time player. They’ve been challenging for the top record in the east all season long. The Denver Nuggets have had almost their entire projected starting line up decimated by serious injury and Murray has yet to play and we’re tied with them in the standings. Injuries are a part of the game and don’t represent a true reason not to show up with a competitive attitude which we fail to do on any sort of consistent basis.

COVID ravaged our team. Yeah, and the rest of the NBA, too. Next. The issues plaguing the Lakers have less to do with who isn’t on the court and rather the attitude and demeanor of who is. Of all our young players Monk has grabbed the bull by the horns the best but only recently. THT this year has looked exactly like THT of every other year: wildly inconsistent in his energy and impact and generally with a decent amount of minutes played to boot. Reaves is a rookie and finding his way on many fronts. Of all our young guys I would actually argue Reave’s been the most consistent in his energy and approach.

I think the thing that will define the Lakers this season was undertaking a three superstar team while choosing not to fill out the roster around them correctly. After watching Westbrook’s post game interview from after the Grizzly blowout I came to the conclusion that the organization never truly embraced Westbrook. The Dinner that this was all born of was one where the three players said they would sacrifice. Thus far it has been Russell doing most of the sacrificing and you can see it starting to get on his nerves. He’s assuredly the second option to LeBron, and honestly he should be. LeBron is better.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be figuring out how to maximize Russ’s other talents to their fullest potential or making sure he has the right tools when he’s on the court sans LeBron to be as effective as possible. That might mean giving him a big man to run P&R action with and guys who don’t defend like Frank wants them to. He called Ariza to get him on the team, let him play more with Trevor. It was a mistake to not get an athletic big man to help play solid defense but give him the best we got. Throw Dwight and Trevor in the 5 and 4 slots and Wayne at the 2 or 3 and either Monk, Reaves or THT in the final spot and see if they can space the floor and let Russ go to work. I would choose Reaves whom Russ seems to have a rapport with.

It’ll be a shame if the Lakers pull the plug on the Westbrook experiment for failures the front office made. Not retaining Caruso and not signing one of the bevy of better centers that were still on the open market when we signed Jordan were cataclysmic failures that should force the ownership to question Rob’s ability to build a competitive roster. Between taking more and more of the tools Frank liked to use in his defensive schemes and filling out the roster with too old and too limited of skillset players it’s easy to use Russ as the scapegoat for the mistakes the Lakers themselves made.

Swapping Ben Simmons for Russ or Grant for THT and Nunn might fix this but I really don’t think it will. Turner is honestly the only player that makes sense to me. He plays the defense we need, doesn’t need the ball to be effective and stretches the floor well enough. The Lakers keep trying to bring in guys who take the ball out of LeBron’s hands and with Russ they’ve done that to the degree that it will happen. We have guys who are catch and shoot three point specialists and we need the coaches to figure out how to unlock the ones we have and stop the endless carousel of “not THAT three point shooter THIS three point shooter” we’ve been on for three seasons now. We’re actually just going back through the same list. Heck, let’s bring Wesley Matthews back…again… We need players who better augment our superstars, not emulate them on a lesser level.

So, to that, as we move up to the day we can trade THT (which I am of the opinion will happen) I hope the Lakers front office looks at their own process as much as what they see unfolding on the court. It’s a problem of their own doing in many ways and like Dr. Frankenstein feeling the urge to destroy the incredible creation he brought to life they need to make the environment right and not destroy that which they may see as an unfixable monster. Give the monster the tools it needs to live and thrive.

Go Lakers.

“I am an unfortunate and deserted creature, I look around and I have no relation or friend upon earth. These amiable people to whom I go have never seen me and know little of me. I am full of fears, for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world forever.”

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“It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another.”

– Mary Shelley

It is with sorrow that we announce the resignation of Sean Grice, AKA Magicman, as Blog Editor for Lakerholics.Com. We wish Sean nothing but the best as he takes on new challenges. He will always be a Lakerholic and will hopefully drop by from time to time for old times sakes.

While we’ll miss Sean and his great historical knowledge of the Lakers, we’re thrilled to announce that Michael Hinrich, AKA Michael H, will take over at Blog Editor for Lakerholics.Com effective immediately. We’re fortunate to have a great replacement for Sean in Michael.

Michael Hinrich has been a Lakers fan since his 5th grade basketball coach, who had played with Wilt Chamberlain at Kansas, turned him into a Wilt fan and Lakers fan when Wilt was traded to L.A. Ironically, I was also a Wilt fan who became a Lakers fan when they traded for him back in 1968.

Another expat from the LA Times Lakers Blog, where he met LakerTom and Jamie Sweet, Michael’s stream of consciousness writing style and savvy intelligence is refreshing and invites conversation and response.

As far as day jobs, Michael has been a councilor, truck washer, bank V.P., and semi-professional writer who just published his first novel. He currently works part-time designing greenhouse systems and just enjoying the good life in Hawaii.

So farewell and best of wishes to Sean and welcome and congratulations to Michael as the Lakerholics.Com new Blog Editor.

After finally getting everybody back from Health and Safety protocols, here’s how the Los Angeles Lakers can escape the early season chaos caused by injuries and Covid-19 and regroup to win their 18th NBA championship.

Having played 38 games or 46% of the season, the Lakers currently have a 19–19 record with at least another critical 13 games remaining through the end of January before superstar Anthony Davis is likely to return. The 7th place Lakers need to band together and win as many of the games while AD is out as possible. Right now, the Lakers are only a game out of 5th place, which should be their goal over the next 13 games left in January.

Besides waiting for AD, the Lakers are also waiting for January 15th, which is when Horton-Tucker and his $9.5 million contract can be traded. THT plus Nunn and his $5 million contract are the Lakers’ primary trading chips. Assuming AD returns at the end of January and the Lakers make whatever trades they’re going to make, the team will then have 31 games remaining to finalize their lineups and rotations and peak in time for the playoffs.

The challenge facing the Lakers to win the championship can be broken into three steps: win while Anthony Davis is out of the lineup, make a big trade for a key new starter, and peak once Anthony Davis returns from injury.

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1. Win While Anthony Davis is Out of the Lineup

With everybody back from Health and Safety protocols, the Lakers hope to turn their modest 2-game winning streak into a 7-game winning streak and to finish January 2022 strong by winning 10 of their 13 remaining games.

Finishing 10–3 without AD would give the Lakers a 29–22 record at the start of February and a good opportunity to take over possession of 5th place in the Western Conference standings, passing injured Clippers and Nuggets. The first five games the Lakers play should all be winnable but five of the remaining eight games will be against teams with winning records. Here’s the remaining 13 games on the Lakers schedule for the month of January:

Winning 10 of the 13 games left in January will depend on how well the Lakers are able play without Anthony Davis and with LeBron James playing the five and whether they can hold their own on the glass and in the paint. The Lakers’ schedule next five games gives them an opportunity to log some easy wins and start to create some separation from the teams destined to compete for a spot in the play-in tournament when the playoffs begin.

Finally with a full roster, the Lakers have no more room for excuses or losses. Step 1 to escape the early season chaos and win a championship is for the Los Angeles Lakers to win 75% or 10 of the 13 games left in January.

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2. Make a Big Trade for Key New Starter

While the Lakers committed to small ball with AD and LeBron as their starting and backup centers, poor roster construction and untimely injuries have left their small ball lineups greatly lacking both in size and defense.

The Lakers have two different solutions to acquire the size and defense they need. The first option is to trade for a modern center like Myles Turner or Christian Wood who can both protect the rim and shoot the three. Trading for Turner or Wood would enable Frank Vogel to play his preferred two big lineups, Anthony Davis to play his preferred power forward position, and the Lakers to have the versatility to play either big or small.

The other option the Lakers are considering is trading for an elite power forward like Jerami Grant, Harrison Barnes, or Cam Reddish to give their small ball lineups with LeBron and AD more size, defense, and shooting. Like with Turner or Wood, Grant, Barnes, and Reddish will be in demand by other teams so the Lakers will need to aggressively look for a trading partner who values the young trading chips they have in Horton-Tucker and Nunn.

Other than trading Westbrook, which the Lakers are willing to do to acquire Ben Simmons, the Lakers would be lucky to be able to trade for Myles Turner, Christian Wood, Jerami Grant, Harrison Barnes, or Cam Reddish.

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3. Peak Once Anthony Davis Returns from Injury

Assuming the Lakers make a trade for size and defense and get a motivated, healthy, and rested Anthony Davis back around February 1st, Los Angeles will have 31 games remaining to get into rhythm and peak as a team.

While the Lakers are unlikely to win enough games to get one of the top three seeds, they should be able to position themselves as one of the top four seeds in the West, setting themselves up for viable path to the title. Winning 22 of their remaining 31 games of the season would leave them with a 51–31 record for the 2021–22 regular season, which should be good enough for at least 4th seed in the west behind the Warriors, Suns, and Jazz.

The Lakers road to the NBA championship this year projects to be more of the same crazy roller coaster ride that injuries and Covid have transformed the 2021–22 season into. It will be our third straight Covid colored season. The Lakers were lucky to get an chance to win a championship in the bubble in Covid’s first crazy season. They will have to be just as lucky to come out of nowhere to win another championship in Covid’s third season.

Essentially, the Los Angeles Lakers must win 75% or three out of every four games over the 44 games left in this regular season in order to escape the early chaos and rally to win their 18th NBA championship this season.

While the Los Angele Lakers may have to rely on going small with LeBron James at the five to survive the six weeks until Anthony Davis returns, there’s a compelling case for keeping the King at the five even after AD returns.

With Davis likely out until February, the Lakers are poised to commit to starting LeBron James at center until AD returns. They’ve already moved DeAndre Jordan out of the rotation and Dwight Howard should be next. Unless the Lakers make a sudden surprise move to add another center, you can expect a heavy dose of small ball with LeBron James starting at the five. That’s the only way the Lakers are going to survive until AD gets back.

So far this season, LeBron at the five has been one of the Lakers’ best lineups, posting an impressive 13.5 offensive rating (2nd best in NBA) and 106.0 defensive rating (5th best in NBA) for a +7.5 net rating (3rd best in NBA). Considering most of those stats were compiled with Jordan or Howard as a second big, the LeBron at the five metrics going forward with Anthony Davis playing his preferred power forward position should be even better.

Because of his low center of gravity, physical strength, and veteran savvy, James is a better on-ball low-post defender than Anthony Davis, who excels as an off-the-ball help shot blocker who can roam like a football free safety. Throw in James’ unrivaled playmaking and bully ball invulnerability and you start to see how having him play the five and AD the four could be the better long-term solution rather than him at the four and Davis at the five.

Playing LeBron instead of AD at the five changes everything. The Lakers get bigger, badder, and better with LeBron at center. Frank gets his two bigs, AD gets his preferred power forward, and LeBron becomes a small ball five.

Since wining the championship in the bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers have had an identity problem. They’ve sacrificed their league leading defense in an unsuccessful attempt to upgrade the roster on the offensive side.

Defense was the Lakers’ calling card when they won the championship fifteen months ago but roster imbalances, untimely injuries, and losses from H&S Protocols dropped them from 1st to 12th in defensive rating. Meanwhile, despite major offseason offensive upgrades made to their roster, the Lakers’ offensive rating dropped from 24th last season to 27th this season and their net rating from 8th last season to 23rd this season.

The Lakers’ defense will improve considerably once Anthony Davis and Kendrick Nunn return from injuries and Trevor Ariza, Austin Reaves, Kent Bazemore, and Rajon Rondo return from Health and Safety protocols. However, even then, the Lakers defense will lack a shut-down perimeter defender to slow down opposing point guards, an elite shot blocker and rim protector to control the paint, and a bigger 3&D wing to guard top scorers.

The big question facing the Lakers as the 2021–22 NBA season approaches the February 10th trade deadline, is what kind of team do they want to be? The offensive upgrades have not paid off while the defense has declined. The question is whether the Lakers should double down on becoming a more balanced team on both ends or return to and re-embrace the strong defensive roots that won helped them win their last championship.

The answer to the Lakers’ dilemma seems obvious. The Lakers won an NBA championship fifteen months ago by focusing on defense. Here is how the Lakers could return to their defensive roots and win another championship.

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1. Trade for Elite Perimeter Defender and Elite Rim Protector

To return as the NBA’s top defensive team, the Los Angeles Lakers need to pull off mega trades for an elite perimeter defender like Sixers’ point guard Ben Simmons and an elite rim protector like Pacers’ center Myles Turner.

There is no question Ben Simmons is one of the Lakers’ primary midseason trade targets with Lakers VP of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka and Klutch Sports President Rich Paul looking to swap Westbrook for Simmons. Klutch has put the league on notice that any team wanting to trade for Ben will have to beat the Lakers offer of Russell Westbrook. While Daryl Morey is reluctant to trade Simmons for Westbrook, he’s unlikely get a better offer.

The Sixers will resist as long as they can but will ultimately agree to trade Simmons and Niang straight up for Westbrook as it will be the best option to allow Philadelphia to salvage their season and compete for a championship. Meanwhile, Simmons will bring his All-NBA defense to the Lakers to give them the elite defender with the defensive size and skillset to shut down the opposing point guards who have turned Westbrook into a turnstile.

Myles Turner, who led the league in blocks last season and is second this season, is the other defensive difference-maker the Lakers need to trade for. Turner is the elite rim protector and stretch five center the Lakers need. Importantly, Turner will allow coach Frank Vogel to play his preferred two bigs, let Anthony Davis play his preferred power forward position, and let LeBron James play his preferred small forward position going forward.

While Turner can’t defend all five positions like James, Davis, and Simmons, he does give the Lakers their first modern center who is capable of both shooting the three and protecting the rim since they signed LeBron James. Trading for Myles Turner will likely cost the Lakers their best two trading chips: 21-year old shooting guard and future star Talen Horton-Tucker and 26-year old shooting guard and versatile backcourt player Kendrick Nunn.

The net effect of bringing in an elite perimeter defender like Simmons and elite rim protector like Turner would be to transform the Lakers into a defensive juggernaut with the size and versatility to win a championship.

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2. Trade for Elite 3&D Wing and Young Athletic Backup Center

The Lakers need a bigger (6′ 6″ to 6′ 10″) 3&D wing who can shoot the three and defend the bigger wing scorers in the league and a younger backup center to reduce the wear-and-tear from LeBron and AD playing the five.

Georges Niang is a 28-year old, 6′ 7″, 230 lb, 6-year veteran small forward whom the Sixers would include in a Russ for Ben trade to match salaries. Georges only earns $3.3 million per year but is a perfect fit for the Lakers. This season, he is averaging 10.4/2.5/1.5 per game on 44.1/38.0/87.1% shooting splits and has the third best net rating on the Sixers behind Danny Green and Joel Embiid. Last year, he had 3rd best net rating on Utah Jazz.

Niang gives the Lakers the quality bigger 3&D wing they desperately need to backup LeBron James at small forward, especially since LeBron will also be playing minutes at the five. Niang is also a 40% career 3-point shooter. Georges will be the bonus from the Westbrook/Simmons trade in that he will give the Lakers the legitimate 3&D wing to guard big time scoring wings like Kawhi Leonard, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George, and Kevin Durant.

Damian Jones is a player the Lakers regret losing. He was another victim of the Andre Drummond disaster and the Lakers’ unsuccessful strategy of pairing LeBron and AD with rotating rent-a-centers the last three years. Jones will give the Lakers the ability play big when Turner is not in the game and provide insurance against foul trouble or injury without having to rely on 35-year old Dwight Howard. Jones gives the Lakers center deprth.

The Lakers need to get better defensively if they want to win their 18th NBA championship. Young veterans like Niang and Jones and young stars like Simmons and Turner are exactly what how the Lakers rebuild their defense.

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3. Lakers Will Become Bigger, Younger, and Better Defensively

Imagine a lineup with three top-ten lock down defenders like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Ben Simmons, three All-NBA individual defenders who are capable of defending all five positions at all three levels of the court.

Then imagine adding one of the league’s top young shot blockers and stretch centers in Myles Turner plus a 6′ 7″ legitimate 3-point shooting wing defender in Georges Niang and an athletic young center in Damian Jones. Adding four plus defenders like Simmons, Turner, Niang, and Jones to James, Davis, Ariza, Reaves, Bradley, and Johnson will change the direction of the Lakers roster to be defense first. Here’s the roster with new players:

PG: SIMMONS, Reaves, Rondo
SG: Monk, Bradley, Ellington
SF: James, NIANG, Johnson
PF: Davis, Anthony, Ariza
CE: TURNER, JONES, Howard

The Lakers replaced Westbrook and THT in the starting lineup with Simmons and Turner, massive upgrades defensively. They also replaced two of the five primary backups with new players who are plus defenders. The result is a balanced 15-man Lakers’ roster where two of the three players at each of the five positions are plus defenders. It’s a winning blueprint for transforming the Lakers into a championship defensive juggernaut.

All the angst and uncertainties about building a starting lineup that can both score and defend will become moot because the various pieces of the puzzle will finally fit. Let’s hope the Lakers will do something like this.