5 Things: Drummond’s debut spoiled by Bucks

Well. That happened. In the end Coach Vogel was right: we did need all 3 centers, not that it made much of a difference which one of them was out there. For what it’s worth, and it wasn’t worth very much, Andre’ Drummond debuted as a Laker. Unfortunately it appears there are already issues with fit but they’re not the biggest issue plaguing the team these days.

1. Ok, ok it was his right toe. Regardless this likely means more Gasol for a game or two. Drummond came to the Lakers saying all the right things: wants to fit into what we’re doing, not looking to steal shine, best shape he can be in. None of that mattered as he struggled to finish from anywhere going 2-6 on shots in the paint, missed both free throws and had more turnovers (3) than rebounds (2). In all honesty he was out-performed by Gasol in less than half the time. Drummond’s 14 minutes did showcase a pretty awesome block and the quick hands we’ve heard about but I wasn’t overly impressed with his game and the fact he’s hurt now made it even more of a bummer. The Lakers are fortunate they don’t need much from Drummond come the playoffs, or at least so we hope, and that Davis will likely absorb a lot more minutes at center than maybe some had hoped for.
2. The S.S. Kentavious has sailed and I don’t think it’s-a-coming back. This has been the most disappointing stretch of many disappointing stretches for KCP. Whether you think missing games due to not showing up for court is worse than being on the court and not showing up there’s little doubt we need more than it would seem Caldwell-Pope is able to provide. Another game where he didn’t make a single shot, only took 4 and in general didn’t do much of anything except run back and forth. Pretty sure we could Jason Kidd a uni so he could that. At this point I am in favor of giving his minutes and role to literally any other player. Davonte Cacock? Sure. Kostas? Definitely. Certainly THT or Caruso could do more the court time than Pope has done since the first couple of weeks of the season. While I would never use the corporate fast-food moniker some like to deploy when talking about the lack of impact KCP has for looooooong stretches of the season it’s become difficult to not see him as no-show since James went down and we needed someone like him to step up. I don’t think he has it in him anymore.
3. More turnovers than a strudel shop. This season-long issue, which some tried to gloss over earlier in the season, hasn’t gone anywhere. Every starter had multiple turnovers last night which was actually mild compared to Talen Horton-Tucker’s astounding 6 turnovers in a mere 17 minutes. Our team assist to turnover rate was 1-1. 22 assists and 22 turnovers. That’s pathetic. Incredibly we scored more points off of turnovers than the Bucks did who also had 22. T’was indeed a sloppy game highlighted by some nice defense by both sides and terrible offense from us while allowing the Bucks to launch from three where they killed us.
4. The three point game. Where to begin? For fans of launching three pointers this was a great game. We took 36! For fans of made shots this was not the game for you. We only made 10… The even bigger issue was that, after the first quarter, we had made 8 of those 10 and only took 13 shots in the doing. That means, as a team, we went 2-23 for the final three quarters from beyond the arc. Yikes. I don’t fully comprehend the philosophy of simply ramping up the three point field goal attempts without attaching the caveat of making some but I’m sure there’s an equation or something that will explain it. That equation has generally proved elusive to the Lakers since the early weeks of the season which I still feel is a team that plays best when it dominates the paint. Let success be your guide. Maybe up Markieff Morris’ minutes since he’s playing well now? Something has to give, we either need to not attach a blanket number of three point attempts and be content with good shots or we need to make more three pointers. The current formula of simply more attempts does not work.
5. The not-so-$25 million-man. Dennis Schroder was awful last night. Sure he did OK on defense but the same could be said for Wesley Matthews and Alex Caruso. They’re not looking for big pay days this summer. Schroder is and right now I would say we got fleeced if we offered him one cent over $15 mil. Frankly that feels like an over-pay. It took him 18 shots to score 17 points ironically making 3 three pointers in the doing on only 8 attempts. He neither plays the contact game to draw fouls nor has strong moves to the basket. If the floater ain’t falling or the jumper is off there’s not a lot he can do offensively. His outside shot is slow to load and he turns down a ton of open looks while probing semi-meaninglessly. Since LeBron has gone down Schroder has looked more like a solid backup PG than an elite starter in line for a massive payday. I’ll be surprised if anyone backs up the Brinks truck and the Lakers would be wise to table their extension offers until the summer.

We have the 2nd toughest strength of schedule in the league to finish the season. After we play Sacramento tomorrow and the Raptors on Tuesday we face nothing but playoff-bound teams until the final week of the season. It’s likely we back into the playoffs with the only question being can we avoid the play-in tourney? While in some ways it’s not surprising given the injuries there’s also the matter that all of the guys on the Lakers are professional basketball players. So they need to dig deep and figure this out, find a way to make some more shots and at least be competitive for 48 minutes. So far that kind of effort has been M.I.A. since the King went down. You want that big pay day? Earn it. You want to be recognized as one of the better NBA players? Prove it. Trying to show that you’re one of the league’s up and comers? Do it. Nothing is bestowed based on hype and right now that’s about all we got going for us.