5 Things: Come Together

Training camp is here and with it come all the regular platitudes and exultations that come with not having played a game that means something. If you tuned into Lakers/NBA Media Day 2022 you got to hear the infamous “we’re going to be a defense-first team” or some such repeated ad nauseum. Of course Rob will be diligently working the phones looking for that perfect Russell Westbrook trade, you can definitely believe him when he says that. Darvin Ham is large and in charge, for the most part, and for the time being. We’ll see what comes of the situation after 10 or so games. Still, if you’re a die-hard Lakers fan like myself, media day meant one thing: we got through summer! No, there was not a Westbrook trade that reinvigorated the fan base. There was a THT trade which brought in Patrick Beverley which resulted in this quote from Pat regarding how he and Russ found common ground. It is absolute gold: “We went on this boat ride, you feel me? It was just us two. It was real intimate,” Beverley said. “It was 2,000 candles, you feel me? He landed in a helicopter. I came in one of my underwater vessels. We talked three hours over wine. He had a two-Michelin-star chef come pull up, cook some steaks. I had my chef pull up and make the desserts. And that’s how we got to where we are now.” Classic.

1. Sooooo that Westbrook guy is still here. Implausibly, but not impossibly, Westbrook is still a Laker. For now. I believe Rob when he says he’s trying to improve the roster. Just that’s happening completely on his terms which means no deals past next summer and if it’s for both picks it has to be All Star level talent coming back. That means Russ is here until the calendar turns over to 2023, in my opinion. Now…”will he get dealt by the trading deadline?” is the next big question on that front. I’m not so sure. Some things have to fall into place for me to buy into that beyond giving it a cursory 50/50 chance of going down. There is the compelling idea of re-tooling the roster with cap space and draft picks between draft day and the opening week of free agency. I won’t go into all of the ins and outs of that here because, well, this is about training camp and the guys on the roster as I type this now. In terms of Westbrook’s role, which is the new hot topic du jour, you can forget about him coming off the bench or being sent home. It. Will. Not. Happen. Not for 20 actual games or more. The Lakers have long prided themselves of being the elephant’s graveyard of NBA superstars. Russell Westbrook, for all his flaws, is still a superstar talent…in the eyes of the Laker front office. They will treat him as such; yes I know, coach Ham said everything would be determined by competition and what works best but that’s as truthful as the Rockets talking about having a defense-first identity. It’s the kind of thing that simply must be said on media day because, you know, that’s basically what media day is for. Russell will start, he may even finish games and that will be the current Laker modus operandi because it is the historical Lakers modus operandi. Russell will take minutes away from guys like Reaves, Nunn and even Swider because that is how the Lakers treat superstars aging out of the league. Gird your loins and prepare your soul, for that is what will be happening barring an O-fer start reaching Mike Brown levels. Again.
2. The new coaching staff. I think everyone but Phil Handy is gone from the Vogel era. Sheed did not make it onto an NBA bench preferring his current gig or maybe not wanting to taint himself with this hot mess. Regardless it’s basically a whole new crew coaching the Lakers. Sounds like they started things off in the film room laying down expectations and ground rules and all without showing any clips of the Bucks kicking booty. Smart on that one, I say, because it shows some respect for the current crop of Lakers and their ability to get on the same page and show up to work together. They know what Giannis can do, they’ve all experienced it first-hand, or will in the case of the rookies. Other than that we’re just hearing what every coach says before the games matter. This is the calm before the storm and I’m sure we’ll get more candid comments from coach Ham after some wins and losses. All in all, for where we’re at in the season the coaching staff is doing great!
3. Those that remain. I’m talking Nunn, Reaves, and Gabriel. The guys not named Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, or Anthony Davis. Hearing that Nunn played five on five was awesome. It really was, it gave me a lot of hope I didn’t expect when I heard it because it does give Ham an option beyond the 34, going on 35 year old Beverley, Schroder (who is basically Westbrook lite) and throwing Reaves in at PG just because. As I said above I expect at least 1/4 of the season to go by before a move like that is made. Still, having the option if Nunn can play and play well, will put the right kind of pressure on the situation to make it more possible should the need arise. Reaves will be looking to build off a decent opening salvo to his career. Gabriel will likely struggle to make the team unless he can show some solid worth backing up the 4 spot, maybe some light 5 duty. I feel like we need guys who can shoot and it’s not like Wenyen is a real difference maker on D.
4. The new guys. Lot of new dudes, whole lot. From Patrick Beverley to Dwayne Bacon there are, once again, more new Lakers than old. While this is nto the ideal way to build championship chemistry on the roster this overhaul absolutely had to happen. Gone are Kent Bazemore, Wayne Ellington, Trevor Ariza and the walking/talking tree known as DeAndre Jordan (and others). Out with the old and in with the new takes on a whole different meaning when you look at the roster from last season vs. this season’s roster. We got younger, more athletic but also less skilled and still with a lack of outside scoring expertise. More questions than expectations with this new crop of Lakers. Can Lonnie Walker IV take a step? Can Swider shoot well enough his lack of defense allows him to carve out a role on a team with banner hopes? Will Max Christie play much at all? That Dennis Schroder guy will be back at some point, how will he be used, if much at all? Early preseason games will likely feature a lot of these guys so hoping from some form of clarity at that time.
5. Anthony Davis and LeBron. All of the above matters but those two are where it’s at. I’ve seen a lot of people expressing a myriad of opinions about how much they want to see AD play this season: 50 games, 60 games, all the games. For me, if he plays in 70 games and we manage him so that he has gas in the tank for the playoffs I’ll be to the moon. Same goes for LeBron except I could see him edging lower, closer to 60-65 games. Now, how does that affect our playoff hopes is an entirely different equation. No good saving a man for a party he won’t be attending. The Lakers need to reverse the bad pattern they established very early last season: don’t lose to bad teams. Multiple times you heard a post game session with one Laker or another bemoaning how the other team just had to play harder. That’s not a culture allowed only by Frank Vogel, who had clearly lost the team by December, that’s also on your two best players and I throw Russ in on that one, too. You’re being paid millions of dollars to show up to play a game, you can do more than just lead by example. Get in guys’ faces for blowing rotations, get on Russ for missing layups, get on LeBron and AD for lazy length of the court plays that are nigh impossible to make and so on. Nothing of worth is given in life, it must be earned, it must be taken and that won’t come easy.

So it begins. My starting five prediction: Bryant, AD, LBJ, Reaves, Russ. Second unit will be Jones, JTA, PatBev, Nunn and Schroder. Closing line up will be Davis, James, Russ and our best two guys, whomever that may be. That’s for at least the first 20 games or so. Barring injuries and without having seen anyone play. Coach Ham has his work cut out for him but if we have health on our side it’ll already have a better look than last season’s team did. Go Lakers.