• Lakers Fast Break- NBA Playoff Ideas To Make Your Eyes Roll…with LakerTom!

    LakerTom from lakerholics.net returns with more insight and opinions as he always does as he and Gerald ponder the NBA’s season and playoff format when the league returns to play on July 31. They break down all the questions being asked about the format, the challenges, and the proposed ideas being bandied a…Read More

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    • Very nice post, Gerald. Like the embedded audio. I’m surprised you got the read more to work. I’ve had problems with it. Also, don’t know how you created a post without a title, since I’ve tried to make titles required.

    • OK. I see you used the Front-End Editor above to create this post. This timeline is from Youzer, which is a version of BuddyPress, which adds social media features to WordPress and treats entries created by the above Front-End Editor as Activities rather than Posts. You should test using the Gutenberg Editor to create posts. You can make the posts FEATURED and add a FEATRURED IMAGE.…Read More

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    How Davis/Russell & James/Reaves Pairings Upgrade Lakers’ Rotation

    Besides starting and closing with last year’s conference finals lineup, JJ Redick is also pairing Anthony Davis with D’Angelo Russell and LeBron James with Austin Reaves for the Lakers’ middle-of-game rotations.

    Strategically, JJ is making the move for several reasons. First, he wants to take better advantage of the elite pick-and-roll chemistry D’Angelo Russell already has with Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves with LeBron James.
    Secondly, he wants to make sure every lineup used will both be balanced and competitive. That means making sure the offense and defense balance of every lineup is sound and that lineup has the 2-way talent to compete.

    One of JJ Redick’s strengths as a head coach has been his work ethic and attention to detail. Unlike Darvin Ham, Redick has a vision for the players he wants on the Lakers squad and how he wants them to play basketball.
    JJ’s other strength has been his ability to make quick decisions, which is what he did with both the starting lineup and with this recent decision to pair Davis with Russell and James with Reaves for team’s middle lineups.

    With a roster that brings back most of the players from last year’s team that made it to the Western Conference finals, the Lakers have an opportunity for the first time since signing LeBron to build chemistry and continuity.
    JJ Redick has a chance to do in his first 5 games what it took Darvin Ham almost half a season to do, which is figure out who should be starting and closing games and who should be part of the team’s new 9-man rotation.

    So let’s take a closer look at JJ Redick’s plan to create balanced and competitive middle-game lineups by pairing Davis/Russell and James/Reaves with complementary combinations of bench players.


    LAKERS 9-MAN ROTATION


    The above chart displays a sample 9-man rotation utilizing only players who are currently on the Lakers’ roster and able to play. Christie, Vincent, and Hayes are likely to be replaced in the rotation at some point in time.

    This Lakers rotation includes 8 different 5-man lineups. 4 of the 5-man lineups consist of starters Reaves, Russell, Hachimura, James, and Davis, who will start and close both the first and second halves of each game.
    The other 4 lineups will be 5-man mixes of starters and reserves led by Davis/Russell or James/Reaves who will follow the starters and precede the closers and fill out the middle of the first and second halves of the game.

    Redick’s new move ensures that the Lakers will always have one of their two superstar bigs in Anthony Davis and LeBron James and one of their two playmaking guards in D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves on the court.
    By establishing two complementary middle-of-game lineups anchored by a superstar big and playmaking guard, Redick simply established a scheme by which the Lakers would always have balanced, competitive lineups.

    The new scheme not only optimizes the Lakers best two pick-and-roll duos but also maximizes time on the court by the team’s five starters while minimizing it for the four reserves included in the Lakers’ 9-man rotation. One of Darvin Ham’s biggest shortcoming as a head coach was how long it took him to decide on the starting lineup that made the conference finals and how often his midgame lineups were not balanced or competitive.

    Once Vanderbilt, Wood, and Koloko have recovered from their injuries, there’s a good chance they, or other players for whom the Lakers trade, will eventually replace Christie, Vincent, and Hayes in the 9-man rotation.


    STARTER/BENCH MINUTES


    JJ’s new rotation also assures that the Lakers always have two starters in every lineup and 180 or 75% of the 240 minutes per game will be played by Lakers’ starters and only 60 minutes per game or 25% by bench players.

    The Lakers have a bench scoring problem. They currently have the league’s best starting lineup, averaging a stunning 98.0 points per game and the league’s worst bench lineup, averaging a league worst 20.1 points per game.
    So far, all five of the Lakers’ starters are averaging double figures and the team has won 4 of their first 6 games and are facing a November schedule that is much less challenging and offers an opportunity to rack up wins.

    While it’s still early in the season, Redick is not likely to have too much patience with Christie, Vincent, and Hayes. Christie and Vincent have been terrible and Hayes is possibly facing a domestic violence suspension.
    Hopefully, the Lakers will get Vanderbilt, Wood, and Koloko back from injury or trade for more talent to upgrade their bench to replace Christie, Vincent, and Hayes with players who play better offense and defense.

    Ultimately, the Lakers are going to have to make a decision on the Reaves and Russell backcourt, which realistically is not good enough defensively to be a championship backcourt. Most likely decision is to trade Russell.
    The other starting lineup change the Lakers may consider is moving Rui Hachimura to the bench to boost scoring and replacing him with a second big on the roster like Koloko or making a trade for a big like Walker Kessler.

    The Lakers need to optimize minutes for their starters and minimize minutes for their bench until they get players back from injury or from a trade that will enable them to upgrade their bench offense and defense.


    LAKERS’ NEXT 30 DAYS


    Last season, the Lakers finished their first 20 games of the season with an 11–9 record. Right now, the Lakers are 4–2. Over the next 30 days, they will play a dramatically easier schedule with 14 mostly winnable games.

    The toughest games will be those against OKC and San Antonio and two games against Memphis. Other than those games, the Lakers should have a realistic opportunity to go 9–5, 10–4, or 11–3 over the 14-game schedule.
    At best, the Lakers current team could enter December as a top-2 team in the West with a 15–5 record. At worst, they could enter December as a top-6 team in the West with a 12–8 record, slightly better than last season.

    One thing that seems clear is that this year’s Lakers team is dramatically better despite essentially being the same as last year’s team. The difference, of course, has been the terrific job done by rookie head coach JJ Redick.
    Redick has been a revelation who’s taken the Lakers by storm with the strength of his personality. The players have embraced his approach and vision and there’s no doubt the front office will be forced to make moves.

    Ideally, the Los Angeles Lakers need a new starting point guard who’s an aggressive point-of-attack defender and a new starting center who can protect the rim and start alongside Anthony Davis in a two-bigs lineup.
    The Lakers will have to look to a trade or free agency to get a new point guard but there’s a chance that Christian Wood or Christian Koloko could work out as the second big to start next to and complement Anthony Davis.

    JJ Redick has shown in just 6 games that this Lakers team is just one player or two away from being a legitimate championship contender. Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka will have no choice but to be forced to make a big trade.

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    Lakers getting killed by live ball turnovers & bad transition defense

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    D’Angelo Russell upgraded to probable for tonight’s game in Detroit

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    https://x.com/LakerTom/status/1853481805757694378

    Boy, oh boy could the Los Angeles Lakers use Christian Wood in their lineup. The Lakers (4-2) have started off the 2024-25 NBA season on the right foot. Los Angeles experienced a couple of ups and downs through the early portion of their 82-game slate, but overall, they are thriving behind the MVP-worthy play of Anthony Davis and strong supplementary support from LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

    Yet, if what their bench has left to be desired thus far could be characterized, it would be characterized as a streetcar.

    Lakers rank dead last in the NBA bench scoring without Christian Wood

    L.A.’s second-unit contributors are all out to pitch in as best as they can behind their star-studded starting lineup. However, that has not translated into their productivity. The Lakers are dead last in bench points per game among all teams, scoring a lackluster 20.3 PPG.

    The 3.3-point margin between them and the No. 29 overall New York Knicks bench (23.6 PPG) is the biggest drop-off margin between two teams among all of the ball clubs outside of the top three in said department. Their second unit is also converting a paltry 26.4 percent of their 8.8 three-point attempts per game.

    If that wasn’t enough, the franchise which prides itself on its interior play, is getting a league-worst 9.3 rebounds per game from their second unit. That’s with Jaxson Hayes playing well too. Oh, what one player can do for a team.

    Wood was a perennial 6MOTY candidate and fringe-All-Star performer prior to injury

    Prior to last season, which saw Wood limited to 6.9 PPG and 5.1 RPG in 17.4 minutes of action across 50 games, exacerbated by injury, the California native was rampaging through the league, establishing himself as a serious scoring threat with All-Star potential. Wood averaged 21 PPG and 17.9 PPG respectively from 2020-21 to 2021-22 as a starter with the Houston Rockets and kept up his offensive ways once he became the Dallas Mavericks’ sixth man in a reduced role, boasting 16.6 PPG in a mere 25.9 MPG in 2022-23.

    The UNLV product brought down 8.9 rebounds a night over that span. Thus, it’s reasonable to expect him to still have such capabilities flowing through his veins. Wood is currently sidelined with a left knee injury, and the Lakers have felt his absence greatly as a result. There’s no debate that, should he return from his ailment at full strength, he’ll revitalize Los Angeles’ bench scoring exponentially.

    Wood can help fill the Lakers’ void at center upon his return

    Seeing that Davis desires to play power forward more than center, Wood will be in line to be the first man off of Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s bench and run alongside Davis at the five, or with the second unit at the four next to Hayes. Wood’s 37.4 percent clip from three-point range dating back to the 2019-20 campaign makes him a lethal inside-out threat. He can also put the ball on the floor, post-up, and catch-and-shoot with proficiency.

    Wood was given an eight-week timetable for recovery after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee on Sept. 9. That primes him for a return in November, which couldn’t come at a better time for the Lakers.

    The talented big man, who finished No. 4 in the Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2019-20 and No. 9 in 2022-23, will look to boost L.A.’s reserve unit once he returns and make his case to take home the prestigious award next spring. The Lakers won’t achieve their championship goals this year if their bench does not drastically improve. Wood’s value to the team will continue to show itself the more he misses time, as well as once he takes the floor again.

    Lakers desperately miss Sixth Man of the Year-caliber star

    Boy, oh boy could the Los Angeles Lakers use Christian Wood in their lineup. The Lakers (4-2) have started off the 2024-25 NBA season on the right foot. Los Angeles experienced a couple of ups and downs through the early portion of their 82-game slate, but overall, they are thriving behind the MVP-worthy play of Anthony Davis and strong supplementary support from LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

    Yet, if what their bench has left to be desired thus far could be characterized, it would be characterized as a streetcar.

    Lakers rank dead last in the NBA bench scoring without Christian Wood

    L.A.’s second-unit contributors are all out to pitch in as best as they can behind their star-studded starting lineup. However, that has not translated into their productivity. The Lakers are dead last in bench points per game among all teams, scoring a lackluster 20.3 PPG.

    The 3.3-point margin between them and the No. 29 overall New York Knicks bench (23.6 PPG) is the biggest drop-off margin between two teams among all of the ball clubs outside of the top three in said department. Their second unit is also converting a paltry 26.4 percent of their 8.8 three-point attempts per game.

    If that wasn’t enough, the franchise which prides itself on its interior play, is getting a league-worst 9.3 rebounds per game from their second unit. That’s with Jaxson Hayes playing well too. Oh, what one player can do for a team.

    Wood was a perennial 6MOTY candidate and fringe-All-Star performer prior to injury

    Prior to last season, which saw Wood limited to 6.9 PPG and 5.1 RPG in 17.4 minutes of action across 50 games, exacerbated by injury, the California native was rampaging through the league, establishing himself as a serious scoring threat with All-Star potential. Wood averaged 21 PPG and 17.9 PPG respectively from 2020-21 to 2021-22 as a starter with the Houston Rockets and kept up his offensive ways once he became the Dallas Mavericks’ sixth man in a reduced role, boasting 16.6 PPG in a mere 25.9 MPG in 2022-23.

    The UNLV product brought down 8.9 rebounds a night over that span. Thus, it’s reasonable to expect him to still have such capabilities flowing through his veins. Wood is currently sidelined with a left knee injury, and the Lakers have felt his absence greatly as a result. There’s no debate that, should he return from his ailment at full strength, he’ll revitalize Los Angeles’ bench scoring exponentially.

    Wood can help fill the Lakers’ void at center upon his return

    Seeing that Davis desires to play power forward more than center, Wood will be in line to be the first man off of Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s bench and run alongside Davis at the five, or with the second unit at the four next to Hayes. Wood’s 37.4 percent clip from three-point range dating back to the 2019-20 campaign makes him a lethal inside-out threat. He can also put the ball on the floor, post-up, and catch-and-shoot with proficiency.

    Wood was given an eight-week timetable for recovery after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee on Sept. 9. That primes him for a return in November, which couldn’t come at a better time for the Lakers.

    The talented big man, who finished No. 4 in the Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2019-20 and No. 9 in 2022-23, will look to boost L.A.’s reserve unit once he returns and make his case to take home the prestigious award next spring. The Lakers won’t achieve their championship goals this year if their bench does not drastically improve. Wood’s value to the team will continue to show itself the more he misses time, as well as once he takes the floor again.

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    “He is very good at confrontations and you need a strong coach that’s built for confrontation,” the now Sixers forward revealed. Apart from their conversation, he could recall his short stint on ESPN. JJ Redick, even though a rookie, went “toe to toe” with Stephen A. Smith. Whether it was rebutting the famous analyst’s thoughts or engaging in a pressing debate, Redick prevailed with flying colors.

    Confrontations With Stephen A. Smith Helped JJ Redick Land Lakers Job

    “He is very good at confrontations and you need a strong coach that’s built for confrontation,” the now Sixers forward revealed. Apart from their conversation, he could recall his short stint on ESPN. JJ Redick, even though a rookie, went “toe to toe” with Stephen A. Smith. Whether it was rebutting the famous analyst’s thoughts or engaging in a pressing debate, Redick prevailed with flying colors.

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    • From above article:

      JJ Redick is awaiting one piece to truly unlock the Lakers
      Through heated debates, even Stephen A. Smith knew Redick had the bravado to take on a job such as the Lakers. “Anyone who knows anything about you knows that you have that coaching itch. Wishing you nothing but the best,” he wrote in his tweet. And it was almost instantly on show.

      On opening night they took down a healthy Minnesota Timberwolves, a team considered to be contenders. Their offense has become motion-heavy. Moreover, he has done something no previous coach could. Redick has passed the keys on to Anthony Davis and allowed James to play a supportive role.

      That has amounted to the Brow currently leading the league in scoring and being an early MVP favorite. The only area the Lakers have lacked is defense. JJ Redick wants to instill pace in the Lakers. However, in doing that, there have been some defensive inconsistencies. The Lakers have a 117.8 defensive rating in these first few games. But this is without an energizer that the head coach believes is necessary for championship teams.

      JJ Redick is desperately awaiting Jared Vanderbilt’s return. “He can sort of … I call them energy shifters. He can change the energy of an entire game, and he doesn’t have to do it with scoring, which makes him really unique. I can’t wait to coach him,” he told Mike Trudell.

      Playing as a hound, in his short stint with the Lakers, Vanderbilt has become a fan favorite. His defensive activity remains high and can set the make vital plays as a stopper that will give the defense time to settle once they have to transition. So far, Redick has given the Laker Nation every reason to believe in him.

      His aim too aligns with the legacy of the Purple and Gold. He wants to hang banners and is taking bold steps to ensure the same.

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    Lakers Look To Improve In November!

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    NBA re-opening investigation into Jaxson Hayes domestic violence case

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    • Lakers will really be short-handed if the NBA suspends Jaxson. I’m hoping they don’t but this is not the kind of player we want. This should motivate Pelinka to make a more rather than waiting.

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    Proposed Lakers Trade with Bucks for Lopez, Porter, & Wright

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    • Just of curiosity why would the bucks trade both of their centers leaving them with a rookie averaging a minute per game and a two way at center. And how does DLO help them when they have Lillard that is also a defensive liability? This is why I hate click bait.

    • Honestly hard to see the Bucks trading Portis. Course I thought the same thing about Jrue so…

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    Bron lefty behind the back to AD

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    Lakers Next Ten Games - What Will Record Be?

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    • From 4-2, we could go to 14-2 if we go 10-0.
      We could be 13-3 if we go 9-1.
      We could be 12-4 if we go 8-2.
      That’s my prediction.

    • 7-3, 6-4 if George and Embiid play.

    • When the Lakers face the challenge of playing four games in just six nights, as seen in their recent matchup against the Cavs, their chances of maintaining a strong record diminish significantly. Success hinges not only on skill but also on strategy and stamina. To navigate this demanding schedule, the team must manage their energy wisely. The absence of players like Vando and Wood due to injuries has been felt not just in scoring but also in defense and rebounding, crucial for enduring such a grueling stretch. Prioritizing health and depth is essential; a well-rounded lineup now can yield significant benefits later in the season. Every player counts, especially when the stakes are high.

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    In Savvy Move, JJ Changed Rotation to Pair DLO w/AD and AR w/LBJ

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    • I like pairing DLO with AD and pairing AR with LBJ.
      Excellent adjustment to Lakers rotation by JJ.
      Gives both lineups great PNR combo as base.
      This is how you build rotations as head coach.

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    Leaders in assist points created

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    • Love how Schroder has continued his great play from the Olympics. Scoring and assisting like an All-Star Point Guard.
      Averaging 22.0/8.0/2.8 and shooting 51.7% from field and 53.7% from deep. Dennis will not be able to keep up this pace but If Lakers have to trade DLO, then DS might be best option.

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    Proposed Trade For Dennis Schroder and Day'Ron Sharpe

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