Aloha,
We are now 4 and 10. Honestly I thought we would maybe be 6 and 8 at this point because it was yet another new team with a difficult early schedule. One thing working in the Lakers favor is how tightly the west is packed this year. We are only 2 games out of the play in. The Clippers are 9th but only a game and a half out of first. So this definitely gives the Lakers a chance to move up. Now trade or no trade the Lakers will not challenge for a title but I could see this group making the playoffs if the they continue to take these baby steps.
One of the reasons I’m optimistic is AD. He has went beast mode lately. He is one of the best centers in the game, whether he likes the position or not. Unless he can some how rediscover his jump shot. He needs to stay there. In the first quarter they set him out further and while he got fouled a lot he didn’t have a basket. Once they started posting him up inside, he went off. And having him post inside has him there to clean up misses. It’s apparent that his back is better just by watching his body language and if he stays healthy and continues to stay aggressive, he could carry this team a long way. Now that’s a big if with him. I will be interested to see what he looks like when LeBron returns. Right now he has put the team on his back. Will he defer to LeBron? Hopefully coach Ham can prevent that from happening.
Lonnie was very good again and Troy was solid but I loved Austin. He continues to expand his game. He is just so fundamentally sound. I hope he continues to be aggressive on the offensive end, because we really need it. I assume that we will see Austin back with the 2nd unit once LeBron returns. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I am seeing a the pieces for a pretty good 2nd unit developing.
Russ has been solid with the 2nd unit. 10 points but more importantly 12 assists was great but it was other guys that were huge. We looked like a team that had 4 days off, playing a bad team and we fell way behind. But the 2nd unit rode to the rescue. Nunn went 4 for 4 for 10 points, which was good to see. Gabriel had 15 on 5 for 5 shooting and 7 boards. After looking shaky offensively early, he seems to have found his offensive footing lately.
But the guy I’m glad to see back was Thomas Bryant or as Tom calls him the bust, for no apparent reason. We have desperately needed some quality back up at center minutes and Thomas provided it. 8 points on 4-6 shooting, 5 boards and a block in 13 minutes. And we got to see one of the things he excels at with his rim run dunk. I have a feeling once he gets into game shape we will see him with an expanded role. He certainly got a lot of love during the post game interviews. He even shared the floor with AD for a few minutes. I will be interested to see if that continues.
Because of our lack of size on the wing, coach Ham has done a good job of minimizing the damage. Still it would be great if we could land a wing with size. Still how far we go really will come down to if AD can continue playing at a high level and if we see more of the LeBron we saw last year. Hopefully the baby steps will become grown man strides in the coming weeks.
Everything hinges on Davis playing like this and LeBron rounding into form and contributing most nights. Some things, like Wenyan and Nunn shooting 100%, aren’t going to happen every night. The effort has to, though. I thought we played a very complete game. The officiating made it choppy, mostly because of the Pistons just reaching and grabbing all game long (sorry coach Casey, calling it like I saw it).
Still, I agree, this was a really fun win and we can build off of an effort like that even if it came against a team we should beat.
Great post, Michael. I loved the AD in “Beast Mode.” I agree with you 100% that they need to get the ball to AD closer to the basket. Russ is very good at getting AD the ball where he can do damage both via lobs and bounce passes. For me, this version of AD is even better than the great shooting Bubble AD. Looking forward to seeing them continue same formula tonight.
Lonnie, Troy, Russ, and Austin again played well. I also thought Bryant played well although he still cannot make a three. I’m not as high on Thomas as you are because I don’t see him as a shot blocker or rim protector but we clearly need his size to back up AD at this point. Just hoping he can stretch the floor some. Still has not made a three as a Laker.
We do need to add a wing defender so we don’t have to have Lonnie or Austin try to cover 6′ 8″ midrange gunners. Only problem is we need a starting center, replacement at point guard for Russ, and good backups for LeBron and AD. More holes to fill than potential trade targets to fill those holes.
Still hoping the strong play of AD will convince the front office to make the moves they need to get us more size and shooting so we can compete for a ring this year even if a long shot.