5 THINGS

Not much to say. Hard to blame this on Russ. Kings just beat us in all facets.

1) Only LeBron scored double-digit points. Some of these guys are fighting just to stick in the league. Be hungrier.

2) Kings got what they want. Coach Ham wants to be a defensive coach. Frank Vogel was a defensive coach. Rob builds defenseless rosters. Something gotta give.

3) Kings kills is in the paint. Since we missed just under 60% of our shots it let Sacramento get out on the break. A lot. So that’s a fun issue that hopefully doesn’t define us already.

4) Bad offense. I saw all those nice looking plays in the playbook the other day. Didn’t really see them executed on the floor last night. Sweet.

4) AD out with whatever, who cares. Dude is fragile. Physically, mentally, who knows maybe spiritually, too. He’ll never “take the mantle” or “grab the reigns” or whatever colloquialism you choose to insert. When your hopes rest on the fine China making it through the 82 game grind you might be pinning the tail wrong.

5) Russ out. Hopefully he’s Ok but it’s hard not seeing this as just being disgruntled at the idea of coming off the bench. Since we’re a tax payer team Russ really costs us $94 mil. He’s not going to be paid to stay home. They’re not going to rush a trade. Buddy and Myles don’t fix this roster, they just add two more guys who won’t play in the last 5 minutes. This season was lost last summer.

I’m already seeing the cracks that will become unfillable fissures. We have 3 or 4 glue guys, a couple motor guys and nobody good. When you can only use minimum contracts to fill out 10+ roster spots this is what you get. Want to hope Rob is at least learning something from all this but, honestly, I doubt it.

Go Lakers.

Scrubs vs. Starters was a perhaps unexpected plot twist to the preseason. LeBron and Russell rested for the sake of rest and AD missed time due to his balky back. After assuring the world that, were the games to matter, AD would play, coach Ham trotted out a who’s who of bench guys on this iteration of Laker basketball. For the most part they floundered against the superior starting line up that Minnesota deployed but still some players shined and it was good for all of them to get the kind of run they just won’t see in an NBA game.

1. My opinion to start Thomas Bryant remains unchanged. The dude plays hard, has a better skillset than Jones, and just looks hungrier. Touching the next level only to sustain a serious injury looks like it’s lit a fire under TB and he made the most of his extended run last night. While he missed his 2 three point FGAs (a theme shared by basically the whole squad) he was active on defense and aggressive in the paint even when he was going up against Gobert. His aggression and attack-mode earned him multiple trips to the stripe which helped us keep pace early in the game. Jones is probably the better shot blocker in terms of racking up the stat itself but Bryant is his equal on defense because of his superior nimbleness and mobility. I’m sure we’ll get another look at Jones as starter and perhaps he’ll come back with something better. If the choice were up to me and I had to make it today, Bryant would get the nod.
2. Lakers offensive rebounding was great! Unfortunately it was a byproduct of a slew of missed shots in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Threes or twos, didn’t matter, Laker youngins missed a grip of shots of all shapes and sizes. Again, is this a three alarm bell for the season? Not really, but it does spotlight an issue we all had going in to this campaign which is the new Lakers are not known for their scoring penchant.
3. Lonnie Walker IV’s debut. LW4 got some solid minutes in starting hot and cooling off. Hit hist first three and went on to miss the next 6, I believe, and didn’t look to aggressive attacking the basket. Coming back from lower body injuries is always a process though so really it was just nice to see him get up and down.
4. Turnover leads to turnovers. This is basically the second straight season the Lakers have over-hauled the roster. It’s also the third in which key members of a banner winning team were let go without much reason or rhyme. It shows in a stat like turnovers. If it takes a few weeks to months for guys to get truly familiar with one another, and you’re not a consummate pro, the chemistry side of the ball can be a long time coming. The Lakers are averaging a grip of turnovers to start which isn’t great because turnovers were a key part in our general undoing last season. Can’t blame LeBron or Russ, either, they didn’t play. I can handle turnovers in preseason but they need to start coming down into the 110-13ish/game range. Which is a little above average. 12ish is elite and I just don’t expect that from guys who take risky passes in both James and Westbrook.
5. AD’s injury. Has to get mentioned even though coach Ham went out of his way to try and make it a non-issue. He should take a Popovichian route and deflect with one/two word answers. In reality this kind of injury is common but Lakers fans have AD injury PTSD in a big way so any minor injury is certain to be semi-overblown amongst the fan base. Goal is to get everyone through preseason healthy and ready. That ain’t changed.

Hoping to see more starters from here on out. Would like to win at least one game, not because it’ll have any bearing on the standings but because of the spiritual significance. The fans need a W to calm their hyperbole down a bit. Still, just coming out of preseason healthy will be good enough for me. Just would be nice if there was a shred of momentum to the start of the season.

While not the outcome Laker fans are ready for (a win) the team showed a lot more of what it can do last night against a top-rated opponent.  Yes, Phoenix is in a state of semi-upheaval (Sarver Gate, Crowder Gate, Ayton Grumpy) but they still looked solid for the half they played the key players in.  That would be the first half.

1. Lakers go small. The starting lineup of Reaves, Beverley, Westbrook, James and Gabriel was fine. Little small for my tastes but that’s how one rolls when AD has back issues but more on that on down the line. Reaves must have wanted to prove me wrong after the last 5er downplayed his playmaking skills. True Grit (my personal moniker for him) racked up 9 dimes to three turnovers which is what’s called setting the table proper. Reaves didn’t force his offense and was content setting up his guys all night long. Having Beverley play alongside him helps stabilize things. I like how Pat just makes the play in front of him. Open shot, take it. Guy open somewhere and you have a hand in your face, move the ball. Communicate on D, get results. If AD was the 5 in this lineup I could see it being our closing 5. Still prefer a more traditional look with either Jones or Bryant to start but if this is how coach rolls to start the season I won’t be mad.
2. Starters shot the three ball well, bench notsomuch. Except for Nunn the bench struggled with it’s three point scoring all night long. Generally the bench has just struggled to score. Rob filled out the Laker bench this season with rangy guys who can kind of slash to the rim and Ham seems to have not unlocked who should be slashing and who should be shooting. Some of these issues won’t be as magnified when the minute distribution normalizes but the bench is already looming as one of the bigger issues.
3. That LeBron is OK at basketball. One game removed from going O-fer LeBron looked like LeBron. Who knows how he’ll stand up to the 82 game grind but his tune up looks pretty solid. He’s not the two-way force he was in the past but if we can get a defensive lineup around him I like our shot against a lot of teams. Elite teams are going to be a handful…but they are for everyone. That’s why they’re elite.
4. Kendrick Nunn lighting it up. Loved Nunn off the bench in the microwave role. In my opinion, at this early stage, it’s the best use of his skillset and he can be the first option in a lot of the lineups when James or Davis are out. Feels like he can be close to a point-a-minute guy which serves us well off the bench. Bringing Nunn off the bench allows Reaves to be the glue guy (which he got props from The King himself on post game) and possibly start Beverley to help on D. Not sure I want to bail on Jones or Bryant starting yet but…
5. Neither Jones or Bryant is grabbing that torch and running with it. Both players came into camp talking about seizing the moment and such. Still waiting on that one. I’m sure Damien worked on his three point shot over the summer but it’s not falling yet. I really think he’s the better off the bench center of the two mainly because that unit, in theory, will run more of the system and less of the “give the ball to a superstar and clear out” offense. Knowing your number is called on a specific play or what you’re supposed to be doing on a given set could be the key to best utilizing Jones and his athletic skillset. In the end, I’d rather station the kid closer to the hoop for rebounds and put backs, he’s shown to be able to excel in that role, no need to reinvent the wheel if it ain’t rolling smoothly. Bryant can function as a release valve for cut off dribble drives or broken plays. He’s quick enough of foot to get back under the hoop from the corner three spot if it looks like a shot is going up from someone else and his shot is just more polished and reliable.
   

All in all, an improvement. Still would like to see more execution and poise from all of our bench guys, especially guys who are unlikely to make the team. You want a shot somewhere else? No better place to get some shine on your game than here. Go get it and bring it home. Go Lakers.

Well, that didn’t make things any better. Lakers came out OK in the first half (with what looked like actual in-game rotations, for the most part) and then put the kids in and watched them get blown out. It’s getting hard for some Laker fans to keep their emotions out of the process of early evaluations for a lot of reasons. Last season’s debacle, no Russ trade, and not really an inspiring summer that makes one feel it’s close to turning around. Not surprisingly the good people who paid money to see this left grumpy and let the team know it.

1. The Trio looked OK. AD looked solid, Russ looked like Russ and LeBron looked like a guy in his 20th NBA season taking his time getting his legs going. Nothing to report here, preseason vibes all around. I will say that when the young guys are getting blown out and the “team leaders” are hooting it up on the bench it does set a tone.
2. The center question. I came away hoping to see Bryant as the starting center, just think he’ll open up the floor more. DJ is serviceable but I just trust Bryant’s shot more at this point. If we want to develop Jones into a stretch three, fine, but let’s do it off the bench in what should be a more orchestrated play calling environment when James and Davis are off the floor. No need for him to learn next to LeBron and he’s a better dunker which will open up the screen and roll game for Schroder.
3. Nunn might also be better coming off the bench. Mainly because we need a bonafide scorer when James and AD sit. Swap him and Reaves or Beverley and I think the starting five will be fine. Taking Reaves off the bench unit and into the starting five shouldn’t be an issue, he played with everyone last season and will help that unit gel quicker. Nunn and Reaves shouldn’t really be tasked with running the offense, Nunn might get there but let the sophomore get into a solid role mindset and do well before adding to his workload. Both had way too many TOs last night for their role on the team.
4. Heart was an issue last season, looks like it could be again. Everyone and their keyboard railed on coach Vogel for losing the team since they didn’t play with enough heart or passion. Fast forward to the new coach, new team, new season and…same as it ever was. This part of the game isn’t learned, you bring it from within. You can’t coach passion into guys, they either want to dominate or they want to play. Looks like we have more players than dominators, albeit in a small sample size. Mainly this looked like a bunch of guys who have played a weekend’s worth of pick up hoops in San Diego and gone through some sets the coach wants to run. Hoping for more cohesion as time goes on. Leery of the issue of heart being something of an internal/cultural issue, though.
5. Young guys with something to prove showed they might not really be ready. Scrubs on scrubs and ours got wasted for 24 minutes. Out played, out hustled, out everything’d. Looked way too much like last season, hence the booing. If you’re here, you’re under 27, and on a minimum deal this is sort of your last, best shot to re-write your narrative. Carpe diem, young bloods, carpe diem.

Still, it was the first game and the guys who will be playing more looked OK. Not going to read all that much into this other than noting that utterly rebuilding the team every summer just isn’t the way to build a contender. This is a square 1 team, no need to think of this squad as the “semi-recent champs” but rather the “we have a couple really, really good guys who were part of a never-to-be-replicated banner and guys who couldn’t get a better deal” Lakers. Time will tell what they’re made of but the first glimpse was pretty underwhelming.