5 THINGS

Ugly. Ain’t no other way to describe it. If excuses are your thing this is the Laker season for you. We got plenty to spare. The similarities to this season and last are striking both in their similarities and differences. The similarities stem from multiple injuries to key players, games missed for various reasons and a multitude of line up and rotation changes as a result. The difference is last season, without LeBron and Westbrook, that team bothered to show up to play. This team? Right now this team is just plain ugly.

1. The Good. LeBron and Russell look ever more comfortable together when sharing the court. That’s a really good thing going forward. Since I personally don’t see a Westbrook trade happening in-season it’s imperative to any title hopes we might still have, which are still valid hopes in my opinion, that LeBron and Russ co-exist on a high level. I’d say combining for 66 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists qualifies, even in a loss. Russ kept the turnovers to five which is my benchmark for both players to stay at or under. They put pressure on the defense and found the open man. It’s after the pass that generally resulted in futility. Also, the Lakers as a team have done a good job not wasting possessions. Westbrook and James are likely going to average around 10 turnovers/game as result of their usage and on-ball dominance. It’s great when the rest of the team doesn’t cough it up a lot.
2. The Bad. The three point shooting of this team is pretty awful in general. Sure, once and awhile player X catches fire and makes a bunch. Sometimes it’s Melo, other times it’s Wayne, or even THT. Rarely do we shoot well as a team and rarely do multiple guys make more than a couple. This is not a byproduct of personnel as the Lakers have now auditioned a “Who’s who?” of low-cost three point marksmen for a few seasons now. Since our cap is tied up in three players that isn’t likely to change, especially not midseason where the most we can expect is a THT or maybe Nunn trade or maybe seeing Jordan getting waived and picking up someone on the buyout market. That won’t be a Buddy or Seth level shooter, it’ll be another “I do one thing kinda OK” guy. The Lakers need to get back to what worked in the season they won the title and focus more on the defensive end by surrounding the stars with players who can truly play on both ends of the court. Defense wins championships. Three pointers do not. They help, sure, sometimes a lot in a game or three. They are a tool that has uses, like any offensive weapon. Sometimes shots fall, sometimes they don’t. But if you have a good defense it’s generally always there and keeps you in the game.
3. The Ugly. Nothing is more irksome to me than a bunch of millionaires half-assing their way through a game. A. Game. Show up and have some goldurn pride in yourself. I’m not even talking Laker pride. IT wants to stick in the league? Cool bro, prove you should stick. G-Leaguer wants to show they should play at the big boy level? Put on some big boy pants and play like a man who cares. What transpired last night is plain unacceptable and I don’t care one single iota that we had players out. The players that did play, other than Westbrook, LeBron and Dwight (of whom not much is asked to be honest) didn’t do squat. Not many of the Lakers showed me they deserve more of anything except time on the bench. To a man they defended poorly, missed open shots and generally looked like they would rather be doing something else.
4. Team Oxygen is back! Career high for Kata Bates-Diop of 30 points on a perfect 11-11 shooting. This from a dude who’s previous career high was…10 and averages 3.8 ppg. This was indicative of how poorly the Laker bench competed last night but also our total indifference to playing anything resembling defense. Had we managed to keep the lid on Diop like the rest of the league has figured how to do this might have actually been a ga-well, no actually lots of other Spurs had great nights against the matador Lakers. We did manage to keep Dejounte “I average a triple-double against LA” Murray in check. Whee.
5. No more excuses. It’s getting really, really sad how many excuses the Lakers now trot out in the post game interviews. AD is out? So sad, Kyrie has yet to suit up for the Nets and they’re leading the eastern conference. The Warriors have yet to see Klay play and are similarly challenging for the best record in the west. New roster? Aw gee, the Bulls had the second most roster turnover to us and are a top team in the association. Injuries? You poor dears, look at Miami who has lost Bam, Butler and seen Duncan Robinson totally regress and is 4th in the east and have won over 60% of their games. Excuses are like the hole where the poop falls out boys and I’ve had enough of yours. Throw your little pity party at home and show up to work for crying out loud. We all have been during the pandemic, your lofty job title of NBA player doesn’t exclude you from trying hard.

Last night marked the first time this season in which a streak of either kind has moved beyond the 3 game mark. We have yet to win more than 3 games in a row and are now facing the quite likely prospect of hitting a 5 game losing streak as early as tomorrow. While I do think the Lakers have the personnel in-house and on-team to win it all I also question their ability to grow together. I blame that on the front office and the coaching staff. We aren’t using the pieces we have very well and the front office has consistently taken the best tools away from it’s coach and drifted further and further away from the blueprint that won it all. So, if anyone truly needs to step up it’s Frank and his staff who really need to figure out how to unlock the mystery and secret of the three point shot. We have too many guys who were specifically brought in to use that tool for it to be as useless as it is for us. Rob will, likely, have to wait until the summer to redeem himself. Westbrook is nigh impossible to move midseason as he is not on Philly’s list of desired talent in a Ben Simmons trade and Russ’ deal becomes an expiring one once the season ends.

Last thing, if you’re having a sense of deja vu it’s understandable as the Spurs beat us at the Forum’s final game, too. Only difference was that was in the playoffs. The bright side was we subsequently went on to win the NBA Finals in year 1 of STAPLES so here’s hoping the name change has been weighing on the team and once they play in The Crypt the effort, heart and execution follow. If not this season is doomed.

This should not have been a surprise. With so many players out, Carmelo getting tossed and the Suns rolling through the NBA this was, to me, an expected loss. The Lakers are who they are now in terms of being a team but dealing the amount of players out, including coach Vogel, meant this was a hill that would have to be climbed perfectly. That was something that did not happen. The themes surrounding the blowout are familiar ones.

1. No interior defense worth mentioning. I mean…Melo and Rondo got a blocked shot apiece but none of our “centers” managed to block a shot or deter the Suns from burning us in the paint all night long. The 2 centers from the Suns, DeAndre Ayton and JaVale “looking pretty useful to my eyes” McGee abused the Lakers down low to the tune of 14-18 shooting combined for 29 points (Ayton got to shoot a free throw for the odd numbered tally), 22 rebounds (4 offensive rebounds with JaVale accounting for 3 of those) and a block. We had no answer for Ayton who feasted off of crisp passes from his teammates and abused whomever we slotted to defend him. The Lakers are simply too small to hang with a team like the Suns and, in general, suffer from an abysmal interior defense.
2. A team versus a group of guys. The Lakers, to date, play more like a group of guys who showed up at the gym, picked sides and let it roll. The Suns look like an NBA team poised to challenge for the title. A lot of people wrote the Suns off last season they way they wrote the Heat off the previous season which, in my opinion, is a mistake. You do not reach the NBA Finals on luck alone or by accident. It takes a collection of talented individuals who play together well and with purpose. It’s not a fluke kind of thing to achieve. That teamwork was on full display last night as the Suns got what they wanted, when they wanted, how they wanted indicated by their 29 assists with every starter getting at least 1 dime and several bench players moving the rock efficiently, as well.
3. The pace we want to play. There is a myth the Lakers want to play fast and loose. This has not been the case as we play kinda fast but not very loose. We run through 2 guys and one of them plays at a high pace and the other, well, notsomuch. Russ has frenetic frenzied aspect to his game that has worked for him his entire career. LeBron has a more controlled and at this point sometimes plodding aspect to his game which has also worked for him quite well up to this point. The problem is figuring out when and how to deploy which player’s skillset. Thus has been made more difficult with the injuries and games lost for a variety of reasons. If the Lakers want to get anywhere it is beyond imperative that they figure when to play fast, when to play methodically and maybe how to manage more than 15 fast break points for a team that’s supposed to be burning up the floor according to the coach and players.
4. While we didn’t turn the Suns over a ton we did a great job turning those miscues into points. We punished the Suns in points off of turnovers, though not necessarily via the fast break. While it didn’t alter the complexion of the game in a meaningful way it was a bright spot.
5. An overdue welcome back. Isaiah Thomas is back in the purple and gold. His first game back, his second game back was largely forgettable. He and the newly returned Talen Horton-Tucker went a combined 2-24. Just…wow…it’s incredible to imagine two players on the same team reaching almost the exact level of poor shooting. IT is a replacement player and we’d need to waive someone to keep him on the roster. I don’t really see the logic as we are already small, old and bad on defense. We need size and we need defense, desperately, IT checks almost zero boxes we need to check but does continue Rob’s theme of “old and slow but we really want play fast somehow” theme for the season. THT is basically our best tradeable contract but let’s be honest in regards to his value for a minute. It’s not high now and really never has been. He’s a solid player, not a future superstar just waiting for the right situation to come along. He can get hot from the outside but is not a shooter. He can score inside but isn’t a slasher. He can make plays for others but isn’t a playmaker. He is a good role player and, as such, we should expect the market for him to be about that high. You can attach Nunn or whomever you want to the deal but THT isn’t a sweetner or a haul for another team. He fills a role, could fill more than one because of his diverse skillset, and that should be the expected level of player we could potentially trade for him. I don’t see a trade as being too likely though for the reason LeBron voiced in regards to this team: we have no idea what it’s truly capable of because the team has barely played together. Not in camp, not in the regular season. basically the LBJ Vegas mini-camp was the only time the whole group of guys go together and could scrimmage or whatever they did together. We aren’t alone in that regard, many other teams have fared better against a stronger schedule facing similar obstacles. Our limitations go beyond a lack of chemistry and cohesion. There are physical obstacles (age and size) that I really don’t see a way to coach or game plan around. I also don’t see path to trade our way out of them as we’d likely be giving up whatever young players we do have for someone older but hopefully bigger and better at D.

We got a winnable game on Thursday against the Spurs then it’s the traditional “Lakers on X-mas” where we tend to fall short. Doesn’t matter if it’s Kobe, Randle or The King the Lakers tend to lose on Christmas. The one thing to hope for is that we continue to tread water. We have yet to win more than 4 in a row and we have yet to lose more than 3 in a row. So, with the 3 game losing streak attained, here’s hoping we switch back to our winning ways and beat San Antonio and avoid a long losing streak which could well doom the season, even this early.

With the news that AD is out for a minimum of 4 weeks I thought it worthwhile to look at the overall state of the team rather than rehash the latest loss to the Bulls. In general, this season, like last, is being defined more by who isn’t playing rather than who is. Be it injury, COVID, wanting to be traded or anti-vaxx stances the players that haven’t played this season have garnered as many headlines as the ones who have suited up. All of this has impacted the Lakers in one way or another so let’s dig in. At least 2021 is at an end.

1. The Lakerteers. Russ, AD, and LBJ have played 13 games as a unit and that trend of one or more of them missing will do nothing but continue due to AD’s knee injury. If we’re lucky he’ll be the only one that misses extended time but let’s face it: LeBron has entered a fairly injury-prone era of his career missing several games already due to various, and differing, injuries. Russ has been the most consistent of the three and his play has steadily improved. AD started strong but has really fallen off after lower leg injuries seemed to sap him of his ability to hit the outside shot that made him such a deadly player early in his career. He compensated by scoring inside more but with him being out for 4, or more, weeks what was already a small team got smaller. If LeBron and Russ can both stay on the floor, elevate the role-players to a decent level and share the ball properly I think we’ll stick in the 8-5 range of seeding but if they struggle to blend or the guys brought in to do a specific job don’t get it done we could see a Laker team loaded with HOF, top 75 All Timers, numerous All NBA this or that’s, MVPs, DPOY, ROY and so on have to play in to get to the playoffs.
2. The role-players. There’s no way to sugar coat, the Laker struggle to find the right blend of role-players to slot in around AD and James. Adding Russ only seems to have exacerbated that issue which is just another reason it’s mystifying to me that we let Caruso, who had proven he could fit in on a team like this, walk. Regardless, what we have now is a collection of aged vets and young up and comers with the tilt leaning heavily on the aged-vet side. Gone are the elite role guys we saw in the Bubble like Green, Kuzma, KCP, Caruso, and locker-room stabilizer Jared Dudley. Much has been made out of who has left the building but we really need to figure out how to elevate the guys in it now because help is definitely not on the way. Unless you count G-Leaguers or over-seas vets earning a dime as help. I do not. IT has shown he can still score in addition to showing that he will never be a plus defender on any team in the NBA going forward. His lack of size and steps lost in addition to it never really being a strong aspect of his game means he will struggle. Why we chose IT over James Ennis, a SF, will be yet another mystifying aspect of this season. One that has seen Rob Pelinka consistently choose the older player who requires more of the ball and/or a VERY specific role for said players for them to be most effective. The Laker role-players have struggled a lot this season as they have lacked for exposure as to how our Big Three function which has trickled down to very uneven play across the board.
3. COVID season 2.-uhm…no. The NBA will not be postponing anything unless the Federal government steps in and starts issuing shelter i place edicts or some such. There will be no Bubble playoffs, we will have travel and really the only question is to what degree do the NBPU and the NBA board of governors and owners disagree on vaxx mandates. If we continue to sieve players like we have been and we get what amounts to a replacement league season just without a lockout one has to imagine the topic of mandatory full vaccinations and boosters will at least get floated and looked at. Yes, there will be some hue and cry from the players but ultimately the things that they work for the most: the ability to earn money on the open market, legacies and rings, will win out. Sure, we might lose Kyrie for the season. But the latest tweak to both how replacement players affect the salary cap and the insistence that enough players be signed who can suit up rather than postponing a number of games or shutting down for a short time tells you all you need to know about the League’s stance on another semi-shut down: Hell no.
4. Help on the way? Unlikely. because of injury, COVID, contract rigmarole and poor play in general it’s pretty safe to say the Lakers do not have the assets to swing a big trade that would end up being favorable to them. Frankly, I don’t see a move the Lakers can make won’t amount to essentially admitting this season was a disaster from the start, a PR nightmare I believe the front office is very keen on avoiding. AT this point they have so many baked-in excuses as to why the team has struggled as much as it has (injuries to stars, injuries to young players, injuries to key players, injuries in general, COVID, fake COVID, time needed to gel when no time is available and so on) that it almost makes sense for them to move forward as is and hope for the best. The only tradable contracts are Nunn and THT. Toss in a vet minimum player that couldn’t find a better deal elsewhere to start the season and that’s the package we have to offer. Underwhelming seems a kind term, really. Unless you want to see John Wall or maybe Kemba Walker manning the point you can throw out any and all Russ trades, I don’t care how the trade machine works it out. If Philly was interested it would only be to toss us bad deals in the form of more players added for a Ben Simmons deal and frankly we can’t offer them a pick until almost the next decade unless we involve the draft pick Godfather Sam Presti in OKC. This amounts to gutting the team in mid-January which will also not likely be happening. Is there a team that views Westbrook as the missing piece to a title? Maybe, but it’s a lot more likely that he gets traded this summer if that’s the case when his deal is expiring and the Lakers are over a barrel with cap issues, again. Why help the Lakers now if you know Westbrook can be had this summer as an expiring along with likely coercing Pelinka into tossing in THT anyhow and the 2027 1st rounder when it’s that much closer? SO I don’t see any trade other than something more minor, possibly with the Kings or Pacers, but even those teams can likely get better picks somehow and will covet said asset.
5. Thankfully the western conference is kind of a mess this season. The top 3 spots are locked in between the Warriors, Suns and Jazz. Memphis…without Ja Morant who is back…has started separating themselves from the pack, as well at 19-13. After that it’s a jumble of .500-ish teams with injury or roster issues as bad as ours. SO 5th seems to me to be the highest seeding we can hope for given everything above. TO date our only consistent aspect of the team is it’s inconsistencies. Being slow, small and old is not generally a recipe for success in the NBA and yet that’s the very team we have assembled. That being the case we desperately need Frank and Co. to figure some things out better, especially on defense. We also need lady luck to blow some wind our way on the injury front in the form of a quick recovery for AD, no more COVID games missed, and fewer injuries in general. Also, we need to get Nunn on the floor at some point since he is now the only Laker signed this summer who has yet to play in the regular season.

The Lakers face the Suns, with Book, and I think we’ll be right back at .500 after tonight with a 16-16 record. The Suns are rolling the way the Lakers were after losing to the Celtics way back in ’07 – ’08. Determined. Focused. Good. In all reality we could close out the year on a multi-game losing streak unless we manage to beat Houston or San Antonio. If we kick off 2022 looking up at most of the western conference expect all the hot coaching seat noise, trade rumors and overall malaise around the team to deepen if not get worse. We can do better than that, it’s just nigh-impossible to expect this team to turn the corner given all that ails it at this point.

It took not 1 but 2 last second shots for the Lakers to overcome the short-handed Dallas Mavericks but overcome they did. With Wayne Ellington forcing overtime off of a broken play where the loose ball came to him when it looked like the Mavs had won to Austin Reaves canning a three while getting no-call fouled the Lakers showed a lot of grit in pulling out the win last night. While one of it was very pretty at the end of the season that W will look a lot like all the other ones.

1. The Three Lakerteers. Last night saw one of the more balanced outings from the Lakers superstar trio. They shot the ball about equally (AD-18, Russ-18, LBJ-19), scored pretty equally (AD-20, Russ-23, LBJ-24) and played about the same number of minutes (AD-39, Russ-42, LBJ-43). In a game where LeBron was pretty focused on getting his own scoring going, AD was knocking off some rust after sitting out for a little over a week and Russ continued his integration process this was a nice game for the Laker big three.
2. Wayne Ellington’s big bucket. It’s easy to forget that Ellington’s clutch shot off a totally broken up play sent the game into overtime because of what came next. But Wayne was much a hero as any Laker last night with 9 points (3-9 from three, no two pointers) and some solid defense (3 steals). Wayne has upped his defensive intensity over the last week or so and it’s paying off. He was a starter last night and was on the floor for most of the 4th and OT when the game hung in the balance. While it’ll take a lot more defense to shake his gunner legacy Wayne has been putting in work on the right end of the court for this team to have success.
3. Austin Reaves big bucket. For me the biggest aspect of that shot wasn’t that he took it and made it (when you get the ball with 1 second left you better shoot or you probably don’t belong in an NBA uniform) but that it came after an on-court dressing down from LeBron about a blown defensive assignment. The rookie stuck with it, stayed within his game, and knocked down the winning three much to Mark Cuban’s disbelief. Reaves is going to have plenty of growing pains (as the dressing down regarding his defense indicates) but he seems like a hard-worker who soaks up what he’s taught. Keep that mentality and good things will come of it.
4. 3 game winning streak and a .500 road record. There will be nothing historic about this Laker regular season in terms of team victories, records or streaks. Steady progress and growth should be enough for these guys to be ready for the playoffs if everyone can stay healthy (a seeming impossibility but more on that later) and if that road can be navigated successfully we’ll be good come May. The Lakers didn’t give up an absurd number of points in the paint (although early on it looked like we might but they turned the screws a bit and tightened it up) or too many free throws or threes. Some of that was the Mavs missing shots and some was good D but the manner in which the results were achieved is slowly becoming inconsequential as long as we keep pace with the middle of the pack while learning on the fly.
5. More guys out for tomorrow. With Russ and Bradley being added to the growing list of players who are out due to the league’s health and safety protocols the Lakers will need more from LeBron, AD, Reaves and whomever else can suit up. Also, welcome back Mr. Isaiah Thomas! A name that has been consistently dangled in front of Laker fans IT is returning to lend whatever help he can. While it’s a ten day deal and will only last until someone else can play it’s always nice to see someone get a second chance and see what they can do with it. Here’s hoping IT proves the doubters wrong and finds a way to stick in the NBA. Like Boogie, serious injuries with terrible timing have derailed his career.

The Lakers are holding onto 6th place in the west and are starting to get a little separation between themselves and the lower tier teams in the western conference. 6 or higher is a must for an aged team like the Lakers. the more rest and fewer games played the better, especially games like the play-ins. So the Lakers need to keep growing, improving and staying afloat for a few more months. With a little luck (which seems in short supply) they’ll do just that.

LeBron James turned back the clock (or slept for 12 hours depending on your sources) and notched his second triple-double in 3 games, the 101 of his career and the Lakers pulled away in the second half to easily beat the easily beatable Orlando Magic. With the Magic missing Markelle Fultz, Jalen Suggs and Jonathon Isaac (all injured) this was the kind of team the Lakers had to date played down to, allowed to hang around, and generally struggle to win against this season. Whether last night’s game ended that absurd behavior or was a one off remains to be seen. Plenty of good vibes though as the Lakers look to match their longest winning streak of the season tomorrow night at 3 games.

1. How long can LeBron James play the hero? Who cares, he’s still doing it and we’ll need it all this season. LeBron’s line has become fairly common-place which is a testament to his consistent greatness. 12-20 (3-7 from three and 3-4 from the line), 11 rebounds, 10 dimes, 3 team energizing blocks with the only blemish being his 6 turnovers. When the rest of the line looks like that, you accept the turnovers as an aspect of functionality. The way The King played both energized the arena and his team, bringing the bench and STAP, er…The Crypt… to it’s feet. Evidently a large dose of sleep was one of the catalysts for the breakout game as LeBron quipped in his post-gamer about his 12 hours after jetting all over the country to both play and watch his son Bronny hoop. More of this and LeBron will, once again, at least put himself into the convo for MVP.
2. Talen tapping into his two-way game. A career high 6 steals punctuated THT’s solid contribution as he looks to fill roles left for him by both Caruso and Kuzma. We’re asking a lot of the 21 year old and his defense will determine his success more than anything else on this team. We got guys who can get buckets, and we got a couple of able and willing defenders…but we’re lacking on dudes who do both. Against the Magic THT was a true two-way player as he had active hands, shot efficiently from everywhere, and promptly landed on the NBA H&SP list due to a positive COVID test. Hoping for a speedy recovery for THT.
3. Limiting FTA. One of the foundational principles to a good defense is not bailing out guys by fouling them on shots. Make them can a tough bucket, no bail out reach fouls. The Lakers had been giving up a ton of free throws to start the season and, of late, they’ve been managing a better defensive focus. This continued last night as the Lakers wracked up some impressive team defense stats (12 steals, 11 blocks, and 37.5% shooting overall for Orlando) and held the Magic to under 20 FTA. Getting the job done on D doesn’t often result in a Sports Center highlight (do those still exist? They must…) but it helps the team put up W’s.
4. The right kind of offense. It is, of course, helpful when LeBron brings his monster game to the arena but the Lakers overall have started to tighten up some loose ends that had been dragging the team down. One of the big gripes here at the blog is Frank not getting the right guys the right shots and, too, has started to improve albeit only slightly over the last few games. Whenever the team shoots 46.8% from three it makes the rest of the game a lot easier. The Lakers did right by themselves in that they took a very succinct 28 three pointers (making a lucky 13 of them) and everyone who took one made one except for Malik Monk, who had a down game when compared to his recent play. No threes from Russ means he spent the night in attack mode and didn’t force his outside shot. All good signs.
5. Beating the beatable. After struggling against the youthful vigor of some of the younger teams in the NBA the Lakers have flipped that script of late by beating OKC and now the Magic. We need these bunny games, like anyone knows the bear needs to fatten up before the winter nap and the Lakers a re very bear-like this season. GOt to add some more bulk and beat the teams we ought to beat, be they young, injured or both we can’t afford too many more let-down games this season. Luckily the western conference is having a kind of down season, thus far, and the Lakers are still holding onto the 6th seed at 15-13. The Lakers really need to turn it around at STAPLES/The Crypt where they are a mediocre 10-7.

With Luka out the Lakers need to bring the heat and beat Dallas, keep pace with our cross-crypt rivals, The Clippers, and not let Memphis gain any separation. While not monumental in a singular sense, all of these games matter in terms of building good habits, chemistry and keeping pace in the standings. Can we equal our longest winning streak of the season? Here’s hoping. Go Lakers.