5 THINGS

The end has, mercifully, arrived. What started out as hope-filled title defense ended as a broken, beat up wheezing struggle to cross the finish line. The final 2 games of this season aren’t really great indicators of what is to come as the roster will quite likely have a very different look come training camp. Rather than critique the game, which was not a fun one in all honesty, I’d rather take a look back at the 5 key things that, in my opinion, led to this sour season. Above all, to echo magicman’s post of thanks I would also like to express my gratitude to all of you for being a part of the blog, Gerald for his open invite to his wonderful podcasts and especially to LakerTom for keeping the spirit and vibe of that old timey LAT Laker Blog alive and well.

1. The Dwight Howard debacle. I felt that, when we let Dwight walk (or as LakerTom likes to say we “dumped” him…), that it was a mistake. Howard had sacrificed a lot for the team last season, had put his sizable pride to the side and was a key contributor to the new banner up on the wall. His ability to defend out to the perimeter, effect shots at the rim and as a premier lob threat out of the pick and roll were all tools we missed all season long. In the playoffs Howard would have fared better against Ayton than either Gasol Drummond or Trezz were able to muster. Athletic, mobile big men at his size are rare in a league that now wants a center like that who can also shoot the three. That list is a short one and most of those guys aren’t as mobile and fleet of foot as Dwight is. Lastly, had Dwight been on the roster, it would have likely taken us out of the Drummond sweepstakes and kept whatever chemistry we had going at that point in a more stable place.
2. The Schroeder saga. It would be hard to find an article or an opinion that ran contrary to the opinion that when we signed Dennis Schroeder it was a Laker coup. In theory we had found a defensive, gritty, able-enough scorer to play alongside AD and LeBron and not need too high of a usage rate. Over the course of the season that narrative didn’t stand up. When healthy and the three point shots were falling for the team we had a great record with Dennis and LeBron in the line up. When the King went down, so did Schroeder for all intents and purposes. Add in his very public contract negotiations (that ultimately went nowhere), his two extended stints in the league health and safety protocols due to COVID-19 exposure or contraction (not sure if we ever heard one way or the other) and his extreme variation in playoff performances has led to a fan falling out with the mercurial PG from Germany. He may be back and he may not but if he returns we need to discover a way to keep Dennis more consistent.
3. The injuries. So many injuries. Much has been made of the injury issues this season after the quick turnaround and I don’t think there’s another team besides the Miami Heat that has suffered so many injuries to key players up and down the roster. Whether it was KCP’s ankle sprain he suffered early on that seemed to linger all season, Caruso’s calf, ankle and groin, Anthony Davis and his death by 1,00 bumps and bruises or LeBron getting rolled by Solomon Hill we just never caught a break injury wise after the first few weeks of the season. I was surprised to see Davis on the court and felt it was a bad idea. The last thing we wanted was for him to suffer a Durant-like setback. Better that he get himself right as rain for next season. To that end I’m actually glad the playoffs are over for us, no more reasons to gut it out or make a bad choice in terms of our player’s health.
4. Our vanishing three point shooting. We started off so hot that it almost seemed impossible to believe. Well, it was. If one is honest with one’s self there is no way that Alex Caruso is a 40+ percent three point marksman. I think he tops out between 35-40%, at best. Same for KCP although he could crack 40% if his focus was more consistent, I believe. Guys we brought in who had decent stats from the previous season like Schroeder and Wes Matthews were wholly incapable of replicating that success on this team. Whether it was the pressure of a title defense, playing for the Lakers or a reflection of who they truly are as shooters the point is a moot one. They couldn’t sustain the hot start from beyond the arc and the defensive schemes of he NBA adapted to tat reality very quickly by clogging the paint and making life harder and harder for our offense. Which was not elite to begin with unless James and Davis are on the floor, healthy and producing at elite levels.
5. Speaking of coach Vogel. What a difference a season makes. We again had a top notch defense but what had been an above average offense last season with playoff vets like Danny Green, Rajon Rondo and JaVight McHoward was unable to find it’s strong points this season. A lot of this is on our coach who seems to over-rely on the skill, talent and will of LeBron James and Anthony Davis to score points. That works when they are healthy and productive but it doesn’t when they’re not on the floor as was the case for huge chunk of the season. As The King ages I think we’ll see a lot more of the version of LeBron we saw in the playoffs: fewer drives, more threes and a slow yet steady relinquishing of the reigns to players like Schroeder, THT and even Alex Caruso to initiate the offense. We’re going to need Frank to bring more to the table, should he remain the head coach (as I expect him to be with one more season on his contract and a banner he helped hang in the rafters), if that’s the case. Perhaps, if one of the many coaches who could be fired this season becomes available, we can bring in somebody with more offensive chops than Vogel has it might help.

There will be plenty of time for grades, trades and things of that nature as summer rolls in. For now, looking back on this season, I just want to express how much this has helped me personally move through the pandemic. Chatting Lakers has always been a passion and this blog has helped me stay as sane as I ever was (agreed, not much). So thank you, Lakerholics and fellow blog contributors. This is but a bump in the road for one of the great sport franchises on planet Earth. We’re going to reload and get rocking soon. So let’s hope for good health, some luck in the draft and we’ll see you on down the line.

Words like pathetic, half-hearted and sad came to mind whilst watching last night’s one-sided affair. To put it simply: Phoenix kicked our collective ass but good and the Lakers are on the brink of seeing their title defense end in the first round, something a LeBron James-led playoff team has never had happen (losing in the 1st round, that is). While I believe the Lakers do have the pieces to win game 6 and swing momentum back our way it’s going to take a sea change for that to happen.

1. Dennis Schroeder and a bucket full of regret. That $22+ million dollar contract Schroeder had hoped to play into is dwindling by the playoff game. I have consistently been of the opinion that Schroeder is not worth that much, that he would have been smart to take the 20+ million dollar deal the Lakers offered him. I am now of the opinion that the Lakers need to simply move on. If we can move him without triggering the hard cap than great. Schroeder set Laker records for futility in game 5 by going 0-9 (joining him in donut land was KCP as the starting back court put up a big fat z-e-r-o in terms of points). In my opinion the Lakers are sunk if Schroeder plays this poorly and he plays this poorly pretty frequently. Dennis still has control of his narrative for the season but it’s quickly slipping from his grasp. If he flames out in game 6 like he did last night he’ll be on the MLE train with Trezz and Caruso this summer.
2. Bench KCP. LRob said it on the podcast and I agree 100%: KCP is hurt and shouldn’t be playing. He’s a liability on defense, not shooting open shots and basically sucking it up all over the place. In 15 minutes KCP was a -19 meaning we sieved more than a point per minute he was on the court. Start Wes, start Ben, start Alex, start THT…anyone else. He got his money from last season’s heroics, looked good for about a month and a half and then fell off a cliff for the rest of the season. If it’s injuries than sit and admit. If it’s personal issues, go home and handle. If you’re blowing it then by Loki’s moustache step it up, man. This team cannot win when the starting back court puts up Chuck Nevitt-level stats (actually, that’s not even fair to Chuck, he always averaged at least 1/2 point in all of his NBA seasons). If you’re not going to score, defend or grease the offense than sit the *&%$ down and like it.
3. Frank’s rotation madness continues. I just don’t get it. Morris started but played a whopping 10 minutes and even was one of the Lakers not named LeBron James that made a three. He never saw the floor again. THT played for the first time in a couple games because…who knows, maybe Frank is doing rotations by tea leaves at this point? My point is that, even with the injuries, the head coach has not been able to cobble together rotations that can defend and score at the same time. Not a starting five, not a bench…nothing. Coach Vogel went with Gasol and Caruso to start the second half and it accomplished nothing as we were already down 30 plus points, Phoenix was already rolling and the arena was rocking. Coach has pulled a total 180 from last season when he pushed the right button at the right time every single time. This season, not so much. He hasn’t done himself any favors by being so incredibly inconsistent with his playing time for mercurial players like Harrell and Morris, an on then off again role for Wes and McLemore garnering DNP then thrust into a huge role. I get the credo: always be ready but sometimes you can’t be ready for literally any and everything. Frank could have done himself a lot more favors in this series if he had a grip on what the team was capable of, feels like he’s over-estimated that at every turn.
4. Drummond doing what he can. It’s not really fair to dump as much as we do on Andre’ as he is doing his level-best. It’s just that his skill set is fairly one-dimensional and our problems are coming at us from all directions. Drummond was actually one of our most effective starters but is getting severely out-played due to the pick and roll doomsday machine they’ve built around CP3 and Booker. With Ayton at the eye of the hurricane it puts Drummond in the impossible (at least for him) situation of either coming out to guard a shooter (who either shoots over the late close or blows by the over played close with elite speed) or dumps it off to Ayton who often finds himself mismatched onto smaller guys and he is abusing them just like he should. That’s just one more situation when Monty is out-coaching Vogel. What we cannot continue to absorb from Drummond is the plethora of turnovers he continues to cough up with poor passing, bringing the ball down low for defenders to swipe at or when he loses his balance. Is he getting hit? Sure, of course. it’s the playoffs though and big men always have to absorb more contact in the NBA, that ain’t anything new. They put it perfectly on the TNT broadcast when they said that the NBA punishes strength and gives speed and quickness all the advantages. Drummond, like the rest of the team, needs to stop thinking and just play.
5. Adjustments? Honestly, Frank started his adjustments way too late. In every game the Suns have come up with a new wrinkle to a thing they already do well that flummoxes our coaching staff. In game one it was using DA as a primary option when we were playing to stop Booker and CP3, last night it was switching the onus back to Booker and focusing on getting him going and, while I applaud the defensive effort of the Suns, the Lakers aren’t trying anything different or new to get certain players going. Frank seemingly leaves it up to the individual to figure out why the ball isn’t going into the basket and it’s not going into the basket for oh so very many Lakers right now. This goes well beyond poor shooting or a regression to the mean this goes into what kind of sets does it even look olike the Lakers run? I’ve been asking this question for 2 years running and am nowhere near an answer because the offense is player-driven. That’s great for LeBron James at his best, news flash Frank: he’s not at his best. Frank went with Caruso and Gasol in the starting five after the first half last night and he would be wise to start game 6 that way. We need offense and defense and Caruso is at least trying on D and seems more willing to shoot open shots than either KCP or Schroeder. Gasol can hit the three an should open the paint up a bit. We need energy which is why I’m mystified Trezz has played as sparingly as he has. Not a lot of daylight left to find a winning combo before the sun sets on our season, literally.

I won’t get into off season stuff until the off season is officially here. Needless to say our prospects to easily improve the team are few and limited in scope. So best to win tomorrow and try to wrest control of our season, fellahs.

Afternoon games in STAPLES are always a modest affair. Los Angeleninos are already laid back and if they haven’t gotten in three mochacinos and lunch they can be a sleepy bunch. When the Lakers put in 2/3 to 1/4 of effort for an entire NBA playoff game they don’t get up for that. As a result the Lakers looked lifeless for most of the game, lost to the Suns, and allowed the series to get tied at two.

1. Lakers didn’t show up with an aggressive attitude or looking to put their foot down on the Suns. Attitude is a weird thing. It ties into everything, manifests itself in results and can be a positive or negative. You can call it a mind set, focus, attitude-whatever you’d like In the Lakers’ case yesterday afternoon it wasn’t much if a positive. Even before the strained groin AD loomed tentative settling for jumpers, not really demanding the ball and fading into the background on offense. All sorts of guys passed up open looks or ran themselves off the three point line right into Phoenix’s defense and we were by far more involved with the refs (although both teams have been overly invested in calls so far). We need to knock off these kind of antics and play hard and forceful from here on out. Let Davis, James and Vogel get into with the refs. Get you head in the game.
2. New NBA record!!! Frank Vogel set an NBA record in the game yesterday: quickest Coaches Challenge ever! 15 whole seconds into the game, one that had tremendous stakes and also happened to suck whatever excitement had built up pregame right out of STAPLES Center. Frank was extremely successful in his challenge savvy during the regular season. I thought this one was utterly wasted. Ended up there were several other moments throughout the course of the game that would have had more impact and also more likely for us to have won. I though Frank was off last night and he has his hands full with Monty Williams who also happens to be an excellent coach. Frank needs to be smarter with his challenges and time outs.
3. Rotation experiment forced to continue. Injuries and exploited match ups forced Vogel to, once again, play too many guys in spot minute situations. Phoenix has a fairly tight and powerful 9 man rotation deployed, one they’ve used pretty much all season with contributions from others during the regular season. The Lakers? Our 11 man whack-a-doo rotation continues to show why this sort of thing isn’t a recipe for NBA playoff success. To be honest, a good part of this is being forced due to injury. But the 5 minutes of Trezz was a joke as was the 8 minutes of Morris. Pick one, you know what they bring and what they don’t. You either need outside scoring and defense or energy and inside scoring acumen. It’s not like they duplicate one another in any way. Same goes for McLemore. Don’t leave him out there on defense for long stretches, he’s going to get burned. If you need a sniper then put the sniper in and run a play. If you need Trezz then play him in his actual role. Morris has looked broken for months, not sure he has a role in the post season in all honesty. He’s off on defense missing a lot of rotations or being out of place as often as Drummond has been, isn’t even looking to shoot the three ball and is now missing his paint attempts. Not much positive to see from that whole situation right now. I had hoped the amped up energy of STAPLES and/or the playoffs would kick-start ‘Kieff but it hasn’t happened, yet.
4. Bench still floundering. I don’t think starting Wes is the answer, not unless they’re going to try and get him going from three. I would rather start Kuzma or, if I’m being honest, Caruso. Start Booker and CP3 off going against our two best on-ball defenders in Schroeder and Alex, gum up the game from the get-go and let Wes feast on bench dudes with the second unit. Schroeder needs to attack the rim like he wants to score not like he wants to avoid contact and then fall down and get a whistle. That kind of chicanery doesn’t fly in the playoffs. You might get a whistle a time or two in this or that series but it’s not a recipe for wins. If we stick with Wes, or if KCP comes back and is something resembling effective (which he has not been) then fine but make Wes a scoring option and force the Phoenix defenders to account for him honestly with some more attempts.
5. The Drummond/Gasol debate. The time, I believe, has come. It’s obvious that Dre’ is struggling with Ayton’s ability to defend him straight up and he gets swarmed in the paint by Phoenix when he gets the ball. The Laker offense is plodding along right now, and this is not a knock on Drummond, by the way. AD gets the ball and starts writing his memoire before making a move. James is, again, milking the shot clock for on-court rest and in general we don’t hit guys in stride or on the move with our passing. Credit the Suns but also critique the Lakers for not adjusting and finding ways to shake loose for some easy scores. Having Gasol at the top of the key helps that as it at least pulls Ayton out to the free throw line and opens up the possibility for some back door cuts (I watched Caruso try to get into that action three separate times and the man with ball, twice Gasol, missed him every time). The action is a solid plan whether the backdoor cut works or not. You have to get the defenders off their toes and onto their heels. We’re not even trying to do that right now, just passing around the perimeter waiting for someone to drive the ball into the teeth of the D.

Last night should be concerning for Laker fans, it wasn’t like Phoenix ran us off the court we just don’t make poorly created shots. That’s not new, this has been an issue all season for us. When we stagnate on offense we lose. Our defense was fine, Phoenix got 100 for the first time in the series, but we need to cut the turnovers (15…again…why this didn’t concern more people earlier in the season has always been a mystery to me but we are who we are now…), play smarter and go harder to the rim. if you miss and they don’t call the foul because of contact, so be it but take a man down with you. Time to see who has some junk yard dog in them and who is ready for vacation because the season has just been too hard. Man up or go home.

Maybe that could slowly help shrink the racial gap culturally. Slow and steady wins the race. Tortoise beats the hare everytime.