There was no let-down with the return of LeBron James. Nor was the absence of Lonnie Walker IV or Austin Reaves an issue as the Lakers steam-rolled the Atlanta Hawks at home in a wire to wire win. LeBron, Russ and the supporting cast had everything working as the Lakers win streak grew to 4.

1. The King’s reign is strong. There are some young players gunning for the throne and, to date, Giannis has been the only one to touch the Sun. Since LeBron took the NBA torch from Kobe he has reigned long and well. This might be my favorite LeBron season as a Laker because of his supporting cast and its myriad array of issues. Fact is all NBA teams are imperfect in some form or another and rely on their best players to get them to the next level. LeBron has been doing just that since mid-December.
2. Russell’s great all around game. I’m quite sure there is nothing Russ can do to convince those who want to see him traded that this is working now. Too much water under the bridge to reverse ingrained opinions or notions. I, myself, had doubts this would work or that Westbrook would accept a bench role so easily and also excel in it and that he could continue to play well without the elite finishing skills of AD. We were and are all wrong. Russ has shown that he can have a starter’s impact off the bench with his elite rebounding and passing. He never has been or will be an elite scorer but it doesn’t matter if he’s getting teammates easy buckets..which he is. Including a nifty LeBron/Russ 2-man game. Last season it felt like James and Westbrook just alternated controlling possessions and that wasn’t very successful. This season LeBron is more off-ball than at any other pony as a Laker, which isn’t a lot mind you, but it’s allowing the guards in the team to be involved and that’s what’s working.
3. Kendrick Nunn getting some solid run. He’s still at the top of my “most likely to be traded” list next to PatBev but it was still really nice to see Nunn have a solid game in a non-garbage time role. He can still be a factor in the NBA and likely had a fair amount of rust to shake off and confidence to build back up after a year off from a lingering injury. The Lakers will need Kendrick to contribute if he stays on the team. His shooting could be a key factor this season if he can keep this up and in the playoffs, should such a thing be in the cards for this team, he could be a difference maker.
4. Schröder playing well with LeBron. We saw Dennis excel without LeBron, taking more shots, controlling the ball, and showing that he can play at his Euro League level in the NBA. I wanted to see him do that with James playing and Dennis delivered. There are a bevy of players who are playing as much for their next contract as they are to win now. The two can coexist, although it can also ruin team chemistry if the former outweighs the latter. Kudos to coach Ham in managing the desire to showcase with the needs of the team, especially in the case of Dennis and Russ who both have a lot of potential money on the line next summer.
5. True garbage time. Great seeing LeBron play fewer than 35 minutes in a win. It allowed us to see some of our younger guys get some run in the waning moments of the game once the double digit lead was truly insurmountable. The G Leaguers all got to play as the only active roster not to see floor time was Damien Jones (DNP-sore right toe). The newest Laker, Sterling Brown, also got tossed in the fire right off the bay. When the guys from the G-League and the Two Ways get to play it either means a terrible loss or a blow out win. Loving the still too infrequent blow out wins but I’ll take whatever wins we can get.

Back-to-back tonight, won’t be blown away if LeBron doesn’t play but I hope he does. We need to start proving our mettle against division and conference teams, teams we have a hard time beating this season. These are the teams you want to beat at least once because should the Lakers get to the playoffs that’s who we’ll face in the first 3 rounds, more if we’re a playin team. Tonight against the Kings would be a good place to start.

This was a statement win for the Lakers franchise. When star players are hurt it’s up to the unsung teammates to do their best to meet the challenge. The Lakers have not much but vet minimum players to fall back on when one or more of their marquee stars goes down, a thinness much critiqued by Planet Earth and a major source of Pelinka-inspired ire for fans. Last night, for a game at least, those players showed that faith to be warranted as a motley gang of Lakers overcame a mostly healthy and rolling Miami Heat team.

1. Dennis Schroder’s best game by a country mile. This was the version of Flash Laker’s fans had been hoping to see. The unstoppable paint penetrator, the slow-gather but accurate three point shooter, and the drive and dish playmaker. Euro League Schroder, at last! Dennis’ line of 32 pts, 4 boards, 4 steals and 2 dimes was needed in every aspect to manage the win last night. He got to the line 14 times applying pressure on a variety of Miami defenders all game long and taking on the scoring burden left to the team by LeBron’s absence due to illness. The best part was he had only one turnover which helped minimize the 17 turnovers the team coughed up (most of that on Russ). Dennis needs to bottle this game and play with this level of aggression whomever else is on the floor with him from now on.
2. Russell Westbrook’s sloppy but impactful game. There won’t be many wins following a 7 turnover game from Russ. He’s too critical for getting guys easy shots for that to work but for a night we escaped despite a subpar passing game from Westbrook. He nearly had another triple-double off the bench but didn’t chase it. Despite the 7 TOs he did have 9 dimes and 8 rebounds and scored some seriously clutch baskets down the stretch. It gets harder and harder for me to see the team trading Russ and easier and easier for me to see them justifying keeping him the whole season and possibly beyond, for the right price. Best of all Russ seems to have won the fans in the home crowd over with his effort, if not polish.
3. Kendrick Nunn’s best game in a looooong time (maybe the whole season). It had to happen eventually, right? Nunn couldn’t be awful for forever, the guy has too much talent. In limited action Nunn had his most complete and least-forced game in a purple and gold uniform. With Troy Brown Jr. leaving the game early due to another injury his production was desperately needed for a team that has fewer and fewer scoring options to turn to. His line of 9 points on 4-9 shooting (1-3 from downtown) and 3 rebounds won’t ‘wow’ anyone or reverse the general consensus that his MLE signing is one of the worst ever for the Lakers but it’s a clear step in the right direction for a player we all hoped to see more out of but have yet to see it consistently.
4. More high quality Wenyan Gabriel minutes. A lot of players struggle in limited minutes. Wenyan has a simple role and he’s making the most of it and he’s doing that consistently which is the key for bench players. Like Nunn’s, his box score won’t jump out at you but it was efficient and the guy plays so hard that much of what he does by way of keeping possessions alive, fighting for position that allows our guards to grab boards and not pad his own stats are all critical elements of Laker success this season. He may not be playing his way into a massive deal next season but it’s easy to see Wenyan at least sticking around the league as his corner three is rounding into shape, his effort is always there, and he’s playing focused and within his role.
5. What works about the small guard lineup. I’m personally not a huge fan but coach Ham keeps trotting it out so we have to at least take a look at what about the 3-4 guard lineups he is deploying does indeed work. It makes the team harder to guard on the perimeter and allows for more drives to the rim. Schroder and Russ in particular are elite at finding seams and exploding to the hoop for a layup or pass. Now, depending on the defense, those drives can have very mixed results but if the correct read is made more often than not it does have the potential of at least partially offsetting our woebegone outside shooting. It also has problems on the defensive glass that put the onus and burden on Thomas Bryant and Wenyan Gabriel to box out consistently while also covering their man in roll schemes which isn’t easy even for elite defenders. Still, it could end up being a useful tool if we go down to three guards, LBJ and AD or Bryant in the future. For myself, when everyone is healthy, I would hope that some of the potential line ups featuring more size get as extended a look as the small line ups have.

All in all a high quality win and now the winning streak is a legit three whole games. With the hope that we’ll have James back for the next game and AD back before the trade deadline the Lakers a re still in a decent position to make the playin and at least challenge for the 6th seed, Anyone who had said that was a possibility after the 2-10 start when we were all feeling the doom and gloom would likely be lying. Fans resigned themselves to a lost season or hoping a trade would bail us out but then something happened: the Lakers just started to play harder. Not even all that much better, just harder and with more intent. Yes, it also came with a short burst of the potential MVP versions of LeBron and AD but those 2 have played together in a scant 14 games this season, a lot of those were the early losses, as well. So, with 38 games played and coming up on the halfway mark, we need to look for hope in the players who do play consistently to find a way forward. Just like last night.

I had a feeling this might happen. It was easy to bury the Lakers as dead and gone when LeBron looked mortal just a couple weeks ago. Since he had a string of inefficient, 30+ point games, LeBron decided that he was going to go back to what works: scoring inside. The King did it again last night as he strung together back-to-back 40+ point games which just so happened to coincide with two Laker victories. Coach Ham in his post-game presser made it clear that this is the plan going forward, to ride LeBron until the wheels fall off or help returns.

1. LeBron defying reality. If there’s one reason for the Laker’s front office to pull the trigger on a trade it should be the way LeBron is playing right now. When he’s commanding the paint like he is now there are few things that can deter his scoring. He gets to the line more, as well, which puts even more pressure on the defense and helps his teammates who can get to the rim and create contact like Schroder did last night. The King’s line was both epic and necessary as the Laker bench frittered away a big second half lead without Russ to get them easy baskets. What had almost looked like some potential 4th quarter rest turned into a close affair and LeBron ended up playing a team-high 40 minutes.
2. Thomas Bryant filling in more than ably. He’s been more efficient than he was last night (9-17, no 3 pt. FGA) but it’s work on the glass on both ends that is helping keep the Lakers afloat while AD rests his injured foot. The big man continued to show he has completely recovered from a year of dealing with leg injuries by pulling down a game high 15 rebounds, 5 on the offensive end which proved critical as we needed all of those second chance points to pull this one out. If it were up to me I would experiment quite a bit with AD and Bryant on the floor with LeBron and maybe Russ. His pick and roll game is strong because he can shoot it from the rim out to the three point line. Loving the effort we’re seeing and this guy is playing his way into at least an MLE if not more.
3. Austin Reaves bounce-back game. Reaves had largely struggled on this road trip but found his shot and his game again in Charlotte as he had a very True Grit-style game. 7 assists to one turnover helped reverse an ugly stretch of games for the sophomore and his shot came back in a game that really helped salvage the road trip. While I’d still like to see Reaves start we need games like this from him on a consistent basis wherever he plays in the rotation for us to have a shot most nights, especially with Davis and Lonnie Walker 4 out.
4. Wenyan Gabriel finding his niche. It’s getting harder for me to remember that Wenyan had been all but cast out of the NBA until last season’s AARP team needed youth and energy so desperately Rob scoured the trash heap for anyone who could run fast or jump high. In 11 minutes the young forward posted a team high +15. While that stat can often be a tad misleading I thought that, in this case, it showed how much his backup minutes can swing the tide of a game. We don’t need Wenyan to replicate what LeBron brings when he comes in for the 38 year old legend, we just need him to consistently play hard and with focus. That’s it. He often shares the floor with Russ or Schroder when LBJ sits and the PGs are doing a good job of playing to his skillset and talent and his hustle can help shape a quarter, for good or ill. I like that he’s taking wide-open threes, not forcing his shot or his offense and just playing hard with heart. That alone can be something that helps win some ball games in any sport.
5. The hits just keep on-a-coming. Lonnie Walker IV has been out a couple games, Russell has foot intermittent soreness in his left foot and AD is out indefinitely. No real update on any of them so hoping Russ and Lonnie play in the next one because my guess is we won’t see AD until late January, at best. More likely will be after the trading deadline which will all but be the final obstacle Rob needs to continue his waffling and dithering. In his defense nothing is really happening everywhere as the western conference pile-up has made it possible for everyone who would be interested in a trade holding onto their cards until clarity is achieved and chances for a playin berth fade to almost nothing. With the news that Indy and Myles have opened talks on keeping him the list of potential trade partners just keeps on shrinking. Whether that will doom this team or force them to come together and truly battle for something great remains to be seen.

Home against Miami in what one hopes will be a revenge game and see a winning streak worth mentioning get started. Beat the Heat and we’ll have won three games in a row. If LeBron scores 40 he will be on another list of one as only he and Jordan have scored 40+ in back-to-back games but nobody his age has gone three in a row. It’s likely the kind of effort the Lakers will need to pull out a W. Whether any of this inspired the Laker “Brain Trust” to action isn’t debatable as I don’t think it will. They’ll justify this as treading water successfully and hoping AD’s return is enough to get them over the hump as-is. We’ll have to debate the intelligence of this plan in a few weeks, or at least after the trade deadline, because I don’t see much hope in it now but with The King playing like this anything feels possible.

Inspiring as the comeback was it kind of just made it an even bigger bummer when we ended up losing. At least for me. Wasted was another superlative game by AD, a solid game by Russ and another big night of scoring by LeBron. The same issues remain the same issues and now the coach is having to basically play a 6-7 man rotation on most nights to be competitive. To say this is unsustainable is to put it lightly.

1. The first half. It can easily be said that such an incredible comeback might not have been needed had we handled our business better in the opening two quarters. Went back and checked the shot chart to see how we scored in the first half. We gave 37 and 28 points per quarter in the first half good for, what honestly should have been a commanding, 65 points to our 50. Our overall intensity and defense was a lot better in the second half but that kind of effort is not a luxury this team has. We’re simply not good or deep enough to feel like we can turn it on and win a game. Not by a longshot.
2. The second half and overtime. The most important number of the second half was 29. That’s the number of minutes AD played which is to say all of the potential minutes available. LeBron played all but 2 or so, also too many. For the life of me I don’t understand how the Lakers can imagine that a 7 man rotation will stand up to the grind of the 82 game season AND be ready for a playin round or two AND compete for a title after that. The logic boggles the mind. Or at least it does until one remembers that the Lakers willfully traded or simply let walk the bevvy of valuable role-players we once featured.
3. LeBron’s heroics or smarts. LeBron is not playing smart basketball, he’s playing straight hero ball. His shot chart worked out thusly:
   -1st quarter: 1-2 FGs, zero 3’s, zero FTA
   -2nd quarter: 4-6 FGs, 0-2 on threes, 1-2 FTA
   -3rd quarter: 3-5 FGs, 1-2 on threes, zero FTA
   -4th quarter: 5-10 FGs, 2-6 on threes, 1-2 FTs (w/4:25 left in the game)
   -OT: 1-2 FGs, 0-1 on threes,
   LeBron in the 4th tried to go it alone and it isn’t really working for the Lakers as a team. Juxtapose LBJ’s 10 FGAs with AD’s 4, Russ’s 5 (and at least one of those was an offensive rebound/put-back) and we’re seeing the same formula that resulted in losses. It would be one thing if we were seeing a vintage version of LeBron (fewer threes, more forays into the paint) but we’re not. He’s a jump shooter now. Of his 25 FGAs (which led the team) 11 were from three. He only got fouled on shots twice (or at least only two were called) and neither of those were and-1s. I can sympathize with LeBron for not forcing the action inside, he has not seen many friendly whistles as a Laker, but that means he has to balance his aggression better, not try and dominate just in the 4th.
4. More team, less Big 3. Coach Ham is riding his three best players right into the ground. or at least AD and LeBron, Russ has a never-ending motor it’s just his jumper that doesn’t work when you want it to. You could see in OT that LeBron and AD were utterly gassed. Even in the 4th when LeBron settled for his lazy pull up threes, one or two of those and get the man 2 minutes on the pine. Technically 10 Lakers played basketball last night, only 7 of them played 10+ minutes and Schroder and Beverley each played 19. It’s just not sustainable, man. You can ride it hard but when the wheels fall off don’t be shocked or surprised. Coach Ham needs to do a better job of two things: finding productive rest for LeBron and AD and getting his role-players more involved in the scoring. It will make things better now, in the playoffs (lol, I know, I know but one can hope, right?), and for the whole team.
5. Pride in your homecourt. Look, I’m sure all the Lakers really wanted to win last night. The loss dropped us to 6-7 at Crypto. That’s not a winning mentality at home. We’re not a terrible road team, like Golden State, and if we just took better care of business in LA then this season would have a very different feel to it. At home we need to get the excitement generating players going. Get Lonnie Walker some runways to take off of. Let Kendrick Nunn play 15 minutes so he can get in 8 more FGAs. Maybe let Max Christie play or one of the two-way guys for like 5 minutes and see if they can get the home crowd buzzing from a hard-earned basket. Something.

Well Minny lost so we’re exactly where we were before we lost to Boston with lots of season left to go. Tomorrow will be the first day almost anyone can be traded anywhere. Will there be a huge move tomorrow?!?! I don’t think so, no. I think we see this team continue as-is until a lot closer to 2/9/2023. I can imagine a world where we trade PatBev and/or Nunn in December…but I’m not, nor have I ever been, a big believer in Rob and his choices as GM. If we do trade for someone expect it to be a name more than a player we actually need. Rob will go for flashy, not substance. He’s well and truly shown his disdain for role-players since he took over jettisoning one after the other in favor of name players that, for the most part, don’t work out. So, in the end, logic and empirical evidence win out, again, over hope and dreaming. No trades will happen until 2023 would be my guess. Which is what’s it been for awhile now. Search for answers within, gentlemen, search for answers within.

Solid win that got closer than it could have, shades of Philly flashing before our eyes as AD missed another late free throw. But the Lakers held on, Reaves hit another clutch three and we came home .500 on the roadie. Considering where this team was at just a couple weeks ago, that’s more than decent.

1. LeBron’s most efficient and impactful outing of the season. I’ve been on The King a lot about his overall lack of efficiency. Some of that is to be expected as he approaches 38 years old and the amount of basketball he’s played in his lifetime. Still, as the leader of the team and the generational talent that he is, more is expected. Last night he played great on both ends. Didn’t make any silly, lazy passes for easy break points, shot efficiently (14-24) and made all his free throws. The single turnover is what we need more of (from himself and Russ) against the backdrop of his 5 assists. It was around the turn of the year that LeBron kicked it into another gear last season. If he can do that again, while AD is playing as dominantly as he currently is, we should climb the standings a bit.
2. Few answers for AD except get him in foul trouble. That’s the defense. AD was hitting all sorts of shots last night, except his sole three pointer. Not worried about our three ball game, honestly. Davis continued his one man assault on NBA paint defenses and something is starting to become quite clear. Teams are understanding that the only people who can stop AD are the refs. If AD is unhindered by foul trouble he is playing at a such a level right now as to be nigh unstoppable. He flirted with a triple-double but only garnered 7 dimes.
3. Winning the game while losing the three point battle. Much has been made of the lack of elite outside shooting on this iteration of Laker basketball. I’m personally cool with it for a simple reason. Our identity does not really stem from our long range accuracy but our defense and body blow interior scoring. There was a stretch where we were trading 2s for 3s against the Pistons and they closed the gap. We stuck with what worked and the long range shots that fell for them, specifically from Bojan Bogdanovic, stopped falling in the 4th due to a little tighter D and the law of averages. We also scored more efficiently because our attempts are often closer to the rim, not further out. This is by design, we’re next to last in attempted three pointers. We’re 3rd from the bottom in accuracy. That’s after climbing up above 30% (currently 30.2 3PFG/game and hitting 32.2%). As long as the Lakers continue to own the paint we’ll have a shot to win most games.
4. Austin Reaves. I started calling him True Grit (didn’t stick with the national media…) but now have moved onto Captain Clutch. The kid just comes up big when it’s needed. It’s this aspect of his game that I hope the Laker Brass looks at when deciding whether to cheap out on another role-player next summer. Incredible game-sealing shot and it’s not his first. I have a feeling it won’t be his last.
5. All of the above illustrate a point I’ve been trying to make for awhile now. This is working. Were it not for some missed free throws or tightening up one defensive possession down the stretch we’d have won in Philly. We didn’t have a healthy James or AD against Cleveland or Toronto (I know James played against the Cavs but he probably ought not to have given how he looked out there, that was one for the hometown fans). We’ve been competitive against good teams. We don’t need a huge trade, we need a little bit of defensive and outside shooting help, the rest of the recipe works. Thus, for my own self, I have a new criteria for any trade:
   -Does it bring back the same level, if not better, of playmaking the current roster has? If not, hard pass. Russ is feeding AD like Pac-Man eating dots. He’s not over-forcing his own offense or searching out triple-doubles, either. The only other Laker that comes close to bringing what Russ does is Schroder and he’s a poor copy at that. I’ve been watching the AD/Russ connection for a couple weeks now, it is not uncommon for Russ to bring 2,3 and even 4 defenders to him on his drives to the rim because he’s relentless. AD simply follows in his wake and either gets a pass if the commit to stopping Russ or an easy put-back if Russ misses his layup. If that goes away and is not somehow replaced in a trade it’s a bad trade.
   -Does the elite, volume, super-incredible three point marksman excel in a limited role (you know, like the last 7 elite, volume, super-incredible three point marksman who have played here have not)? If not you may want to push pause and consider what you’re giving up on defense. I’ve been hard on PatBev of late but this road trip showed what his leadership on the court can do. It helped turn the Philly game into an almost stolen victory. It’s been helping guys like Reaves, LW4 and TB understand how to properly take a charge, and it’s being able to be in the ear of Russ, LeBron and AD and not be wholly dismissed. Like Rondo before him I am starting to see a path where, despite his sinkhole offense, his defensive contribution just might make up for it. Full disclosure I still think he’ll be the first Laker traded.
   
   Do the Lakers need help? Yeah, yeah they do and there are a lot of ways they can get it. Melo is still out there and we have an open roster spot. Kris Dunn has been tearing up the G-League and is a savvy play-making guard. Thomas Bryant and Schroder have been solid in their backup roles so I don’t see those positions as being a weakness but, should we end up trading Nunn, PatBev or Russ we may need to bring in some kind of play-making guard to break down and collapse the defense. This tightrope act the Lakers are walking this season is certainly frustrating for fans of the trade as a fixit solution. I get it, while I may not wholly endorse a specific trade it would take a lot of internal improvement to think this roster can compete for a title as-is. I don’t really see that happening, to be honest. As long as the player(s) we bring in can defend and get AD the ball in his sweet spot (the paint) I think I’d pull the trigger on a trade. If it’s for a one-trick–pony shooter or a guard who just scores you can count me out on supporting it.
   
   Go Lakers.

Most teams are past the 1/4 pole mark, including the Lakers, so instead of a 5 Things about the awful game between the Lilliputians, er, Lakers and Cavs I thought I’d go into what’s worked and what hasn’t as we head towards the halfway point of the NBA season. Let’s dig right in.

1. The defense…for the most part. Given the guys on the team, the offense it needs to protect and the way we played last season (giving up late leads, unable to stop penetration and sieving paint points, etc.) this is a total turnaround. We’re 14th in defensive efficiency, 25th in steals (not the be-all-end-all of defensive stats), 10th in blocked shots (neither is this of the utmost importance but nice), and 26th in opponent points in the paint. All of that shows improvement if not a level of elite that we would hope to see with guys like AD and Patrick Beverley playing big minutes. This has as much to do with who is committed to defense and who isn’t at this point in the season. I would list the following players as highly committed: AD, PatBev, Reaves, and Wenyan Gabriel. Committed: Russ, Bryant, Lonnie Walker 4, Schroder, and Troy Brown Jr. Indifferent: Nunn, James, D-Jones. The last one of those (Jones) has been a disappointment in pretty much every facet of the game. While I can understand why LeBron is playing defense the way he is on this team it really isn’t going to work. He needs to be more present and at least do things like close out on the only wide open shooter on his side of the floor. Nunn…just gotta go, no hope for him on this team. Don’t know what the deal is there but Kendrick might have earned the distinction of worst MLE signing ever, at least for the Lakers.
2. Anthony Davis at the center position. Took some time, several hints dropped via the media he’d really, really, really like to play at the 4 but AD has decided to be the best center he can be. Turns out he’s pretty good at it. Fewer jumpers, more offensive rebounds and points at the rim and you have a recipe for the kind of success that is both sustainable and something the team can build on. We don’t need to get into the specific numbers of how much AD is dominating because the true measure is that he’s being discussed for the loftiest NBA awards: MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. If he wins either/both of those it would mean we won a lot more games than predicted, that he elevated the team around him and not just putting up gaudy stats in a vacuum, and that we actually made the playoffs and not the playin.
3. Russell Westbrook off the bench. Despite everything the Lakers and Russ have found a way to coexist and be productive together. While the trade market is the dominant topic in all things Westbrookian I am of the opinion that the Lakers will not be trading Russ unless it’s for a player that is a true upgrade over Russ and not just some nice role-players. The FRPs required to move a contract of his size for a player you may or may not retain just does not make sense. The fact that you likely won’t win the talent side of the trade, either should make one question why the trade be made in the first place. AD playing more in the paint has opened up Westbrook’s game more than anything else. He, once again, has an elite roll man to find for open dunks with crafty wrap-around passes or kicks out to shooters…that last one often coming with mixed results not of his creation. I think that, in the end, Russell ends the season with LA. They need his expiring cap space if they want to retain Reaves, Lonnie Walker IV and possibly make a run at other free agents who could come on the market. So, unless the trade is for expiring deals, brings back a different FRP, or is for a knock-me-down-and-call-me-surprised caliber player I just don’t see it happening. They’ve said as much, done as much and there it is.
4. Not working #1: Patrick Beverley. Just for kicks I took a peek at THT’s stats since that’s who we gave up to acquire PatBev. Hate to say it but Talen is balling harder than his counterpart in the surprise trade of the summer, at least for the Lakers. Here’s a rough comparison:
   -MPG: PatBev 26.8, THT 16.8
   -PPG: PB 4.2, THT 7.2
   -FGA: PB 4.7, THT 6.9
   -FG%: PB 27.1%, THT 39%
   -3P%: PB 22%, THT 25%
   -2P%: PB 38.5%, THT 48.5%
   -TRB: PB 3.8, THT 2.6
   -AST: PB 2.5, THT 2.5 (not a typo)
   Neither is averaging over 1 for blocks or steals, PatBev turns the ball over a little less but fouls a lot more. None of that is to say that THT is the better player, the Lakers didn’t need another youthful player to develop that they would have to choose not to sign because of cheapness reasons. What that does illustrate that in 10 more MPG PatBev isn’t bringing much buy brave words and some nice looking hair on a nightly basis. For the money we need more. Only Nunn produces less/dollar from the role-player pool (Russell is the worst Laker guard sharing the cellar with the likes of Klay Thompson, Paul George and Ben Simmons (link here: https://www.spotrac.com/nba/valuation/guard/ ). Not sure what level of player we can expect in a Beverley trade, hopefully one that would include Nunn, but it has to be better than this.
5. Not working #2: Reaves off the bench. This needs to change ASAP. Reaves with the starting five brings it all together. He brings the right amount of shooting, defense and energy that nobody else on the team has. His Hoops IQ is really high which means he sees the game happening and where he needs to be to help a play develop on both ends. Moving Reaves to the starting five would push PatBev or Schroder to the bench, so no issues on that one. There are fewer and fewer justifications to playing Beverley at all, Schroder should get the backup point guard minutes, and Max Christie should fill in the gaps. That’s just how it is, man. No offense to PB or DS but they just don’t bring the same level of skill, talent, and smarts Reaves does. My starting five would look like this: AD, LBJ, LW4, Reaves, and Schroder. Second unit would be Bryant, Wenyan Gabriel, TB Jr., Nunn and Russ. Max Christie and Jones are “break glass in case of foul trouble” players and PatBev can sit. That’s just me though.

Anyhow, since the Lakers have chosen to beat teams they can beat and not roll over and die in advance of playing marquee teams we’ve reversed course on our 2-10 start. Recent rough outings aside (no AD and a disengaged LBJ in Cleveland) this team should still make the playin. While I’m sure Jeannie would like to see a better showing from her investment this mess is on her and Rob as anyone else. Your last coach took the fall for your overall organizational ineptitude and cheapness, that won’t be an excuse this time around. The Lakers need to make some kind of move before the trade deadline if they want to truly have a shot at competing in the playoffs. Since I don’t see a deal out there that will improve the team enough to come down off their “only 1 FRP…maybe” stance I long ago shifted sights to PatBev and Nunn who, if packaged together, could net a really decent player.