You figure this has to be it, right? With not many draft assets or players you can see a reason to trade this feels like the end of the Lakers trade maneuvers. Right? Anyhow, I’m calling it. As someone who has been very critical of the Rob Pelinka front office and they’re lack of acumen regarding the value of first round draft picks and propensity to overpay simply to get a deal done, this season has shown us that the Laker front office under Rob is coming into it’s own. There may yet be another move to be made in the form of getting an un-signed player or elevating a two-way contract but, in terms of NBA trades this feels like the end.

1. The Luka trade. I am still at a loss for words. Say what you want about his commitment to conditioning and his availability, AD was no All Star in that department, either, although he had been largely available for the last season and a third…when you get a chance to acquire a talent like Luka for the price we paid you do it. 10 out of 10 times I make that trade. More on AD next. For the price we paid, this was a steal now and in the future. Barring the kind of injury that can happen to any athlete Luka will be leading the Lakers to the playoffs for the next 5-7 years if we’re willing to pay him. Hint: we will. Luka fits into everything about the Lakers internal mythology and global brand. He’s a planet-wide superstar on a planet-wide sport team. He’s flashy, audacious, and wins. Even when he’s on mediocre teams he wins. Paired with LeBron and a supporting cast he can grow with the Lakers are set until 2030, if not longer. Is his weight an issue? Sure, to a degree, but he’s always been bulky and used that mass to create space in unorthodox ways that work for him. It’s effect on his legs being the only question. If he can learn from LeBron about keeping his body in shape for his style of play this move just gets even better.
2. Good bye Anthony Davis. Dude, I cannot thank you enough for the Bubble title. Same goes for every player on that team. You took too much heat for you injuries and wanting to play the 4 and now you’ve landed in a situation where you can still compete for a title with a roster that is oddly suited to your skillset. You were a Laker great and I wouldn’t be surprised if your jersey ended up on that wall, at some point. No statue, that’s a multiple banner club, but man did you compete for us and I will always appreciate your effort.
3. The Mark Williams trade. I’m having a harder time endorsing this one as whole-heartedly as the Luka trade. While there is still as of yet untapped potential in Mark Williams (only 23 and fits the bill for our center boxes we need to check) his injury history is troubling. If we can keep him on the floor we have a really solid starting five in Reaves, Vanderbilt or Vincent, Luka, LeBron and Williams. His injury history is concerning. His limited game (not a shooter of note) is concerning, but he fits the mobile, defensive center mold perfectly. Luka asked for a mobile lob threat and het one, this move feels as much as a “welcome to the Lakers and how we do things, Luka” move as anything else.
4. Good bye Max Christie. You were on the rise, you took the challenge of becoming a legit defender and you hit the three ball well enough. Great story about how one can make the most of the opportunities in front of you. Good luck, Max. Also, good bye Dalton Knecht, you started hot and fizzled (not too sure this deal gets made if you shoot better after November).
5. What now? Now we wait and see. Might pick up an unsigned player, promote a two-way. Could use another guard/wing that shoot (Lonnie Walker 4 anyone?).

Go Lakers.

As the Lakers embark on a 6 game road trip (aka The Grammy Trip) questions surround the team, and the NBA in general, regarding trades. After the multiple LA fires last week (still ongoing), the Lakers know how to deal with distractions. Seeing entire neighborhoods wiped form the face of the planet has a way of making you appreciate that your job is to play a game. Or at least it should. So the Lakers did well in getting the roadie off on the right foot and tuning out trade chatter and that jazz.

1. AD dominated. As he should have done with Draymond Green out of the lineup. Davis had a monster game: 36 points, 13 rebounds, 3 dimes, 3 steals and a block. He got to the line 12 times meaning he was operating in the paint and was playing with force. He also had the jumper working from midrange (5-6), although he missed his three 3 pointers. When AD plays like this it makes everything so much easier for the Lakers.
2. A defensive identity. With Rui Hachimura out (calf), fans pining to see new acquisition Dorian Finney-Smith get the starting nod got their wish. He did not disappoint. His rangy arms and solid defensive fundamentals were on full display. His 3 and D role was essential in helping the Lakers overcome a dreary night from three (DFS: 2-3, rest of team: 8-26) and he did a great job on switches and help situations. While I highly doubt one game will uproot Rui from the starting five it was nice to see that, against an admittedly small team in Golden State, the starting 5 of Reaves, Christie, DFS, LBJ and AD can get it done at a high level.
3. Dalton Knecht had a solid overall game. Since December DK4 has struggled. A lot. Since December 1st he’s made 21 three pointers and taken 86 good for 24.4%. That shows you what his ceiling is because for the season he’s still shooting 35.2% which means he was hot enough from three point land early on to balance this shooting abyss out (slump seems too kind at this point). His overall aggression has suffered as a result of the shooting abyss. Since December (24 games) he’s made multiple threes in just 7 and had donuts (O fer’s) in 13 and since his 5-13 barrage to close out November when he was still in the RotY conversation he has not attempted double-digit three-pointers once. The reasons for all of this are many: defenses realigned their focus to cover him when he was on the floor, his minutes have gone down since January mainly due to his role shrinking a bit due to his defense, and he’s a rookie. He’s going to struggle to find consistency at this level of the sport. It’s also a mental issue, in my opinion. Since he had a run of bad shooting games to you’ve seen him pull back on his aggression and audacity. If you’re going to be a swashbuckling NBA sniper daring-do you need to play like a swashbuckling NBA sniper daring-do. So it was nice to see the young man have a solid overall game.
4. The Reaves/Christie back court works. They compliment each other very well, they’re fast enough to keep up with the majority of the players and they’re both high IQ players. Max has taken on the role of defensive stopper and offensive release valve a lot better than hoped for (shout out to all the Max Christie supporters who never stopped believing, all 3 of you? lol JK.). Are there better back courts in the NBA? Sure, but for this team with AD and LBJ being the focal point of the offense it’s really a luxury to have 2 players who are doing a lot of the little things to enable their success at a high level.
5. THE RETURN OF THE VANDOLORIAN!!!! After a year-ish of waiting the return of Jarred Vanderbilt couldn’t have gone much better (wish he had hit that corner three but it looked good, just a little short…which is to be expected after not playing for so long). He was the only guy off the bench that impacted winning in a positive way +/- of +6, rest of the bench all had negative ratings)despite only taking 2 shots (the other was a bunny on a put back) and he was disruptive on D which is what his role is. Again, Rui Hachimura was out, so his minutes will eventually come from someone else (a combination of Knecht and Hayes in my opinion) and I don’t see him playing much more than 20-25 MPG, in general, but to have a weapon like that in conjunction with Christie, DFS and AD makes for some really intriguing defensive line ups and combinations.

(Sigh)

Last night….eh….(sigh).

1. (sigh…)
2. Defense was OK until the 4th…eh…….(sigh).
3. Rebounding was, yet again…ah forget it…(sigh)
4. (sigh sigh sigh)
5. Hey we play the Heat, likely without Jimmy. Trap game.

Effort needs to be there for 48. Not worth my time to say much else.

That was probably the worst loss of the JJ Reddick era. Absolutely no defense being played. Bad offense. Just about the shittiest overall effort I’ve seen all season other than Miami. Begs the question…what happened?

1. Broken record topic of the season: defense still sucks. The Lakers defense was an utter disaster last night. It was if everyone had eaten a big dinner and couldn’t move their feet. That was followed by too much ice cream and the resultant brain freeze was such that defensive communication was rendered non-existent. All in all, even though we “only” gave up 118 points it was obvious from the jump the Lakers as a team didn’t much seem to care that Dallas got what they wanted, when they wanted it and how they wanted to get it. All. Game. Long. The telling stat? Only DFS had a positive plus/minus (+3) from the entire team. The one guy who has no clue where he should be still managed to impact winning the most. Pathetic.
2. Bench Gabe Vincent and trade him. That’s it, dude is cooked and I’m done.
3. Dalton Knecht and Rui need to do more on D. Knecht scored 13 points in 16 minutes. Still had a -8 +/-. Rui played 26 minutes and scored 6 points and had the same -8. They combined for 1…1…rebound. We need more out of both for this to have a shot at working.
4. Picking on Austin. Reaves was getting abused on defense from the jump and neither he, the team, or the coaches were able to bother adjusting. In fact there really wasn’t any kind of adjusting being done as the listless Lakers got scorched on the glass, again, and Dallas waltzed to the rim over and over and over. Hope for a quick fix was extinguished in Coach Reddick’s post gamer. His exact words were: “I’m not sure what our rotations were. I’ve never seen us try to execute what we were doing. I haven’t watched the film yet. Just watching it live and talking to the assistants who did watch it on film, we’re not sure what was going on with the shift positioning and the rotations. Never seen it before.” Dude…news flash coach…you kind of only have 1 job and that’s to know what the fuck is going on. This is a Darvin Ham kind of tactic. Blaming the players, c’mon man, there are 48 minutes during the game in which you can make adjustments. You’re the one who has to make the team adapt if they’re not doing it organically on the court. You don’t wait for a film session after you get home from the road trip to hammer it out. Read, react, adapt. Honestly, there is little doubt in my mind that the differences between Vogel, Ham, and Reddick are minute if not purely cosmetic. Of the 3 Vogel was clearly the best coach. Good job, Rob…
5. Hope everyone in the LA area is safe from the fire. I know several people who have been evacuated and it’s crazy how big the fire is. Stay safe folks!

After the Lakers finished the season sweep the Lakers made a choice few around here believed they would make: a trade. While the win was important (vaulting us into 5th place at 18-13) the trade has the potential to redefine the Lakers defense, especially with injury concerns to Vanderbilt, Wood, Hayes, Vincent, and Reddish. All in all, a big day in Laker Land!

1. The win over the Kings was born of a solid mix of OK defense and timely shot-making. The Kings had no answer for AD in the paint as he put Sabonis in foul trouble and bullied his way to 36 points (11-13 from the free throw line) and along with Reaves applied the right pressure to Sacramento’s defense to complete the sweep. Reaves and AD have a nice chemistry on the floor and, in general, Austin has distinguished himself as a capable (though not elite) offense initiator.
2. Rui Hachimura should be considered as untouchable as Reaves. The dude just makes shots off the pass. He’s hitting 47.7% of his catch and shoot threes and he’s leading the Lakers in three point efficiency by a country mile at 45.2%. The next closest player is Dalton Knecht at 36.7%. Rui has become the ultimate release valve and is doing it while playing a variety of roles on defense. Small ball center? Rui’s got you covered. He’s averaging a steal/game for the first time in his career and if he upped his rebounding we’d really have something cooking at the 3 spot.
3. Dalton Knecht re-emerging from his slump. After a few games of virtually vanishing from the offense and seeing his playing time decrease Dalton rediscovered his shooting tough on Christmas and carried it over to the game last night. Dalton has a solid shot at winning ROY and needs to keep impacting winning like he has. He’s not afraid of banging on defense, he’s a decent rebounder and he cuts well off the ball to open up his inside game. We need all of those things on a more consistent basis.
4. The Trade. Nobody saw it coming, in fact I thought Memphis had locked up DFS yesterday as it sounded like it was a done deal. As always the NBA keeps one on their toes. The trade for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton was for DLO, Max Lewis and 3 second round draft picks. One has to imagine that Memphis balked at the inclusion of a FRP or was concerned that DFS would either not pick up his player option and walk or that he would and mess up some potential salary cap plans. Regardless the Lakers made the right move. Adding DFS and Milton helps two areas of need, especially with Vincent being out with an injury mid-game last night. DFS allows us to move one of Hachimura or Christie to the bench and augment our shooting and defense while doing it. My personal preference would be to move Max but I feel like Hachimura may end up the fall guy. However it goes this was a solid move by the front office if for no other reason than we made a move that helps preserve the cap space DLO would have cost us had he simply moved on as an UFA.
5. Speaking of DLO. I want to thank him for his contributions. Coming over as the centerpiece to the Westbrook deal after everything that went down when he was a Laker there were a lot of questions. I think he answered almost all of them, although not all to the liking of the fans. Gone was the immature kid posting Insta videos of his teammates without them knowing and instead we got a quality player on the floor and in the locker room. Helping us get to the western conference finals that season was an awesome journey for him to have taken. It’s unfortunate that Coach Reddick didn’t unlock DLO’s game as hoped for and it felt to me like Russell took a small step back this season and so hopefully he can showcase his talent in Brooklyn and get himself a solid contract this summer. D’Angelo Russell, thanks for everything.