Lakerholics

A Lakers Fan Community

Lakers

5 Things: Frizzle Fried

By 5 Comments

The Lakers are a team forever on, at a minimum, low heat. Even the dudes who wipe the sweat off the court are under a microscope when you’re a part of the Lakers organization. So the heat will only get hotter for this team as they come home after a fairly disastrous road trip. All but gone are the good vibes from the 3-0 start and replacing them are injury concerns and mediocre effort from guys we expect more out of. The Lakers trudge home 4-4, 10th in the west, and with a lot more questions than answers.

  1. Laker defense blows. At 28th in the NBA with a 118.8 defensive rating the only way to describe the Lakers defense is dreadful. That’s a whole 4 points worse than we finished last season under Coach Ham. With the same team one would expect at least some form of continuity on that end but that doesn’t seem to be the case. We’re not getting back, we played physically for all of 3 games, and then just started letting the other team get into the paint and bully us on the glass. Our defensive rebounding has taken a 3.7% step back, as well. Whatever the coaches are trying to do isn’t working and I don’t think a trade or Vando coming back is enough. The team needs to either fix the physicality issue or change it’s coverage schemes because the blueprint to beat us is pretty simple: play fast. We’re in the bottom five for most measurable defensive metrics. That’s just not anywhere near good enough.
  2. The offense looks solid through 8 games and I expect it to improve slightly in efficiency. This isn’t the area where the lakers are struggling. Our offense is currently the 8th best. Continuity on this end hasn’t been a huge problem, we’re scoring smart and we’re scoring well. We just can’t get a stop anymore. The only area that could stand to get cleaned up a little are the turnovers where we’re probably trying to force things too much or short cut the play in favor of a riskier cross court pass.
  3. Leave Knecht on the bench. I knew as soon as I saw Rui out this would pave the way for a poor decision: starting Dalton Knecht. The dude is playing pretty well off the bench and has a nice role he’s already carved out. Give him the time to get better at that and start a guy like Cam to infuse the starting lineup with the correct kind of juice. Cam played really well in his minutes and happens to be playing for his NBA life. He was a spark plug for us last season and Coach Reddick has been pining for one of those energy guys while simultaneously ignoring the one he has that’s healthy and ready to play.
  4. Enough with this 9 man rotation. Both the coaches and the players need more time. You’re not doing yourself a single favor by essentially benching 1/5th of your roster so you can play who you think are the 9 best. You’re 4-4 with no clear path back to consistently winning, the first month of the regular season is glorified training camp where the games matter, this is still an apropos time to be discovering combinations that work and a rotation doesn’t have to be set in November. It needs to have an idea of what it is by 2025, it needs to be comfortable with one another by January and if it’s not working it needs to be changed as best it can via trade in February. Lastly, there are 4…maybe 5…total players who deserve to be in a 9 man rotation. The rest are role players so use this time now to figure out which ones augment those intelligent 2 man pairings based off LeBron/Reaves and AD/DLO.
  5. Letting the wrong players leave. Under Rob Pelinka, and numerous coaches, we’ve let the wrong players leave the organization far too often. I’m not talking about how we draft, although prior to Knecht that, too, left a lot to be desired, but rather what we do with the players we actually have and why we choose to let some of them walk for no reason. Alex Caruso left so we could keep THT who has almost bottomed out of the league while Caruso plays a meaningful role in OKC. Instead of Scottie Pippen Jr. we somehow still have Maxwell Lewis on the roster and after watching Scottie dissect us on defense it’s hard for me to understand why. The kid just plays hard and plays right. What does Lewis even do well in the G League? This disturbing trend has resulted in a severe talent drain of affordable players that a team like the Lakers can’t afford to keep getting wrong.

Got another one tomorrow on my birthday. Which seems to always get ruined by an election or a bad Lakers game. The shitty election already happened so here’s hoping at least the Lakers win against the injury ravaged 76ers… Yay 50.

5 Things: 1st boxes checked

By 2 Comments

Lotta “First” boxes checked last night. Bronny James and his pop shared the floor to check his first game and the first time a father/son duo shared the floor together. Dalton Knecht netted his first bucket(s). Coach Reddick got his first win. The Lakers won their first game. Only first left un-checked was Bronny scoring his first bucket, as well. After all that hullaballoo it would have been easy to lose the game, like so many historic moment games have gone of late, but after going back to the tried and true formula for recent Laker wins we pulled out the W and started the season right.

  1. No answer for AD. This must be the new way forward. There can’t be any disappearing acts this season if AD wants the respect that has recently proved elusive, and for the Lakers to reach their goals this is the way Anthony Davis needs to play night in and night out. 11-23 from the floor, (1-3 from three point land) to go with 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and a steal. There are few defenders that can hang with Davis and when he asserts himself it’s an entirely different looking Lakers team. AD creates shots and space in a manner that goes against the modern NBA grain: from the inside out. By dominating inside Davis creates shots for his perimeter guys and cutters. If he can average 5+ assists per game along with everything else he will be in the MVP conversation and rightly so.
  2. The Glue Man. If AD is a force of nature, Austin Reaves is the bond that makes everything look smooth. His all around effort and performance helped make this a rebounding neutral game (one where, for a time, we were dominant on the glass (until the effort of the T’Wolves up ticked after halftime). Like most of the team his three ball proved elusive but it didn’t deter him from being aggressive on the glass and in getting into the heart of the defense to make plays or shots. Nothing, except maybe the rebounds, jumps off the stat sheet but if you watched the games you saw a player applying pressure on the defense, contesting shots and aggressively hunting the rebound. That’s what we need out of Austin Reaves on the daily.
  3. The Rui Hachimura Power Game. It feels like a cosmic event, only seen once every few weeks or even months. But so far during the NBA 2024-25 season the power game of Rui Hachimura has been used every single game. Last night it was on full display and here’s hoping it’s around to stay. Gone were the willowy step back fade aways. Instead we saw player seeking contact and going up through it using both speed and power to get closer to the basket. Even on his jump shots I thought he was better about going straight up and into the shot rather than drifting back or to one side or the other. This, like Reaves, is the version of the player we need to see the most consistently. If he plays like this and averages close to 20 ppg on decent efficiency he’ll be in line for a most improved player award.
  4. The “new” Laker identity. Again, t’was but one single game. Still, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Lakers won this game the way they won so many games the last 2 seasons regardless of the coach: power over style or volume. The Lakers interior game was stellar leading to a +32 point discrepancy in points in the paint. The free throw line battle was also a place we won, albeit by a single point, but the aggressiveness and pressure we apply by playing with force and attacking the basket is an advantage this team has that few do in the modern game. When the three ball was obviously not falling did we refuse to adapt and just keep chucking up bad shots? No, we pressed further into the defense and found guys around the rim and dominated the paint. Like we need to. As I’ve said, there is no correct answer to thew question of how many ______’s should we shoot? The number of any kind of shot attempts taken is inconsequential if winning is the objective. The answer will be different every night. What was heartening to see, for me anyhow, was that we didn’t try to re-forge an identity in one game. That we shot 5-30 from distance shows me that some guys aren’t consistent enough to make the three pointer the uber weapon some insist we must embrace beyond reason. That we pivoted away and went inside also showed me that both coach and player are adaptable and will seek to find what works beyond the outer politics of the game. As it should be.
  5. Rookie Watch 2025! They played. Knecht looked like he did in preseason: steady, albeit slow to react on defense. Bronny, too, in his whopping 3 minutes of game action in that he played hard if mostly ineffectually (nice offensive rebound though). Still, it was nice to get the side show over with and they can both move on to improving their games. In general I don’t see much of a role for Bronny that Reddish can’t do better and Knecht may ultimately lose minutes to Vando once he returns and if he can score ably enough. That’s OK, they’re both young and we can maybe slide Knecht into Max Christie’s minutes since he still looks a long way from ready for prime time. Either way, they’re both development projects, like Koloko will be should he ever get cleared, this season and my hope is they can slide into the roster slots and roles vacated next summer by Reddish and Wood. Knecht may prove to be further along than that but it’s early and he’s not going to get the minutes he can see down in the G League. A riddle for the staff to ponder, assuredly.

Lakers Could Be Defensive Juggernaut With Better Health & Head Coaching

By 5 Comments

There’s no question critical injuries and poor head coaching were major factors leading to the Lakers finishing last season with a mediocre team 114.8 defensive rating, which, ranked 17th out of 30 teams in the NBA.

Handicapped by a lack of open roster spots due to too many player options and a tough trade market due to the new CBA’s financial and tax apron challenges, the Lakers were not able to upgrade last season’s roster.
Other than drafting Dalton Knecht and Bronny James and signing Christian Koloko, the Lakers will essentially field the same roster as last season, which means any defensive improvement will have to come from within.

Could a healthy Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt. a savant rookie head coach JJ Redick, and a critical midseason move transform last year’s average Lakers’ defense into a legit top-five championship-caliber defense?
The reality is the Lakers desperately missed Vincent’s and Vanderbilt’s defense and greatly misjudged Darvin Ham’s defensive coaching acumen. It’s possible better health and head coaching could be Lakers’ silver lining.

The big question is can the offense-first JJ Redick fix the Lakers’ defense? Let’s take a closer look at the Lakers’ starting five and ideal 9-man rotation to see where JJ Redick could be looking to upgrade the Lakers’ defense.

STARTING LINEUP

Declaring D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis would be his starting lineup, JJ Redick smartly avoided Darvin Ham’s biggest coaching mistake the first half of Lakers’ last season.

Despite it having been the lineup the Lakers used to make the previous year’s conference finals, Darvin Ham inexplicably did not start this lineup until February 3rd, wasting more than half the season with lessor lineups.
Once the Lakers starting using this starting lineup, everything clicked and they actually finished out the season with a league 4th best 23–10 record including a 116.0 offensive rating, 110.5 defensive rating, and 5.5 net rating.

Putting the starting lineup’s numbers into perspective, the Lakers as a team finished last season with these middle-of-the-pack advanced stats: 115.4 offensive rating (#15), 114.8 defensive rating (#17), and 0.6 net rating (#19).
The Lakers’ new starting lineup’s 116.0 offensive rating was nothing to boast about but their impressive 110.5 defensive rating would have ranked 2nd in the league last season and their 5.5 net rating 4th in the league.

JJ Redick is a strong believer and proponent of analytics and what the advanced stats from last season’s stretch run tell us is that the strength of the Lakers’ new starting lineup is actually their defense, not their offense.
In fact, the advanced stat the Lakers’ new starting lineup needs to improve is their run-of-the-mill 116.0 offensive rating, which was only slightly better than the team’s 19th ranked 115.4 offensive rating for last regular season.

While the pundits assume a Lakers starting backcourt with Russell and Reaves cannot be championship caliber defensively, the advanced stats seem to tell a different story with defense, not offense, being the key.

BENCH ROTATION

Assuming the Lakers’ new starting lineup can produce a similar or better defensive rating than what they did down the stretch last season, the key to creating a top-five team defense will come down to four bench players.

While not locked in stone, Redick says he wants to play a 9-man rotation, which means he will need to find four bench players who can maintain the offensive and defensive productivity of the starters when in the lineup.
The two obvious candidates to be bench members of the Lakers’ 9-man rotation for the regular season are point guard Gabe Vincent and power forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who were both injured most of last season.

Shooting guard Max Christie, whom the Lakers re-signed this offseason, and young center Jaxson Hayes, who opted into his player option, are early favorites to become the other two bench members of the 9-man rotation.
Three other players who could get an opportunity to win a rotation spot include rookie small forward Dalton Knecht, veteran power forward Christian Wood, and two-way shot blocking center Christian Koloko.

The Lakers’ two biggest defensive weakness last season were bench backcourt defense and rim protection. Redick will be counting greatly on Vincent and Christie to improve on Russell and Reaves defensively.
The Lakers’ biggest challenge is protecting the rim and anchoring the defense when Anthony Davis rests. LA’s best option may be Christian Koloko, who could be the elite shot blocker off the bench they need.

A defense-first bench rotation of Gabe Vincent, Max Christie, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Christian Koloko could be how the Lakers become a defensive juggernaut and maintain a top-five team defensive rating.

COACHING CHOPS

While the Lakers’ starting lineup and potential 9-man rotation have the potential to be better than the #17-rated defense in the league, making the giant leap to a top-five championship defense will depend on JJ Redick.

One of the new core principles the Lakers finally embraced this offseason was that coaching matters, that it’s the key to establishing and building a championship caliber team identity and vision for winning in today’s NBA.
Their pursuit of Dan Hurley and their eventual hiring of JJ Redick clearly showed that Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka are serious about changing how the team has operated to better adapt to the realities of the league today.

Most pundits expect Redick’s initial impact to be on the offensive side, where the Lakers need to modernize and embrace the 3-point shot but the analytics are there that this team has like great potential defensively.
Frankly, if Redick can get his new starting lineup to post a 110.0 defensive rating for the full season, L.A. should have a realistic shot at being a top-five defensive team in the league. They could be dramatically better.

The Lakers still need an elite point-of-attack perimeter defensive guard and bigger athletic back-up center who can guard bigger fives and protect the rim when AD rests. Those may be their targets before the trade deadline.
But until mid-December, when players who were traded or re-signed this offseason will be eligible to be traded, JJ will have to find a way to turn the Lakers from an average defensive team to a top-five defensive juggernaut.

Better health and head coaching could be the silver lining that empowers the Lakers to dramatically upgrade their team defense from a middle-of-the-pack defensive ranking last season to a top-five ranking this season.

NBA Observations- Big Money Spent For The Clippers And Heat, Are The Lakers Next?

By 1 Comment

The guys from the Lakers Fast Break return for some NBA Observation as they share thoughts on the recent big-money extensions for Miami coach Erik Spoelstra and the Clipper’s Kawhi Leonard. Does this mean the Lakers will be opening up their wallet a little more as well? Plus after Toronto Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic’s huge rant after the Lakers game because of the fourth-quarter free throw disparity, we ponder if Darvin Ham will ever show that kind of energy if he remains as the guys on the sidelines for LA. We’re back talking some big $$$, and wondering if the Lakers are ready to go on a spending spree? Find out our thoughts on the latest Lakers Fast Break podcast!

Don’t forget to watch the Lakers games with us LIVE at playback.tv/lakersfastbreak and our newest Lakers Fast Break merchandise site is now up at ⁠https://tinyurl.com/39yb4ta3⁠, check it out!

Please Like, Share, and Subscribe to our channel and our social media @lakersfastbreak on Twitter.

If you have questions, give us a shout-out on Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Kick, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook, or send us your thoughts to lakersfastbreak@yahoo.com or become a supporter of the Lakers Fast Break today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://anchor.fm/lakers-fast-break⁠

The views and opinions expressed on the Lakers Fast Break are those of the panelists or guests themselves and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Lakers Fast Break or its owners. Any content or thoughts provided by our panelists or guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, anyone, or anything.

Presented by our friends at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lakerholics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lakersball.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pop Culture Cosmos⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Inside Sports Fantasy Football⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Vampires and Vitae⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SynBlades.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube’s John Mikaelian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the novel Congratulations, You Suck (available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble), ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Happy Hoarder⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, EmpireJeffTV, Larry Lakers Dribbling Chat Chat, Lakers Corner, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Retro City Games!

Lakers-Raptors Postgame! Anthony Davis Powers The Lakers To A Close Victory Over Toronto!

By Leave a Comment

With the Lakers looking to get back to .500, they matched up Tuesday night at the Crypt against the Toronto Raptors. And in a high-scoring back-and-forth second half, it was the Lakers in the fourth quarter feeding Anthony Davis (41 points) just enough to squeeze out the victory over the Raptors 132-131. Tune in as the guys from the Lakers Fast Break, along with John Costa from Lakers Corner, share their thoughts on why going to AD was the smart move, who could have played more that might have made the victory easier, and why the Toronto coach was so upset after the game. It’s too much AD for the Raptors and we’re here to tell you why on the latest Lakers Fast Break podcast!

Don’t forget to watch the Lakers games with us LIVE at playback.tv/lakersfastbreak and our newest Lakers Fast Break merchandise site is now up at ⁠https://tinyurl.com/39yb4ta3⁠, check it out!

Please Like, Share, and Subscribe to our channel and our social media @lakersfastbreak on Twitter.

If you have questions, give us a shout-out on Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Kick, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook, or send us your thoughts to lakersfastbreak@yahoo.com or become a supporter of the Lakers Fast Break today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://anchor.fm/lakers-fast-break⁠

The views and opinions expressed on the Lakers Fast Break are those of the panelists or guests themselves and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Lakers Fast Break or its owners. Any content or thoughts provided by our panelists or guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, anyone, or anything.

Presented by our friends at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lakerholics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lakersball.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pop Culture Cosmos⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Inside Sports Fantasy Football⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Vampires and Vitae⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SynBlades.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube’s John Mikaelian⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the novel Congratulations, You Suck (available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble), ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Happy Hoarder⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, EmpireJeffTV, Larry Lakers Dribbling Chat Chat, Lakers Corner, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Retro City Games!