LakerTom from lakerholics.com wraps up the recent scrimmage with the Lakers as he and Gerald break down the positives (and negatives) from the team’s win against the Magic on Saturday. The guys discuss some of the great performances and who might still be shaking off the rust as the team gets closer to the end of the regular season and into the playoffs.
LeBron James
Lakers Fast Break – Lakers/Mavericks Scrimmage Post-Game Show with LT!
LakerTom from lakerholics.com stops by to talk with Gerald about the good and bad with the Lakers’ first scrimmage against the Dallas Mavericks. They go over what went right for the team in the first half, and what needs to be worked on in practice before the season resumes.
Plus the guys break down the performances of many of the Laker players and what can be built upon moving forward on this post-game recap here on the Lakers Fast Break podcast! Check out all our episodes at https://anchor.fm/lakers-fast-break or on the Lakers Fast Break channel wherever you get your podcasts!
5 Things from Lakers and Mavs First Scrimmage After Four Month Hiatus
Looks like this is happening. OK, well then, let’s do this.
1) The game 1.0. Smooth first half saw both teams scoring to type, not too many beats being missed. Starting five? As expected, James, Davis, McGee, Green and Caldwell-Pope. First rotation got pretty much starter minutes. Kuzma was the first man off the bench, Cook was second after KCP took a quick trip to the locker room to get a rolled ankle re-taped. Waiters came in and made it happen. LeBron and Davis were solid, second unit was ready to do their job, and our defense was pretty locked in. For a preseason game our starters and rotations looked solid even with news that Caruso was out earlier today.
2) No AD or LBJ or Danny Green for the second half. Was nice to get extended looks at some guys, nobody really flipped their script. Kuz was still Kuz. Dudley is a savvy vet. Quinn Cook looked good. Dwight will be Dwight and looked good. J.R. Smith looks pretty. Waiters cooled but I like what he brings. All and all, more of an outlier than a predictor. The guys on the court for the second half won’t really ever be asked to do play the roles they were in.
3) The COVID-19 thing. Masks on most of the staff and masks on pretty much all the folks in attendance. Refs and players, even on the bench, were not masked. Very spaced out bench, as well. Plexiglass in front of pretty much every seat on the side line except the benches.
4) The broadcast was interesting. Black Lives Matter across the middle of the court, prominently displayed. Didn’t see any message jerseys but it was only a scrimmage. On Spectrum Sports Net they deployed the entire pregame team at times to do it’s game calling. Came off as more conversational which I enjoyed for the scrimmage. No camera guys on the baseline must be nice for the players. Less to worry about falling on or tripping over. Loved the mood lighting.
5) Nobody got seriously hurt. It’s a scrimmage, this team has bigger fish to fry. The things that need to look good looked good. The second half will never happen when the games matter unless it’s a blow out. Move on, the big guns will ramp it up every game.
What Should Lakers’ Fans Expect in the Scrimmages and Seeding Games?
After a three and a half month hiatus, the Los Angeles Lakers will return to the hardwood in a pre-playoff tuneup consisting of three scrimmages and eight regular season seeding games at a neutral site in the Orlando bubble.
Having essentially clinched top seed in the Western Conference and facing an unprecedented season restart plus the unexpected loss of their starting and backup point guards, what should Lakers fans expect from their team? That’s the question we’re going to try to answer as Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers get ready for tomorrow afternoon’s 4:00 pm PST first scrimmage against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.
A couple of early concerns have already been answered. First, the bubble seems to be working to keep the players safe from Covid-19 as the league announced yesterday all 346 NBA players in Orlando tested negative. Second, the league may have solved the challenge of broadcasting games without fans by smartly surrounding the court with video screens and banners and piping in NBA2K crowd noise to simulate game conditions.
After watching the first two scrimmages on NBA TV this afternoon, I’m confident the league is going to pull this off. I was surprised how easy it was to forget there were no fans in the seats and just enjoy watching the games. The players already are adjusting to life in the bubble and appear eager and ready to get back to playing the game they love. With that in mind, here’s what Lakers fans should expect in the upcoming scrimmages and games:
1. KCP will start for Avery Bradley.
With Avery Bradley opting not to join the team in Orlando due to family concerns, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will start at point guard for the Lakers, who went 17–3 earlier in the year when he replaced an injured Bradley. While KCP’s not as pesky a defender as Avery, he still plays quality defense and could potentially give LeBron James and Anthony Davis better spacing to attack the rim since he’s the team’s best 3-point shooter at 39.4%,
2. Waiters will come off bench for Rondo.
While the Lakers view the loss of Rajon Rondo for 6 to 8 weeks as a setback, the silver lining is it opens the door for newcomer Dion Waiters to earn a role and playing time as the team’s primary playmaker when LeBron rests. While Waiters is not a true point guard, his elite mix of shotmaking and playmaking could be exactly what the Lakers’ second unit needs and his 38.2% 3-point shooting the last two years is far better than Rondo’s 34.4%.
3. Load Management for LeBron and AD.
With the top seed in the West all but locked up, the Lakers will embrace load management and limit playing time for LeBron James and Anthony Davis to avoid injury and keep them fresh and healthy for the playoffs. Frank Vogel’s already said LeBron and AD won’t play in all the scrimmages and soon as they get their coordination, timing, and game conditioning back and the Lakers clinch the West, he may shut them down entirely.
4. Kuzma will be part of closing lineup.
Kyle Kuzma is finally fully healthy, has had three and a half months to get his head straight and work on his game, and understands how he plays the rest of this season and the playoffs will impact his future in the league. Word is Kuz has been one of the early standouts for the Lakers in Orlando, even dominating at times according to coach Vogel. It makes sense for the Lakers to find out if he can live up to the challenge of being a game closer.
5. Anthony Davis will play more center.
While Frank Vogel has said the Lakers will continue to rely on their regular season center tandem of JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard, the reality is matchups will require Anthony Davis to play more center in the playoffs. Preparing for AD at the five demands the Lakers figure out who’s going to be playing with him in those lineups. We’ll probably see the Lakers test different lineups with Kuzma or Morris at the four and AD the five.
6. Talen, Devontae, and Kostas will play.
While KCP and Waiters should be capable replacements for Bradley and Rondo, the loss of the latter hurt the Lakers depth so it makes sense that they give Horton-Tucker, Cacok, and Antetokounmpo get a chance to play. THT especially could see legitimate playing time in the scrimmages and seeding games since the Lakers have lost two key rotation guards while Devontae and Kostas could give the team needed front court reserves.
As much as Lakers fans are eager to see their team play, they need to realize it doesn’t matter who wins the 3 scrimmages and 8 seeding games. They’re simply pre-season games for what in the end is really a second NBA season. Without home court advantage, even finishing as the #1 seed in the West offers no advantage so the Lakers’ goal is to figure out who replaces Bradley and Rondo and make sure nobody gets injured after the long layoff.
While it will be fun watching the Lakers take on the Clippers on July 30th, the real games and drama won’t start until August 18th when the Lakers take on the team that wins the 8th spot in the Western Conference playoffs. So kick back, chillax, and whet your appetite for the real deal by watching 3 meaningless scrimmages and 8 semi-meaningless regular season seeding games because you still have almost a full month until the season begins.
Eager Lakers Fans Flocking to Waiters Island as NBA Resumes 2020 Season!
He’s only played 14 minutes this season, was suspended for getting high on a cannabis gummy bear, and then waived by the Miami Heat but that hasn’t stopped eager Lakers fans from jumping aboard the ferry for Waiters Island.
In the midst of a tumultuous season like we’ve never seen before, why not buy a ticket to Waiters Island? Who could blame Lakers fans after they had the rug pulled out from beneath them just as their team had started rolling. Like Donald Trump, it’s hard for Lakers fans not to think of what might have been had the coronavirus pandemic not turned the world upside down and irrecoverably changed the competitive landscape they must now face.
Instead of just defeating their top two competitors and catapulting to the top of the league’s power rankings, the Lakers must now go on the road and endure an unprecedented season restart and playoffs in a Covid-19 bubble. The home court advantage they won, the momentum they created, and the starting and backup point guards they had have been lost, forcing them to regroup after months off to try to regain their lost chemistry and edge.
So why not take a flyer and embrace the mercurial 28-year old Waiters? The risk of buying a ticket to Waiters Island is at an all-time low but the winning prize could be a jackpot because the talent and potential are undeniable. With Avery Bradley and Rajon Rondo out, Waiters has suddenly found himself in possession of the perfect opportunity to redeem what has been a roller coaster NBA career that appeared to be descending in total freefall.
A natural born scorer who plays with “toughness and swag” and has the ball skills to get his own shot or get the ball to an open shooter off the bounce, Dion’s exactly what the Lakers’ offense needs when LeBron’s on the bench. Drafted fourth by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2012, there’s no question about Waiters’ talent and potential. The issue’s always been controlling his brash immaturity and self absorbed personality and fitting on a team.
Much like new teammate Dwight Howard, the Lakers may be Waiters’ last chance to redeem his dizzying and careening NBA career. To succeed, Dion will have to rewrite the history of his playing relationship with LeBron. Hopefully, he’ll take a page out of Dwight’s book and focus on embracing the role the Lakers need him to play rather than reverting back to old habits and being the temperamental gunner who only cares about his own stats.
The disappointing experience in Miami plus the Lakers’ unified front office, coaching, and superstar leadership and strong team chemistry should give Waiters an opportunity to help the team now and carve out a future role. Dion’s been saying the right things, accepting responsibility for the mistakes in Miami, taking advantage of the opportunity with the Lakers by shining in practice, and promising his fans that Waiters Island soon “will be back.”