**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins

Trading THT is the only shakeup of this team we can make at this point.

There will be no firing Vogel or trading Russ. Just gotta wait and see what we can do once everybody is back.
 
tay1 said:
Trading THT is the only shakeup of this team we can make at this point.

There will be no firing Vogel or trading Russ. Just gotta wait and see what we can do once everybody is back.
Click to expand...
Only problem is that THT value is incredibly low depending on who you believe. They are talking trade targets for him being guys like Terrance Ross…vets who would otherwise be on vet min
 
Delusionallakerfan said:
Only problem is that THT value is incredibly low depending on who you believe. They are talking trade targets for him being guys like Terrance Ross…vets who would otherwise be on vet min
Click to expand...
We will most likely give too much for an average/decent return. First round pick or two and THT.
 
This seasons a wash.

I blame rob.

Not sure what he was thinking when he thought 32yo bazemore, 33 yo DJ, 34 yo wayne ellington, 37 yo melo and 36 yo ariza were going to play sell out defense everynight like we did in 2020.
 
We need Dame to demand a trade and we can swap Russ with Dame, fire Vogel and hire Dame's old coach, that'll fix everything. :smokin
 
SORIANOTRON said:
This seasons a wash.

I blame rob.

Not sure what he was thinking when he thought 32yo bazemore, 33 yo DJ, 34 yo wayne ellington, 37 yo melo and 36 yo ariza were going to play sell out defense everynight like we did in 2020.
Click to expand...

Add old *** Rondo to that list. Seriously, what were they thinking?
 
CP1708 said:
We need Dame to demand a trade and we can swap Russ with Dame, fire Vogel and hire Dame's old coach, that'll fix everything. :smokin
Click to expand...
Expected (and nonetheless easy) mockery of the combined solutions of others aside, what's your solution?

-foe
 
darthska said:
Expected (and nonetheless easy) mockery of the combined solutions of others aside, what's your solution?

-foe
Click to expand...

There isn't one. Best case is sell parts to get 1-2 pieces around the edges. Like Grant from Det.

Then pray for perfect health and hope they go nuclear.

There is no quick easy fix. (Unless Dame really does demand us.)
 
Throwing gasoline on an already growing fire was just a supremely dumb move. I'm hoping Russ goes outside of his character in his response to last night's events, but I don't have any faith of him doing so.
 
tupac003 said:
I hate plus minus.....so many variables that aren't factored in that stat.
Click to expand...

Case in point



They just gotta play with more effort AND the coach needs to put them in better positions to succeed. There's been too many comments from and articles written about players not knowing what roles they're supposed to be on a nightly basis.
 
Keep monk
Keep AR
Keep Johnson
Keep THT (asset)
Keep dwight

Everyone else can go

Who’s going to be free agents this summer? 👀
 
www.espn.com

Five things the Lakers need to do to live up to LeBron's promise

LeBron tweeted that the Lakers would be better. Here's how they can actually do it -- without changing coaches.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Five things the Los Angeles Lakers need to do to live up to LeBron James' promise​


5:00 AM PT
  • i

    Kirk Goldsberry

We are past the halfway point of the NBA's regular season, and the Los Angeles Lakers still look more like a play-in team than a championship contender. Following a brutal 133-96 loss at Denver on Saturday night, LeBron James tweeted to Laker Nation an apology and a vow to improve.


James and the Lakers delivered on that promise immediately, beating the Utah Jazz 101-95 on Monday to pick up their best win of the season. That win gave Lakers fans a glimpse of how this team can live up to James' promise for the remainder of the season, but it was quickly followed by another bad loss, and the fourth-quarter benching of Russell Westbrook, against the Indiana Pacers.
The Lakers are at a fork in the road. Either they will struggle the rest of the year and cement the notion that this roster was broken from the jump, or they will use the big Utah win and the imminent return of Anthony Davis to flip the switch and prove the haters wrong.
If they can keep up the level of play they demonstrated Monday, the Lakers could make noise in the postseason. If they revert to the team that got blown out in Denver and lost at home versus a struggling Indiana team, they might not even make the playoffs. It's that simple.
So what do the Lakers need to focus on to have a shot, even a distant one, at hanging banner No. 18? It comes down to five areas of improvement, the first of which is by far the easiest.


Get Anthony Davis back​

Many of the team's current woes are simply due to the absence of Davis, who has missed the past 15 games because of a sprained MCL in his left knee. Absences have been a recurring theme over Davis' career; he's never played more than 75 games in a season and has played 60-plus just once in the past four seasons. Counting on Davis to remain healthy for an entire year isn't something a team can plan on. Still, the Lakers can plan on Davis being back at some point, possibly as soon as next week, and his return should help.

​

Not only is the 28 year-old big man this team's most important defender -- he leads the Lakers in rebounding and blocked shots -- he's also its second-leading scorer. However, that 23.3 points-per-game average masks the fact that even when available, Davis hasn't been the same player he was during the Lakers' championship run in the bubble.
So far this year, 161 players have tried at least 150 jump shots. Among that group, Davis ranks dead last in shooting efficiency with a ghastly effective field goal percentage of just 35.8%. Lineups that feature both him and Westbrook will entice opponents to just pack the paint and dare both players to shoot the exact kinds of shots that result in more failed possessions for the Lakers.
In an era increasingly obsessed with jump-shooting efficiency and perimeter firepower, two of the Lakers' Big Three simply don't check that box. When they share the floor, it's hard to imagine this team ever posting healthy offensive markers, especially from the perimeter.
Still, there's no question the Lakers need Davis back in the lineup. Since he went down in December, Los Angeles is 6-7. Monday's win over the Jazz was the only one of those six against a team that is currently above .500. The Lakers have suffered some concerning losses in that stretch, including the embarrassing blowout in Denver on Saturday. That 37-point drubbing stands as the second-worst margin of defeat in James' remarkable 19-year career, but it also epitomizes the key issue with the Lakers right now: Without Davis, this team can't reliably stop anyone.
That brings us to the second big thing.

Fix the defense​

When they won it all in the Florida bubble, the Lakers were a defensive juggernaut. That season, they had the best defense in the Western Conference and the third-best defensive rating in the NBA. This year, the purple and gold's defense ranks 11th in the West and 20th overall.
Since Davis got hurt, the Lakers have been a defensive laughingstock, ranking 26th in the NBA in that span (they were ninth before Davis got hurt).

​

Before Monday's win in Utah, the Lakers had given up at least 100 points in 15 consecutive games, and they had allowed at least 115 eight times in that span.
But after Magic Johnson's tweet questioning the team's effort, and James' vow to improve, the Lakers went out and had their most important defensive performance of the year, holding Utah, which has the league's best offense, to 95 points on just 31 made shots.

That was just one game, but it was also the exact kind of night a Frank Vogel defense has become known for -- and the Lakers did it without their best defender in the lineup.
The Brow's imminent return should boost this defense right away, but it won't fix everything, especially considering this team has the hardest remaining schedule in the West.
If the Lakers want to keep James' promise to improve, they must regain their defensive form between February and April.

Fix the offense​

When the Lakers won it all two years ago, they ranked 11th in the league in offensive efficiency. This year they rank 24th. They are scoring slower than teams such as the Spurs, Pacers and Kings, teams that seem more interested in pingpong balls than playoff seeding.

One reason this Lakers team is struggling to score is that it wastes possessions. It ranks 25th in the league by turning the ball over 14.8 times per game (which then contributes to the defensive problems mentioned above, as teams are scoring 14.0 fast-break points per game against the Lakers).
Another issue is simply movement. This is arguably the most stagnant offense in the league. According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Lakers rank last in miles traveled per game, time spent walking or standing still and average speed on half-court sets this season.

Lakers' half-court offense this season​

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TH][/TH]

[TH][/TH]

[TH]NBA Rank[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Avg. speed[/TD]
[TD]3.78 mph[/TD]
[TD]Slowest[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Pct. time walking[/TD]
[TD]74.2%[/TD]
[TD]Lowest[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Miles traveled PG[/TD]
[TD]15.2[/TD]
[TD]Fewest[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

None of that is too surprising given the Lakers' status as the oldest team in the NBA. After trading for Westbrook, Los Angeles went all-in on vets, filling the roster with aging players such as Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Avery Bradley and Wayne Ellington.

However, in Monday's big win over the Jazz, it was the team's young guns who got the job done off the bench. The quartet of Stanley Johnson, Malik Monk, Austin Reaves and Talen Horton-Tucker each came off of the bench and combined to score 44 of the Lakers' 101 points in that win. Going forward, if this core young group can provide the Lakers with youthful energy and reliable bench scoring like that, the offense will get much better in the second half.

Calibrate the Russell Westbrook machine​

Westbrook's ferocious dunk on Rudy Gobert on Monday night seemed like it could be the turning point in what has been a disappointing season for him so far, but he followed it up by being benched for the final four minutes of Wednesday's loss.

That single play against Utah captures the greatness of Westbrook at his best. He can be an elite rim attacker who collapses defenses before either scoring at the rim or finding an open teammate with a timely pass. He can also be a bad jump shooter with an itchy trigger finger and a penchant for turnovers.

Thanks to injuries, Westbrook has taken more shots than any other member of this Lakers team, but the results have not been good. His 18.6 PPG average would be his lowest since 2009-10. Of the 58 players who have attempted at least 500 shots this season, Westbrook ranks 54th in shooting efficiency with an eFG% of just 46.8. The NBA average is 52.3.
That's a familiar refrain for Westbrook, who continues to stubbornly rely on a jump shot that doesn't connect often enough. This season, 61 players have taken 300 or more jumpers; Westbrook ranks 57th in efficiency among them, averaging just 0.88 points per jump shot. The NBA average is 1.01.

Westbrook also continues to turn the ball over too often, leading the league in that category, something he's done four times previously in his career. However, since saying, "I can turn the ball over, too. I can do that," after a nine-turnover game against the Timberwolves, Westbrook has in fact not been turning the ball over. He has a grand total of seven turnovers in his past seven games, including three games where he didn't turn the ball over once.

If Westbrook can keep that up, the Lakers' offense will get better. He can also contribute to an offensive improvement by playing like he did when he won Western Conference Player of the Month in February 2020 in Houston. He scored 35 points per game on 54.9% shooting that month -- in part by accentuating his all-world rim-attacking skills and tampering down those ill-advised jumpers.

As Gobert learned the hard way Monday night, Westbrook can be strong in the paint. In his last year in Houston, he ranked third in the league by averaging 15.0 points per game in the paint (converting 55.8% of his paint shots) -- only Zion Williamson and Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged more. But this season, Westbrook ranks 30th in the league at 9.5 points per game in the paint (converting 51.3% of his paint shots).

The Lakers need to unpack the best version of Westbrook in the second half, and that starts with his shot selection.

One key issue here is that the trio of James, Davis and Westbrook all love to score in the paint. Each of them ranks among the top six most prolific paint scorers in the NBA over the past five-plus seasons. The problem with this Big Three isn't that there's only one basketball -- it's that there's only one paint.

Back when Westbrook put up those numbers in February 2020, he did so in Mike D'Antoni's spacey small-ball offensive system, which opened up driving lanes for him to attack every trip down the floor. With key rotation players such as Howard and Davis, these Lakers don't do that.

Regardless, finding a better version of Westbrook the scorer is a huge piece of this puzzle. Whether that means staggering his minutes or, gulp, yes, asking him to come off the bench to run the floor with his young teammates, the bottom line is he needs to be more efficient if the Lakers' offense is going to improve in the second half.

Get comfortable with each other​

We're more than halfway through the 2021-22 season, and it's safe to say the players on this Lakers team still barely know each other. Their most-used five-man lineup is James, Westbrook, Bradley, Johnson and Monk. That group has shared the court for just 68 minutes -- every other team in the NBA has had at least one lineup play a minimum 100 minutes together this season. Johnson wasn't even on the roster until Christmas Eve, and he was only signed because of a COVID-19 outbreak that sidelined four different Lakers guards.

The Lakers have already used 21 different starting lineups, and they've had James, Davis and Westbrook together for just 15 games so far, in which they are a ho-hum 8-7.

Championship teams find ways to become greater than the sum of their individual parts, but that process takes time and reps. This squad hasn't had the kind of continuity required to coalesce as a group. The Lakers must find a way to do so in the second half if they want to compete with the Suns, Warriors and Grizzlies -- teams that have forged solid brands already this season.

Stylistically, it's still unclear how this team will play basketball. Much of that starts in the frontcourt. Who is this team's starting center? Is it James or Davis or Howard?
James has seemingly done it all in his career, but becoming a small-ball center has opened up the offense and helped solve some of this team's biggest offensive woes.
We've already seen glimpses of it, but without Davis, the James-at-center lineups have been a wreck defensively. When The Brow returns, a Davis-James combo in the frontcourt along with a trio of floor-spacers could represent the scariest iteration of this offense while also being able to get stops and rebounds on defense.

But those kinds of lineups marginalize Howard, who has been a solid player this season. With Howard on the floor this year, the Lakers have managed some of their most efficient numbers, especially when compared to Davis, so further diminishing his role might not be the solution here.

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TH][/TH]

[TH]Howard[/TH]
[TH]Davis[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total minutes played[/TD]
[TD]527[/TD]
[TD]955[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lakers net rating[/TD]
[TD]+1.1[/TD]
[TD]-2.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Offensive rating[/TD]
[TD]111.2[/TD]
[TD]105.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Defensive rating[/TD]
[TD]110.1[/TD]
[TD]108.0[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

If there's one stat that should give Lakers fans hope, it's this: LeBron James has made nine of the past 11 NBA Finals. However, both of those missed Finals have come in the past three seasons. If he wants to make his 11th trip to the championship series this season, he has to keep that promise to the fans -- he and this team must improve in the second half.

tl;dr get healthy, get stability, better systems
 
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+/- iss a stat you use in conjunction with eye test.

Player a plays like ****. If his +/- sucks, it’s probably accurate.

Player b ends with 7/2/3 but plays hard and makes smart plays. If his +\- is positive, it’s probably real.

Russ is frequently 4/17 with 5 turnovers. Why is it a surprise that his +\- sucks.
 
We have fixable issues. Need AD back and some time to get some games in with everyone. I have a hard time believing Nunn & AD's addition will make this team worse.
 
Delusionallakerfan said:
+/- iss a stat you use in conjunction with eye test.

Player a plays like ****. If his +/- sucks, it’s probably accurate.

Player b ends with 7/2/3 but plays hard and makes smart plays. If his +\- is positive, it’s probably real.

Russ is frequently 4/17 with 5 turnovers. Why is it a surprise that his +\- sucks.
Click to expand...

Bron was -20 last night, did that look right?
 
Didn't realize Russ only played 27 minutes. That's a sign of Frank coming to grips on the matter. Next step is to limit his and Bron's minutes together. Have bruh lead the second unit.
 
Bron has a plus minus of -12 on the season right now
AD has a plus minus of -48 on the season
Russ has a plus minus of -80 on the season

Monk has a plus minus of +111
Reaves has a plus minus of +98

Let's bench the Big 3 and just play the bench guys
 
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