Lakers Report -- 2/25/2012
It’s been a while since my last entry, when the Lakers won a game against the Mavericks that they had absolutely no business winning. A few days ago, the Lakers tried to lose a game against the Mavs that they had in the bag, by missing 6 straight free throws in the final minute or so in Dallas to turn a comfortable win into another nail biter. They followed that impressive win (despite the lackluster finale) with a stinker at Oklahoma City where they had absolutely no shot of winning, no matter how close the score was in the first half. Their road record of 6-12 leaves a lot to be desired, but they have only lost two games at home, so their 20-14 record puts them right in the middle of the highly competitive Western Conference playoff race. They have a few teams nipping at their heels in the standings, so they will have to maintain their winning percentage to stay out of the final two spots. At the all-star break right now, there are ten teams with a winning percentage of .500 or better, and the tenth best team-the Timberwolves, of all teams- are only 3 games behind the 5th place Lakers, so there is a lot to worry about. If they fall to the bottom of the ladder, they will have to play Oklahoma City or San Antonio where they probably have little to no shot, and even if they fall to number 6, they probably don’t want to play against the hometown rival Clippers in the first round either because they have already shown that their young, athletic style can overpower and outrun the old, often stagnant Lakers team.If they can't get a point guard who will help, then the other position they need vast improvement with is the small forward spot. There are rumors about multiple players filling both needs being available, and the trade deadline is coming fast. The way I see it, they need to make a trade soon for a point guard (not necessarily trading away Gasol) who can actually dish out some assists and provide speed to the team, since they have no one to fill that role right now, or else they face the possibility of not even making the playoffs. Not only that, but if they don’t make a trade, their preseason trade of Lamar Odom will prove to be completely worthless since the trade exception they received in exchange will mean absolutely nothing. As of right now that trade looks worse and worse everyday, as their bench falls productivity falls further and further into obscurity.
The Lakers have a few problems, but probably the most glaring obstacle is the worst scoring bench in the league, and if not for the emerging guard Andrew Goudelock and the return of Steve Blake, they would barely score a point off the bench at all. Matt Barnes provides some energy and quickness off the bench, when he comes in to replace the offensively challenged (putting it nicely) Metta World Peace, and Troy Murphy scores a handful of points but is a defensive liability who is immediately targeted by the opposition every time he comes into the game. Goudelock has been impressive with his ability to make shots, as well as his aggressiveness, which has resulted in Kobe Bryant to nickname him the “Mini Mamba” (miniature version of Kobe) because Goudelock is willing to take and make shots to help the offense out. His running tear-drop-like, floating shot has become his trademark. It seems like he can make it from several different angles and distances as he dribbles into the painted area, and he can loft it up over all the taller players to fall through on a very consistent basis, and he has also been a welcomed source of 3-pointers, but he probably takes too many ill-advised shots as he is definitely more of a shot-first guard even though he is technically playing point guard. The only person I see him play well with in the two-man passing game is Troy Murphy, probably from their practice time with the 2nd team, so that ball hog tendency is probably another reason why Kobe sees himself in Goudelock.
Quite frankly, one player like Kobe Bryant is enough, since the ball just sticks in his hands for 15 seconds on seemingly every slow possession. I am (and I'm sure I'm not alone here) so sick of watching him demand the ball above the 3-point line, then stand there for 10 seconds with the ball in his hand, before he dribbles and shows off for 5 more seconds, then holds the ball even when they double team, so that he can loft up a fade away, one- legged, ridiculously difficult, deep shot just because he thinks he can make everything. Those tend to result in a long rebound and fast break for the other team, and in most cases Kobe stops to complain to the ref about a non-existent foul instead of running down to play defense. It’s so irritating I can’t stand it sometimes, and then there are the times where he does try to pass the ball and jumps up to throw the ball around the double-teaming opposition, and fires it away for a turnover (and another potential fast break for the opposition). He had 10 turnovers (the most by anyone this season) about a week ago, and about 8 or so against the OKC Thunder, which is beyond disgusting. When the opposition double-teams you, it means that there is at least one player open, if you pass it right away, but he holds it and tries to dribble around or through the double team, and if he doesn’t turn it over then, he tries to jump pass when he is surrounded which often forces a turnover if he passes it at all. Usually he just holds the ball, and fires it up towards the basket because he believes that if he makes one shot, he can make them all. He has taken over 150 more shots than anyone else in the league, but the number of unnecessary low-percentage shots are beyond compare. I’ve seen where he will hold the ball about 7 feet behind the 3-point line for like 5 seconds, and instead of passing to anyone who would automatically be closer to the basket than him, he just fires up a brick to beat the shot clock to completely waste a possession, and he continues to do it! Not only that, but he constantly complains and bitches to the refs on just about every single play, by swinging his arms and acting like an ass when he constantly complains, often receiving technical fouls that hurt his team, and, oh by the way, don’t exactly encourage the refs to help you out in the future. He takes things way too personally when an oppositions player starts scoring a lot, so he tries to match it by shooting the ball on every possession, and I truly believe that he thinks about his scoring title more than wins during some games. Some experts will dispute it, but I think he wants to prove that he can still score more than anyone in the game just to prove himself (at his age, etc), even if he ends up taking 300 more shots than the next closest player to get those points. The irony of all ironies is that Kobe actually leads the team in assists, but that is probably more of an indictment on their point guards than anything else (as well as the fact that he has the ball in his hands more than anyone else on any other team).
Obviously Kobe doesn’t trust his teammates (not the first time that has happened) and sometimes you can’t blame him, since many of them aren’t the most aggressive players, or the best scorers in the world, but it sure would be nice to see them pass the ball around and try to get open shots. If they could just play the way they did in the first half against Portland about a week ago, where they passed the ball around the perimeter to got open shots (and made most of them) nearly every time. They made far less one-on-one plays and it helped that Portland only scored 7 points in the first quarter, en route to a good team victory (even though they gave up way too many points when they had a large lead in the second half). Their offense was more impressive than it has been all season, but that was about three or four games ago, and they haven’t repeated it since, for whatever reason. The way their team is constructed they have to pass the ball around and try to get open shots, because they have very few players who can dribble into the middle and make plays and most of them are perimeter shooters who need space to make their shots. They should use the double teams against Kobe or their center Andrew Bynum when they come, and pass it out immediately to open the court up and free up a player for an open shot. Typically, if there are two quick passes out of a double team situation, the guy who catches that second pass will be open for a shot, because the defense cannot recover fast enough to rotate to the open player. The key is getting the ball to an open shooter in his prime spot, or passing it around a third time to someone with a higher percentage shot. Sometimes they are guilty of just passing the ball to Kobe and watching him (which is also probably because they doubt he will pass it to them.), but that complacency doesn’t work.
If there is one thing I can’t stand to see when I watch sports, it is complacency, or a lack of trying on the court (or field). How is it possible that someone who gets paid millions of dollars to play, can’t come out with the appropriate energy level and mental fortitude to play a 2 or 3 hour game? I hate it when a player (Kobe more than anyone else) turns the ball over or takes a bad shot, then stops to complain or doesn’t hustle back on defense because they are mad at themselves or the ref. Points are a precious commodity and when you just surrender points to the other team on an easy fast break, just because you are mad about the play on the other end of the court, that makes you a bad team player, and it can only help your team lose. All you have to do is try hard and hustle when you are on the court or field, and you will be respected and applauded for your effort and more than likely will be rewarded with a victory, but when you jog down the court or stand there with your hands in the air and watch as the other team sprints in the other direction, it calls into question your dedication and willingness to play. As fans, we see a talented man (or woman) who is playing a game we would do anything to be able to make a (great) living doing, and when we see them slack off and act as if they don’t care, it’s the most disrespectful thing you can do, and we don‘t appreciate it because we know that if we were given the opportunity, we would be diving all over the court and sprinting back to play defense (despite our lack of skills or physical abilities/height). That’s why fans love players like Josh McRoberts (who is now just a bench ornament apparently) and past players like Kurt Rambis and Mark Madson; they weren’t the most physically gifted but they were yeomen workers who tried to their fullest ability on seemingly every play. If you don’t care about your team and the fans, why the hell should I give a hoot about you?
Another one of their obvious problems is their poor 3-point shooting as a team. World Peace is an obvious culprit here, but nearly every other player is a sub-par shooter from the long distance, and there a lot of players who shoot [far too many of] them. Perhaps the only exceptions are Steve Blake and Troy Murphy, but they come off the bench, get only a handful of shots per game, and they both seem to be content only shooting 3-pointers on every shot, which gets very redundant and annoying. I think too many players try a 3-pointer for their first shot in the game, unnecessarily, and maybe the coach should enforce a rule that every player has to take a 2-point shot before they take a 3-pointer (whenever possible) so they can warm up and calibrate their shot in order to get into a shooting rhythm before they shoot the deep shots. The four players this seems to affect the most would be Derek Fisher and Metta World Peace from the starting lineup, along with two from the bench I alerady mentioned, Blake and Murphy. It makes sense (to me) for these players to try shorter 15-foot jump shots (or lay ups), in order to get their confidence up early before they drift back behind the 3-pint arc. Most players do better when they see their first shot go through, even if it is a lay up, so it would just be beneficial if they made a concerted effort to go to the basket early or just take shorter shots, to start with. Kobe is (obviously) also guilty of taking too many deep shots early, and he doesn’t stop taking them even when he misses ten in a row, so it makes even more sense for him to try for higher-percentage shots early to get himself going. When he misses a bunch of jump shots, he tends to keep on taking them, instead of going to the rim more often to try a short shot/ lay up. The other benefit to going to the basket more aggressively is if he gets fouled, he can calibrate his shot at the free throw line and get in rhythm that way, so he can take and make those longer shots. On the other side of the spectrum, Metta World Peace should probably just stop shooting 3-pointers altogether, since he apparently can only make plays with his left hand, but he needs to get closer to the basket to be effective. That isn’t going to happen since there isn’t enough room in the post for him to operate effectively.
The team has a lot of post players, with Bynum and Pau Gasol in their front court, and even Kobe who tries to post up against smaller guards sometimes, but they don’t have to best shooters to pass out to when they get double-teamed so the team isn’t as effective as they should be. Their offense is slow and they often get the ball in deep to the post player late in the shot clock so they have to hurry their shot, and don’t have enough time to pass it out if they are double-teamed to get someone an open shot. They have the fewest fast break points in the league and that won’t change unless they get a different point guard, but they could at least bring the ball up to their end a little faster and start their offense sooner to give their players more time to operate and pass out of double team situations more effectively. Most teams have to double team Bynum when he is down close to the basket, and if there is plenty of time on the shot clock when he gets it, he can pass it out and the ball can swing around to an open shooter, or the ball can be re-entered into the post so he can get deeper post position after the double team leaves him alone, but that rarely happens. Gasol has good post moves, but he tends to hang out near the free throw line because Bynum occupies the low post most of the time when they are on the floor together, and they still play well together because they like to pass it to one another to get easy shots (especially Gasol who is at times too unselfish).
Because of Bynum and Gasol in their front court, both averaging about 10 rebounds a game, the Lakers lead the league in rebounding. They are also one of the top defensive teams in the league, according to points allowed per game and opponents shooting percentages statistics, which is a plus. Coach Mike Brown is obviously a defensive minded coach, and their defense has helped them win 20 games this year, so he gets some credit, but some of those stats are still misleading. A major reason that they are near the top in points allowed per game, is because they are the worst fast-breaking offense in the league, which means they take long offensive possessions nearly every time, which means the opposition gets less offensive possessions than normal, leading to less points scored. It is the modus operandi of the team, since they are a big and relatively slow team, but their offense has also dropped off significantly in most of the major categories, so the difference ends up being more of a wash than a road to victory. Even though they are the best rebounding team, they still give up way too many offensive rebounds to the opponents, resulting in far too many extra possessions and usually a lot of second-chance points. If they could clean that part of their game, their defense would be so much better than it already is, and their shooting percentage allowed (and points allowed obviously) would be even greater. They just need to take notice of the opponents and put a body between them and the basket, face-guarding them if necessary, to keep them away from the offensive rebounds and second-chance point opportunities, but that is probably easier said than done for the coaching staff.
Coach Brown and his staff need to make a few other changes too, if they want to actually compete this season. He uses very unbalanced lineups on the floor when he goes to the bench, with too many offensively limited or inexperienced players at the same time, and it gets them into trouble often. Usually he will leave Bynum or Gasol with four bench players, but the opposition will always double-team Bynum and then he has to pass to someone who cannot make a shot consistently, and their defense suffers as well with all the inexperience or lack of cohesion when you put players like Goudelock, Murphy, and Barnes on the floor around them. He has used both rookie point guards at the same time and it makes absolutely no sense to anyone, especially the rest of the team, who have been openly complaining about the lack of a true rotation for a while now. Their offense has suffered immensely since coach Brown removed the triangle offense and installed his own offense, which results in very few assists and no cohesiveness whatsoever.
It will help if Brown gets a regular rotation in place, so his players’ roles on the team are more clearly defines, but they just need to play to their individual their strengths more and know what their weaknesses are out there. World Peace and Barnes need to stop shooting long jumpers (and weird fade away shots in MWP’s case) and go to the basket, Bynum needs to work on passing out of the double teams, Gasol needs to be more aggressive on both ends of the court and play like he knows he is one of the best players in the league, while the guards just need to take care of the ball and quit taking so many ill- advised deep shots. Some of them (especially World Peace) just need to stop thinking out there and play like they have in the past. Maybe if they do, Kobe will pass them the ball, instead of taking stupid shots constantly.
The bottom line is this team, as presently constructed needs to improve significantly on offense and block out opponents from the offensive rebounds, if they want any chance at making it to the playoffs and getting past the first round. They have little to no chance to beat the Thunder, Clippers or Spurs even if they do make it past the first round, so there is almost no chance this season will end on a positive note. To make matters worse, even if they do make a good trade, there are so few practices and a very condensed season, so they won’t have enough time to play together with the new player(s) to get accustomed to each other. On the other hand, the last time there was a lock-out, the Knicks made it to the finals and they were no where near the best team in the Eastern conference that season, but managed to play best in the final few weeks leading up to the playoffs and carried it in to an impressive and unexpected playoff run. So there is still a chance, albeit very slim, and getting smaller by the day. (Let’s just say, I’m glad it’s almost baseball season.)
A special (sarcastic) thanks goes to the NBA commissioner David Stern for vetoing that trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers in the preseason. He said the other trade was better for the league-owned Hornets and obviously it was a great trade for New Orleans, since they have the WORST record in the western conference. I said so when it happened and it is confirmed now: there is no way you can convince me that they are a better team with the players they got from the Clippers than they would have been with Odom, Kevin Martin and Luis Scola. Way cheaper, yes. Better [as a team or for the fans], hell no! Way to go David Stern; you’re a complete moron.
