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

[tonelow]

 

So much excitement in November
Above.500 and even looked good in losses
Good style of ball

Now look at us, tank mode

Could always just be a really awful pitiful month to 6 weeks. They are not a .500 team, but a lot has gone wrong in the last month +


Russell missing close to 3 weeks.
Nance missing last 3 games, and a few more weeks from here.
Black missing last 3+ weeks
Randle missing 5 games in past 5 weeks


Short handed with Russell led to lack of offensive flow / ball movement

Missing a lot of bench energy (As much energy as TRob gives, he doesn't make up for Nance & Black contributing on defense)

Yea Dlo and Nance hurts us the most. Also, Lou Will was on fire and has come back to Earth.

I think we end up with the 5th or 6th worst record.

 

[mr j 858]

Could always just be a really awful pitiful month to 6 weeks. They are not a .500 team, but a lot has gone wrong in the last month +


Russell missing close to 3 weeks.
Nance missing last 3 games, and a few more weeks from here.
Black missing last 3+ weeks
Randle missing 5 games in past 5 weeks


Short handed with Russell led to lack of offensive flow / ball movement

Missing a lot of bench energy (As much energy as TRob gives, he doesn't make up for Nance & Black contributing on defense), and without Black, we're severely undersized.. Black is around same height as TRob, but he falls more toward a 5, and TRob is barely a 4

Just stop with the EXCUSES already.

The teams current problems with this young team are obvious and were expected by Luke, Mitch & JIm. Going into this team even if they don't say it publicly.

-The teams ZERO defense.Especially with no interior defense and ZERO shot blockers on this team.
-Inconsistent play from the young core & future hopefully franchise players in (Randle, D'Lo, Clarkson, and Nance)
-Having leads and just collapsing or having meltdowns in the 3rd & 4th quarters of games against good playoff teams & bad bottom feeder teams.

 

[essential1]

Just stop with the EXCUSES already.

The teams current problems with this young team are obvious and were expected by Luke, Mitch & JIm. Going into this team even if they don't say it publicly.

-The teams ZERO defense.Especially with no interior defense and shot blocking.
-Inconsistent play from the young core & future hopefully franchise player in (Randle, D'Lo, Clarkson, and Nance)
-Having leads and just collapsing or having meltdowns in the 3rd & 4th quarters of games against good playoff teams & bad bottom feeder teams.

Young teams generally stink...

A contributing factor isn't an excuse, it's a cause..

Inconsistent play isn't just the young guys... The veterans have been inconsistent as well. Young guys are generally inconsistent with very few exceptions.


But being short handed for the last month and a half hasn't contributed at all? Not a single bit..

Not even a few losses could be part of being banged up across the rotation?


Not having close to a full rotation at all in the past 6 weeks, isn't something that can contribute to meltdowns, collapses, etc.?

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

I feel like there's a better framework in there for us based on the 3 team roster construction...

i.e. would you take on
WCS
-for-
Clarkson (if they wanted a younger player who is locked up) OR Lou Will (if they wanted a vet to appease Boogie)


Would open us up a lot money wise for the next 2 FAs and give us close enough to 2 max deals

Who we gonna sign with these max deals?

 

[tonelow]

 

Could always just be a really awful pitiful month to 6 weeks. They are not a .500 team, but a lot has gone wrong in the last month +


Russell missing close to 3 weeks.
Nance missing last 3 games, and a few more weeks from here.
Black missing last 3+ weeks
Randle missing 5 games in past 5 weeks


Short handed with Russell led to lack of offensive flow / ball movement

Missing a lot of bench energy (As much energy as TRob gives, he doesn't make up for Nance & Black contributing on defense), and without Black, we're severely undersized.. Black is around same height as TRob, but he falls more toward a 5, and TRob is barely a 4

Just stop with the EXCUSES already.

The teams current problems with this young team are obvious and were expected by Luke, Mitch & JIm. Going into this team even if they don't say it publicly.

-The teams ZERO defense.Especially with no interior defense and ZERO shot blockers on this team.
-Inconsistent play from the young core & future hopefully franchise player in (Randle, D'Lo, Clarkson, and Nance)
-Having leads and just collapsing or having meltdowns in the 3rd & 4th quarters of games against good playoff teams & bad bottom feeder teams.

I don't see any excuses there. Everything you said is true, then you add in the injuries and you get a team that wins 25-30% of their games instead of around 40%.

 

[tonelow]

 

I feel like there's a better framework in there for us based on the 3 team roster construction...

i.e. would you take on
WCS
-for-
Clarkson (if they wanted a younger player who is locked up) OR Lou Will (if they wanted a vet to appease Boogie)


Would open us up a lot money wise for the next 2 FAs and give us close enough to 2 max deals

Who we gonna sign with these max deals?

Nerlens and Hayward please. 

Stretch Moz after yr 2.

 

[essential1]

Who we gonna sign with these max deals?

Who knows, but having the space with the cost of Deng & Clarkson for WCS is better than only having 1 with Deng & Lou Williams

 

[Lizakers]

WCS reminds me of a young Tyson Chandler with the Bulls when he had bust written all over him

 

[essential1]

WCS reminds me of a young Tyson Chandler with the Bulls when he had bust written all over him

Kings too crowded in Front Court to play him enough to even determine what he is or isn't.... Then drafted another C in the lottery this year, and another PF at the end of the 1st...

But yeah he's been pretty disappointing..

I'd do it just to get out of Deng's deal and create flexibility, and see if we could do better with him as backup Center... Could always go Lou Williams for a few more years, who won't command much more than JC, if at all due to age

 

[pmatic]

Los Angeles Lakers (27)

Big flaw: The young and struggling defense

Playing NBA-caliber defense is hard, especially for young players. Put one or two gifted young athletes in a strong defensive unit and it's certainly possible for them to thrive, but when the system is almost entirely made up of them there are going to be speed bumps. Luke Walton's Lakers are no exception as they rank 29th in the NBA in defensive efficiency, allowing 109.8 points per 100 possessions.

They've particularly struggled when at least three pieces of their young core share the floor. Of the 10 three-man combinations featuring three of Jordan Clarkson, D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram and Larry Nance Jr., the only two with a better defensive rating than the team's 109.8 are Ingram-Nance-Clarkson and Ingram-Nance-Randle. In the 84 minutes that the cornerstone trio of Russell, Ingram and Randle have shared the floor, they've allowed more than 116 points per 100 possessions.

Solution: Just keep playing the kids

The only way to get better is to play. Since the Lakers have made it clear it's all about the future, the best move here is no big move.

Though no Laker is averaging more than 30 MPG, Walton is playing the young guns at critical moments. Randle, Clarkson, Ingram and Russell rank among the top five this season for the Lakers in clutch time played (final five minutes and the score within five points) along with super sub Lou Williams. While that has certainly played a part in the Lakers having the NBA's fourth-worst defense in those situations, it's part of a necessary learning curve.

Each of the young Lakers are making individual strides on the defensive end of the floor, according to ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM). A year after ranking outside the top 60 among point guards in defensive RPM, Russell is now inside the top 40. Randle has improved his DRPM from negative-1.55 to plus-0.27 and Nance now ranks among the top 20 power forwards, 10 spots ahead of noted defensive presence Serge Ibaka, among others.

Even Clarkson, whose DRPM of minus-2.14 rates below the likes of Kyrie Irving and Austin Rivers, has improved by that metric for the third straight season. Though Ingram ranks 79th out of 80 qualified small forwards, that was to be expected this early. The best thing the Lakers can do for all five is just keeping giving them opportunities -- and, hey, maybe it'll help them keep their pick.

http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/18373763/how-fix-big-flaws-the-nba-four-worst-teams

 

[essential1]

Not sure how encouraged I am about Clarkson's DRPM going from -3 to -2.56 to -2.16... Especially with the -0.5 ORPM is 40th among Shooting Guards... Was .64 in 2014-15 then to .15 in 2015-16.

The least he could do is hold steady on offense

 

[lovehateself]

 

Who we gonna sign with these max deals?

Nerlens and Hayward please. 

nerlens.... no 

 

[CHAOSE57]

WCS will flourish here.

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

You know what's really funny..When Luke was doing the pre and postgame show for time warner I remember him openly being #teamtank . I think it was the mda year but he was definitely with the tanking. I remember just when I heard him talking about it. So there's that for all you lovable losers out there

 

[WAKKO!]

Didn't the lakers have the toughest schedule entering the season? Btw I wouldn't mind having WCS here

 

[pmatic]

Yes, and they've played the most overall and road games so far this season. Or they did up until a few days ago.

 

[Lizakers]

So when the schedule gets "easier" as is happening now with all these home games, is the teams record going to be back around .500?

Doubt it

 

[essential1]

So when the schedule gets "easier" as is happening now with all these home games, is the teams record going to be back around .500?

Doubt it

No. As they are not a .500 team.

15-31 to 20-26. Somewhere in there.

 

[moonman818]

So when the schedule gets "easier" as is happening now with all these home games, is the teams record going to be back around .500?

Doubt it

Let's be real, if their record was anywhere near .500 that would have exceeded anyone's expectations of them this season..

 

[Lizakers]

Jus saying, schedule is a poor excuse
All teams play 82, 41/41
They all go through tough stretches in the season

 

[essential1]

Tough stretch at the right time.

Again not an excuse. It can be part of a cause. As is injuries. As is being young. As is poor play.

 

[pmatic]

Injuries, youth, got scouted, poor play, road games. Meh.

 

[Lizakers]

So then easier schedule should be a cause for better play, we'll see. So far it hasn't

And we lost to some really injured teams too

Like u said there are many causes

 

[pmatic]

That would be ideal, but I'm not sure there's much of a talent difference between us and teams like the Mavs, Suns, Magic, etc. They just happened to be more experienced too.

 

[MVP]

Still liking my prediction of 25 wins I think to end the season. Odds have us at 27 right now, barely ahead of the Suns at 26 4th worst record in the league.