The Lakers continue to reach new lows, hence my play on words— Low End Theory. The Lakers are 9-41. They have lost 10 straight games en route to making history again. The longest streak in franchise history is 10 games. The fans are booing. The players are frustrated or confused or both. The interviews are depressing.
I’ve seen enough. The only optimism at this point is that the season is halfway over. Ben Simmons here we come!
But seriously.
There has to be two theories to consider. Either this team lacks talent or this team is not playing well. I’ve said time and time again that this team is not playing well. This means that there are fixes that can take place. First there needs to be a problem determined. I have a couple.
1. They don’t score enough. The Lakers are I think the worst scoring team in the league. Is it because of bad shots or are they missing good looks? I’d say it’s both. The Lakers started to embrace the three point shot, for better or worse. The problem is they don’t make enough. They force quite a few. They sometimes make plays toward the basket in spurts and they do not post anybody enough. They also hardly move the ball. However, the Lakers biggest issue is they have no defined roles. They have 4 one on one players in the starting lineup and have not determined who the head of the snake is. They have nobody expected to score consistently if not guarded. NO LAKER DESERVES A DOUBLE TEAM. Ball movement is effective when you have scoring threats. The defense will move to respect a scoring threat. If there are none, forget about whether or not you move the ball. Right now no Laker commands that attention. I blame that on strategy. When Kobe was Kobe, the plan was for either Kobe to get his and then get others involved or vice versa depending on the flow of the game. Now who is the guy for that job now? Lou? Jordan? Julius? If every other play a different guy is trying to be the man it just makes an unorganized mess on the offensive end. They need to decide who’s going to be the offensive number 1, 2 and 3.
Lakers don’t score enough because they don’t ever go into the low post consistently. How many times have we seen Julius Randle have his way with his defensive man? However, whereas most teams would milk a match-up until the other team figures it out or throws a double team, the Lakers do NOTHING with consistency. Clarkson will get to the basket and create and then never do it again for the next 7 minutes. Nance Jr had a mismatch when the Clippers went small recently and this was NEVER exploited. These are offensive strategies that are purely an indictment on not putting your personnel in a position to be successful. When entering the post they should do it early in the shot clock.
Lakers don’t score enough because they wait way too long to get into their offense. I’ll add to that the fact that they do not push the ball off of a defensive rebound. Observe how many times this Laker team is walking the ball up the court. As a young, athletic team that lacks dominant halfcourt ability, they should be keeping opposing defenses on their heels and getting into their offensive strategies before the defense sets up. Typically time is wasted on the shot clock because the ball sticks or moves to slowly, starting with the trot into halfcourt and the meaningless 5 seconds of dribbling.
2. Lakers don’t rebound well. How many times have you just about pulled your hair out after the Lakers have surrendered yet another offensive put-back or rebound? Part of the issue is pure effort. The other is perimeter breakdowns. Bigs leave their man to collapse on the the scorer. However, the Lakers usually fail to help the helper. This is a huge issue for a team who’s defense is lacking. Whenever they do make a stop, they give the team a second and third chance.
3. The Lakers have awful rotations. I can’t speak to why Metta World Peace hasn’t seen the court or why Tarik Black doesn’t play. Nick Young sits for about 7 games and then plays the next 4. The Lakers have changed their starting lineup only a few times, not including the Kobe situation when he sits a game out. But the bottom line is there are players playing that should be playing and then vice versa. There are not enough minutes for everyone, but it would help knowing what to expect as a player. This doesn’t include players being sat down when they are hot or benching certain players in the 4th quarter. Consistency builds chemistry.
As a huge Byron Scott fan, I still don’t know what the game plan is. During this Kobe farewell, the players should be urged to give him the proper send off. This isn’t it. The plan to develop the youth should be balanced with the desire to win games. This Lakers team doesn’t look like they know how to win. The effort reeks of confusion and they bottomed out by losing by 20 plus points to an average Charlotte Hornets team that was INJURED.
They have a right to be frustrated and fans have a right to boo. But until a change in strategy happens or a game changing superstar comes on board, we can expect more of this. When the Lakers win, they are sharing the ball and their big three, Clarkson, Russell and Randle have big games. They get out in transition and they hit 3’s. This has only happened 9 times. Something has to be done.
Until then we will be wondering what kind of team Kobe has left behind to carry the torch.
The Lakers Optimist 