The Venting Thread
Posted: Tue Dec 5, 2017 3:51 am
It's about time - I think we need one of these. And I'll apologize in advance, this may be lengthy. But after all, we're Lakers fans. For better or worse.
After watching that frustrating weekend of Lakers basketball, I couldn't help myself but be overcome with rage regarding everything going on in this organization. And maybe I'm being too overdramatic, but I only see a few positives regarding this team:
1- The potential of Lonzo, Ingram, Kuzma and Randle - And to a lesser extent Hart and Zubac.
2- The fact that we're the Los Angeles Lakers, and rumours about free agents.
However, that doesn't ignore the product that we're currently watching. There's so many frustrating things when watching this team, but it starts with absolutely awful roster construction. Once again, this team is loaded with way too many 4/5 men and not enough quality guards and wings. This falls on the laps of Earvin Johnson (not calling him "Magic" any longer) and Rob Pelinka. Initially, after being excited about Jim Buss being let go, I instantly had concerns regarding the experience in the front office. They've prioritized 2018 Free Agency at the expense of young talent, and it sounds as if that is not going to stop anytime soon. And in the meantime, we're doing a disservice to the current quality youth that we already have.
Our best players so far have easily been Kyle Kuzma and Julius Randle. It took a Larry Nance injury to get Kuzma in the starting line-up. Once Nance returned, Kuzma has gone back to the bench. And instead of shortening the rotation once he got back, we continued to find minutes for players like Corey Brewer and Andrew Bogut. Kuzma is a player that needs experience in every way that we can find it for him. And if that means 8-10 minutes a game at backup SF, then that's what needs to happen.
And that leads me to one of the most frustrating things about this season: Julius Randle.
Johnson and Pelinka talked so much at the end of the last season about "world class fitness" and "body fat" and about players being in shape. I don't think anyone took that to heart more than Julius Randle. The guy totally changed his body and it wasn't just normal summer time headlines. He's brought it onto the court and honestly, if we had a better record, he'd be a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. Pretty much every defensive statistic has him near of the top of the list. He's one of the major reasons why this team has improved defensively.
How do we reward that? By sending him to the bench. And if that's not enough, how about playing him 20 MPG for the first 20 games of the season? Thanks for getting in shape, Julius. To make things even worse, let's trade him before the deadline so it gives us an extra 12 million to throw at max free agents, who probably aren't coming.
Another awful mismanagement of our young players, and I think this is one of the more awful things I've heard all season: Ivica Zubac. I'm not sure if anyone listens to the Locked on Lakers podcast but if you don't, they had a guest on today named Trevor Lane. He covers the Lakers and he spoke with Zubac a few weeks ago in Phoenix. He said Zubac was down and obviously not happy about his situation. Zubac had told him that the front office asked him after summer league to stay in Los Angeles over the summer instead of going home, because he was going to be "a big part of the team this year" and they needed him in the best shape possible. Zubac did. He stayed in Los Angeles and worked hard after his catastrophic summer league. A few days before training camp, they sign Andrew Bogut effectively eliminating any role that he potentially would have had. Thanks for getting in shape and committing yourself, Ivica.
Back to the roster construction. We're the worst three point shooting and free throw shooting team in the league. And we don't have a DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard or Andre Roberson on our team. Armed with a Room Exception in the off-season of 4.1M, we passed up on a lot of players who could have helped us. And before the season started, instead of letting players like Ivica Zubac and Thomas Bryant get playing time they deserved, we kept Andrew Bogut on the team and let players like Anthony Morrow, Mike Dunleavy, Brandon Rush, Deron Williams, Gerald Henderson, Ian Clark, and Randy Foye sit on the couch or get snapped up by other teams. Think a player like Lonzo Ball could use someone like Deron Williams in his ear on road trips?
Which brings me to my next huge complaint. And it revolves around Luke Walton and his inexperienced, frat party coaching staff. That may be harsh, but it's proving more and more to be true. The only experienced voice we have on this coaching staff is Brian Shaw, and when Shaw left the Lakers and Phil Jackson's staff, running an efficient offence or defence wasn't his forte. I do think Shaw was a nice hire as far as player development is concerned but as far as everything else, he had faults and that's why he was out of work when we hired Luke.
The rotations have been awful and well documented on this board. Corey Brewer should not be getting minutes over Randle, Kuzma, Hart, Lonzo, Clarkson, KCP, Ingram, etc. Bogut should not be getting minutes over Randle, Kuzma, Zubac, Bryant or Nance. We've prioritized players who in a perfect world, aren't going to be here next year (Bogut, Lopez, KCP, Brewer). Those rotation discussions could continue for a while. The amount of standing around in half court settings and the lack of movement from the weak side has been beat to death.
And this will be my final point: Lonzo Ball. Lonzo deserves some criticism, of course. He's having the worst shooting season in modern NBA history. He's not confident and his aggression needs to be better. However, Luke Walton and the coaching staff are doing him absolutely no favors. When I watched UCLA games in preparation for the draft, I saw Ball doing the exact same things that would make him successful with last years Lakers team. At UCLA, Ball would come off screens, take dribble hand offs (going left), they'd run pin downs for him, he'd catch lobs, he'd backcut the overplay for dunks/layups, etc. With the Lakers, if there's no options available in transition, he passes the ball to a wing or big on the elbow, and drifts away into the corner. Or he's getting a screen, the defenders are going under and he's shooting an open three. You can blame that on Lonzo Ball if you want, but I'll blame the coaching staff instead. If he's not running the actions he's supposed to be running, you sit him down. And that's never been talked about so clearly that isn't the issue. Get him in positions where the opposing D is chasing him and he has the option to drive to the hoop, or give it to a player like Ingram/KCP/Clarkson coming the other way from the weak side. We ran that type of action with Lou Williams and Clarkson so much last season. We ran DHO's with Julius Randle and it got Russell and Nick Young wide open looks. Where has it been?
And if we're expecting help to come after Dec. 15th arrives and all the free agents who signed with their teams would be eligible to be dealt? Think again. There's not many deals to be made when you don't want to take on salary past the current season in a league that's pretty much capped out and draft picks are at a premium.
Anyways, curious to know others thoughts. Am I being too negative regarding the state of this team? Fire away.
After watching that frustrating weekend of Lakers basketball, I couldn't help myself but be overcome with rage regarding everything going on in this organization. And maybe I'm being too overdramatic, but I only see a few positives regarding this team:
1- The potential of Lonzo, Ingram, Kuzma and Randle - And to a lesser extent Hart and Zubac.
2- The fact that we're the Los Angeles Lakers, and rumours about free agents.
However, that doesn't ignore the product that we're currently watching. There's so many frustrating things when watching this team, but it starts with absolutely awful roster construction. Once again, this team is loaded with way too many 4/5 men and not enough quality guards and wings. This falls on the laps of Earvin Johnson (not calling him "Magic" any longer) and Rob Pelinka. Initially, after being excited about Jim Buss being let go, I instantly had concerns regarding the experience in the front office. They've prioritized 2018 Free Agency at the expense of young talent, and it sounds as if that is not going to stop anytime soon. And in the meantime, we're doing a disservice to the current quality youth that we already have.
Our best players so far have easily been Kyle Kuzma and Julius Randle. It took a Larry Nance injury to get Kuzma in the starting line-up. Once Nance returned, Kuzma has gone back to the bench. And instead of shortening the rotation once he got back, we continued to find minutes for players like Corey Brewer and Andrew Bogut. Kuzma is a player that needs experience in every way that we can find it for him. And if that means 8-10 minutes a game at backup SF, then that's what needs to happen.
And that leads me to one of the most frustrating things about this season: Julius Randle.
Johnson and Pelinka talked so much at the end of the last season about "world class fitness" and "body fat" and about players being in shape. I don't think anyone took that to heart more than Julius Randle. The guy totally changed his body and it wasn't just normal summer time headlines. He's brought it onto the court and honestly, if we had a better record, he'd be a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. Pretty much every defensive statistic has him near of the top of the list. He's one of the major reasons why this team has improved defensively.
How do we reward that? By sending him to the bench. And if that's not enough, how about playing him 20 MPG for the first 20 games of the season? Thanks for getting in shape, Julius. To make things even worse, let's trade him before the deadline so it gives us an extra 12 million to throw at max free agents, who probably aren't coming.
Another awful mismanagement of our young players, and I think this is one of the more awful things I've heard all season: Ivica Zubac. I'm not sure if anyone listens to the Locked on Lakers podcast but if you don't, they had a guest on today named Trevor Lane. He covers the Lakers and he spoke with Zubac a few weeks ago in Phoenix. He said Zubac was down and obviously not happy about his situation. Zubac had told him that the front office asked him after summer league to stay in Los Angeles over the summer instead of going home, because he was going to be "a big part of the team this year" and they needed him in the best shape possible. Zubac did. He stayed in Los Angeles and worked hard after his catastrophic summer league. A few days before training camp, they sign Andrew Bogut effectively eliminating any role that he potentially would have had. Thanks for getting in shape and committing yourself, Ivica.
Back to the roster construction. We're the worst three point shooting and free throw shooting team in the league. And we don't have a DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard or Andre Roberson on our team. Armed with a Room Exception in the off-season of 4.1M, we passed up on a lot of players who could have helped us. And before the season started, instead of letting players like Ivica Zubac and Thomas Bryant get playing time they deserved, we kept Andrew Bogut on the team and let players like Anthony Morrow, Mike Dunleavy, Brandon Rush, Deron Williams, Gerald Henderson, Ian Clark, and Randy Foye sit on the couch or get snapped up by other teams. Think a player like Lonzo Ball could use someone like Deron Williams in his ear on road trips?
Which brings me to my next huge complaint. And it revolves around Luke Walton and his inexperienced, frat party coaching staff. That may be harsh, but it's proving more and more to be true. The only experienced voice we have on this coaching staff is Brian Shaw, and when Shaw left the Lakers and Phil Jackson's staff, running an efficient offence or defence wasn't his forte. I do think Shaw was a nice hire as far as player development is concerned but as far as everything else, he had faults and that's why he was out of work when we hired Luke.
The rotations have been awful and well documented on this board. Corey Brewer should not be getting minutes over Randle, Kuzma, Hart, Lonzo, Clarkson, KCP, Ingram, etc. Bogut should not be getting minutes over Randle, Kuzma, Zubac, Bryant or Nance. We've prioritized players who in a perfect world, aren't going to be here next year (Bogut, Lopez, KCP, Brewer). Those rotation discussions could continue for a while. The amount of standing around in half court settings and the lack of movement from the weak side has been beat to death.
And this will be my final point: Lonzo Ball. Lonzo deserves some criticism, of course. He's having the worst shooting season in modern NBA history. He's not confident and his aggression needs to be better. However, Luke Walton and the coaching staff are doing him absolutely no favors. When I watched UCLA games in preparation for the draft, I saw Ball doing the exact same things that would make him successful with last years Lakers team. At UCLA, Ball would come off screens, take dribble hand offs (going left), they'd run pin downs for him, he'd catch lobs, he'd backcut the overplay for dunks/layups, etc. With the Lakers, if there's no options available in transition, he passes the ball to a wing or big on the elbow, and drifts away into the corner. Or he's getting a screen, the defenders are going under and he's shooting an open three. You can blame that on Lonzo Ball if you want, but I'll blame the coaching staff instead. If he's not running the actions he's supposed to be running, you sit him down. And that's never been talked about so clearly that isn't the issue. Get him in positions where the opposing D is chasing him and he has the option to drive to the hoop, or give it to a player like Ingram/KCP/Clarkson coming the other way from the weak side. We ran that type of action with Lou Williams and Clarkson so much last season. We ran DHO's with Julius Randle and it got Russell and Nick Young wide open looks. Where has it been?
And if we're expecting help to come after Dec. 15th arrives and all the free agents who signed with their teams would be eligible to be dealt? Think again. There's not many deals to be made when you don't want to take on salary past the current season in a league that's pretty much capped out and draft picks are at a premium.
Anyways, curious to know others thoughts. Am I being too negative regarding the state of this team? Fire away.