RealGM

This stat is boggling my mind right now. We are currently leading the league in scoring even though we are only shooting 44.6%. Last year we shot nearly 48%. Considering this group now has a full training camp together, has Gasol for the whole year instead of half, and the same for Bynum and Ariza I am really expecting them to get much better shots not to mention having more talented players taking them. For those reasons I really think that we can get our FG% up to 50% or so. at our current rate of about 83 shots per game that improvement would add around 10 points per game to our total. I also think that our FT% should be better this season, although it is a little down right now (this will however only have a marginal impact to our scoring).

On an individual level the drop from last year gets even more staggering. Bynum is down 15% on FG%, Odom is down 10.7%, Gasol is down 8.3% (from his Lakers total), Radmanovic is down 7.8%, Fisher is down 6.5%, Vujacic is down 5.4%, Farmar is down 3.2%, Ariza is down 2.5% (from his Lakers total), Bryant is the same. Not a single player in our normal rotation has improved their shooting percentage. Like I said before, with more talented players on the court at all times, we should get better shots, and therefore all of these players should actually improve their percentages (except maybe Gasol and Bynum, who can hopefully match last year). I think this statistical breakdown proves that we have not really meshed as a group yet, but I really think that we will get it together and all of these players should either end up close to last years percentages ( in the case of our bigs as it's hard to imagine Gasol and Bynum improving), or exceed last year (for everyone not playing any center).

Long story short, I think our offense is leaving about 10 points per game on the table. When / if we start getting those points we will be even more scary for the rest of the league. It is too early to start talking 73-9, but I think we can at least start talking about whether or not we are looking at the best Lakers team ever. I mean look at the sheer dominance while our team is greatly underperforming on offense.

I don't like to think ahead like that. When the 07 Mavs dominated everyone thought they had all the tools needed to win it with ease. They have a good bench, versatile, were just firing on all cylinders on offense and have improved defensively under Avery. I'm not saying the Lakers will end up in a similar fate, but even if the Lakers end up #1 on both Off and Def efficiency there's no such thing as an invincible team. Teams have so many style of play now a matchup problem can come up from out of nowhere, hopefully if such a problem arises they recognize it right away as opposed to finding out the hard way in postseason.

This is all related to chemistry which is a result of Bynum returning, Pau moving over to PF, and Odom moving to the bench. I don't think we'll start seeing the true potential of this team until mid-December or so. Even when we do get in sync, however, I don't believe we'll improve a great deal in terms of FG%. Pau's is naturally down because he's playing farther away from the basket. Bynum's is down because we're relying more on him to create for himself when he gets the ball, as opposed to last season where he was dunking non-stop (pick-n-roll, putbacks, etc.). Fisher flat out overachieved (his best shooting %'s of his career). Odom is not getting the same easy buckets because he is not able to play off of Pau. Etc, etc, etc.

I think we'll eventually get it up to around 47% or 48% on a consistent basis.

Only stat that matters to me or the wins and loses. Nothing else matters.