Game 40: Los Angeles Lakers (21-18) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (18-21)

[Landsberger]

Well.. I guess 22 wasn't enough. Thibs was fired...

[stan francisco]

Magic needs to fire our shooting coach and hire the guy KCP used.

Hard to fire the shooting coach when the isn't one

Well that could explain the poor percentages.

[iamworthy]

Somebody want to explain what's going on with lonzo?

[TyCobb]

Read on Twitter

[Kilroy]

In all my years as an NBA fan, I can't honestly remember a time when fans were calling for Assistant Coaches to be fired...

[TylersLakers]

In all my years as an NBA fan, I can't honestly remember a time when fans were calling for Assistant Coaches to be fired...

When your assistant coaches are as bad this teams, I could see why. People like Luke. While I do have tons of criticisms, I do think his potential as a coach is through the roof. He knows how to manage personalities, communicate & his attitude and views about culture, pushing the pace, togetherness, and joy in games and in practice is something that's modern and needed in today's NBA.

With that said, he has to be willing to budge on the areas he's not very good at. And that's X's and O's and finding the best qualified people to be your assistants instead of your Arizona buddies, etc.

I would imagine at the end of the season, Magic & Luke will have a sit down and all this will be addressed and if he's not willing to budge, he'll be gone at the end of the meeting. Stephen A Smith has even talked extensively about the front office's views towards the assistant coaches. If he's bringing it up, it's coming from Magic.

[TylersLakers]

Read on Twitter

It's really amazing how much has changed with Kobe. It's like he's a different person. I think you mentioned it earlier but if he was on this team in his prime, there'd be a bunch of parking lot videos out.

[Slava]

Thibodeu was the coach to get fired after this?

[Ugly0598]

Sorry but Luke starting Zubac & McGee together is pretty inexcusable unless one of them turns into an outside shooter all of a sudden. Play Beasley or Wagner at PF and get Beasley going for some minutes for the season.

[Dr Aki]

Sorry but Luke starting Zubac & McGee together is pretty inexcusable unless one of them turns into an outside shooter all of a sudden. Play Beasley or Wagner at PF and get Beasley going for some minutes for the season.

zubac has 3 pt range, as he has shown in the g league, he just doesn't have the guts to shoot it at the nba level

[sardines]

Yeah on to the next L. Luke your days are numbered, as well as our sorry #2 picks.

Tell me a coach that will do better with a team missing their leader in Lebron, second leading scorer in Kuzma, their prime court general in Rondo.

Over reaction again.

Did you catch the starting lineup? Why do you start a group that has logged zero minutes together when you have young guys who need stability?

You really think the lack of scoring was because of that starting lineup ? I don't think so....

[Slava]

Until the injured players return I'd go with this starting 5:

McGee
Wagner
KCP
Svi
Ingram

That allows a pick and roll ball handler - big man combo with 3 shooters who aren't afraid to let it fly. Its basic but you kind of need that right now.

[sardines]

Yeah on to the next L. Luke your days are numbered, as well as our sorry #2 picks.

Tell me a coach that will do better with a team missing their leader in Lebron, second leading scorer in Kuzma, their prime court general in Rondo.

Over reaction again.

I fully expect all these games to be losses, other than the Knicks game on Friday. But Luke's days are definitely numbered, and I can't blame Magic & Rob if they want to make that change.

He doesn't run anything offensively. He's got a few pet plays which are this teams go to. Every "play" he calls involves one action, and when that's taken away, the secondary actions don't happen. His rotations and line-ups are horrific. He preaches ball movement, yet we're bottom five in passes per game. And during a time when your star player is out, that ball movement and passes per game number should go way up because you're not relying on one player. It hasn't, it's actually regressed.

Another thing that pisses me off is how poor this team is at the little things. Cutting, setting screens, etc. I've never seen a team as bad at setting screens as this one is. Pretty much everyone aside from Chandler and Lonzo is absolutely horrific. They don't seek contact, they don't make contact, etc.

Magic has talked openly about hiring a shooting coach but Luke didn't want to do that because his assistants are designed towards player development. You'll notice that certain coaches work with certain players. Brian Keefe works with Ingram. Miles Simon works with Kuz, Hart, Lonzo. With that said, I won't pin all the player development on Luke as it's more than just a coaching issue, it's an organizational issue.

Were you this unhappy with Luke's coaching when the Lakers beat the Warriors ? Like I said when Lebron then Rondo came down, Lakers will go on a losing streak. Tell me how you can 'instantly' replace your #1 & #2 scorers ?

Too many armchair coaches who offer nothing but cry ---- FIRE FIRE FIRE.

Firing him will all of a sudden make-up for losing all those guys ??

[kobe808lak]

Lonzo is shooting 42% from the line... not a typo..

Just simply inexcusable. There is no reason not to overhaul his entire shot. Why hasn't he tried to do that already?

Also, when you can't make FTs, you aren't as aggressive towards the rim, or late in the game. It really hurts the team on multiple levels.

[TylersLakers]

Sorry but Luke starting Zubac & McGee together is pretty inexcusable unless one of them turns into an outside shooter all of a sudden. Play Beasley or Wagner at PF and get Beasley going for some minutes for the season.

This. And you're a Utah fan.

When I was doing line-ups in my head while on the treadmill 10 minutes before the game started, knowing how much success Chandler had against Towns in his first game as a Laker, I wanted Ball/KCP/Ingram/Beasley/Chandler. There's absolutely no f***ing way any two of Wagner/McGee/Chandler/Zubac should be sharing a court together at the same time. Also, as much as I love Josh Hart, there's no way he should be playing over KCP at the moment. You don't adjust your line-up that much because of Taj Gibson.

If I can think of that line-up while trying to not fall off of a treadmill, how does Luke and a group of assistant coaches go "Let's start Zu and McGee together!" Really? Not one assistant coach went.. "Nah, bad idea. You do realize that's Karl Anthony Towns, who's been beat up over his lack of toughness and Taj Gibson, a role player? This isn't Tim Duncan and David Robinson."

[Ugly0598]

Sorry but Luke starting Zubac & McGee together is pretty inexcusable unless one of them turns into an outside shooter all of a sudden. Play Beasley or Wagner at PF and get Beasley going for some minutes for the season.

This. And you're a Utah fan.

When I was doing line-ups in my head while on the treadmill 10 minutes before the game started, knowing how much success Chandler had against Towns in his first game as a Laker, I wanted Ball/KCP/Ingram/Beasley/Chandler. There's absolutely no f***ing way any two of Wagner/McGee/Chandler/Zubac should be sharing a court together at the same time. Also, as much as I love Josh Hart, there's no way he should be playing over KCP at the moment. You don't adjust your line-up that much because of Taj Gibson.

If I can think of that line-up while trying to not fall off of a treadmill, how does Luke and a group of assistant coaches go "Let's start Zu and McGee together!" Really? Not one assistant coach went.. "Nah, bad idea. You do realize that's Karl Anthony Towns, who's been beat up over his lack of toughness and Taj Gibson, a role player? This isn't Tim Duncan and David Robinson."

I've watched as many Lakers and Nuggets games as Jazz games. Favors and Gobert is not a good line-up either.