The Celtics?

Don’t break your computer monitor or gouge your eyes out just yet and hear me out.

Back in the 2007-08 season, the Celtics were a newly constructed team that was supposed to compete for the championship. They had a franchise stalwart (Pierce), two young players who were homegrown in their system (Rondo and Perkins), and had executed two trades to acquire two elite veterans that would solidify their line up with leadership and high-level play (Garnett and Allen). As Lakers fans know all too well, this group ended up doing exactly what they were formed to do by winning the title that season in a six-game playoff series. Their “big three plus one” model got them the championship they sought. They came together quickly, experienced some rocky moments along the way, but finished strong.

Fast forward to today.

Since the trade deadline, the Lakers have been a team remade. The addition of Ramon Sessions has given the Lakers a dimension they sorely lacked – a playmaking point guard whose multifaceted game can fill in the gaps on offense. He can score, he can assist, and – most importantly – he can control the flow of the game as a true floor general. The Lakers no longer have to rely solely on the abilities of Kobe Bryant as a wing operator to dictate how the offense plays out. Sessions can now operate with the ball in his hands during any part of the shot clock and ensure that a quality look at the basket is created.

He pushes the pace when need be and slows it down when nothing is there. He organizes the offense and picks apart defenses by finding teammates in positions where they can succeed. He can make his opponent pay by getting baskets of his own and does a lot of his damage in the paint when the D pays too much attention to his more celebrated teammates.

Teammates like Kobe, Pau, and Bynum. Guys that have been all-stars and all-NBA many times over. Guys that franchises are built around. Guys that still put up elite numbers and are two-way threats. Together, these players now have their own “big three plus one.”  The question is, how far can they take it?

The answer will be entirely dependent on two factors: how they can mesh together and how seriously they play defense.

Wednesday’s game against the Spurs offers hints at the latter. San Antonio possesses the 2nd most efficient offense in the league, but the Lakers held them to 15 points fewer  than their normal output (per 100 possessions). In other words, last night the Lakers defense made the Spurs offense look like the Bobcats’. Andrew Bynum controlled the paint by contesting shots and grabbing nearly every available rebound. Ron Artest played physical and opportunistic defense on the wing. Pau offered a second 7-footer to contest shots and rebound, while Barnes, Blake, and Sessions did above average jobs on the Spurs’ wing threats. The Lakers played hard, smart defense. They dug a hole and proceeded to bury the Spurs in it.

How this team meshes is another matter. Being cobbled together in the manner that they have been reminds me more of the 2008 Lakers than the C’s. While it’s difficult to equate Sessions’ impact to Gasol’s, the Lakers have added – at a relatively late part of the season – a key piece at a position of need that has elevated their play on offense. With that addition, roles are shifting and players are being asked to fit together and perform in ways that they aren’t yet fully comfortable.

But the chemistry is budding. Connections are being made. It’s seen when a mistake occurs and players exchange ideas and knowingly nod in agreement about what should have happened. It’s seen when adjustments are mapped out in the huddle, then executed on the fly on the next possession. It’s seen when players vouch for each other after games in interviews with the media or, on the flip side, provide critique of a performance that will need to be adjusted moving forward. This team is growing together.

The pieces, positions, and personalities may not be the same. The Venn diagram of skill sets and approach may not show as much overlap as it could. But when I look at the 2012 Lakers, I see a bit of the 2008 Celtics and while it makes me a bit nauseous, it’s also a bit exciting. That Celtic team showed that by playing together they could simultaneously harness their individual talent and maximize team success. They showed that by playing for each other on both sides of the floor they could get the stops they needed, while scoring the baskets that were required to win. They traveled a rocky path to the Finals, but once there showed they had the extra gear that every champion needs.

This Lakers team has those same ingredients. Can they find the chemistry? Can they play the defense? Can they overcome their weaknesses, maximize their strengths, and play for each other? Only time will tell, but with the talent, experience, and burgeoning abilities of key players I wouldn’t count them out yet.

• The trade deadline is in two days(!) and the reports of potential deals are starting to heat up. As a general rule, it’s always good to remember to take the reports you hear around this time of the year with a grain of salt. Right now, rumors will be more about leverage than anything else and while I don’t doubt “discussions” are happening all around the league, that could mean two low level staffers making calls to each other as much as it could mean two GM’s with the ability to pull the trigger hammering out the details to a deal likely to get done.
• Speaking of trade reports, the Lakers are still being linked to multiple teams in their pursuit of a point guard. However, it’s the same names that we’ve been hearing for weeks: Sessions, Felton, and Lowry. At HoopsWorld, Alex Kennedy states that the order of preference is still Lowry, Sessions, then Felton and that makes sense as that’s the order most people would rank the players in terms of quality this season. Whether or not a deal gets done remains to be seen but if I was making a wager, I’d say Lowry is not a real possibility while a deal for Sessions or Felton will be dependent on how much Salary those teams are willing to take on in a deal. Both players can be absorbed into the Lakers’ TPE but my general sense is that the Lakers want to trade contracts and not just take on more salary at this point. Will Cleveland take back a player and add payroll? Will Portland take back multiple players, including one of LA’s bad contracts? This is what it may come down to as we approach Thursday.
• Don’t look now but the Lakers are gaining separation from the Clippers in the standings. The Clips fell again last night (this time to the Celtics) and have now dropped 4 of their last 5 games. This has the Lakers one and a half games up in the Pacific Division and in 3rd place in the Conference (a half a game up on Memphis – tonight’s opponent).
• Last night, Ron tweeted this: “Wow I’m shooting 40+ % from three over the last 15games. Keep leaving me open… Thank you…”. However, that’s actually not an accurate stat. In the last 15 games, he’s actually 17 for 46 which is 37%. But while Ron’s math was a bit off, that’s still a huge improvement from earlier in the year where he made 7 of his first 44 three point shots (16%). Let me add this though, what really matters to me is that Ron’s engaged on defense as his D is what really seems to fuel the rest of his game. Against Boston (and Miami), Ron was playing against players who demand defensive attention (not to mention the games were on national TV) and he stepped up his game to match the opponent. With that boost on D, his focus on O also improved and it led to good games. If the Lakers can get more of that Ron, they’ll be a much better team than they’ve been this year as he’s making an impact on both ends of the floor by playing tenacious defense and hitting some of the open shots the opposition will continue to give him.
• “A look at Boston’s late game collapse” is a headline I’ll click on every time I see it.
• Getting away from the NBA game for a second, it’s about to be March Madness again as the tourney starts this Thursday. Who would be interested in a FB&G bracket challenge? Let me know in the comments.
• Lastly, the good things that athletes do off the court rarely gets recognized. You may see a blurb a nice thing they’ve done every once and a while but that’s it. With that in mind, Steve Blake and his wife Kristen are raising money to fight cancer after having that disease hit too close to home over the years. If you want to help them out in reaching their goal, you can do so here. This really is a good cause.

The second half of the season is upon us, and so far the results are promising. The Lakers took down the T’Wolves in convincing fashion with a true team effort. Some thoughts on that game and where the Lakers go from here…

• Kobe’s mask was the talk of the night with fans wondering if he’d stick with it the entire game and what type of mask they’d like to see him wear instead (it even prompted a tweet to me that produced a hilarious picture). But beyond the comic relief, Kobe’s play is what stole the show. The 31 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists were stellar and the way he attacked off the dribble and in the post was noteworthy. Via the MySynergySports twitter account Kobe did a lot of his work of cuts, post-ups, and in transition while only working in isolation twice. Considering how often we request Kobe to work off the ball more, last night’s play was a welcomed sight.
• Also important to note, though, is that Kobe’s performance may go down as him simply “playing through injury” again, but I don’t see it that way at all. This wasn’t a sprained ankle or a bad wrist, after all. Kobe suffered a concussion in the all-star game and needed to pass several neurological exams before being cleared to suit up. The fact that he was able to do so is great, but I’ll also admit that it’s a bit scary to think that a guy could suffer what is, essentially, a brain trauma on Sunday and play in a full contact basketball game on Wednesday. There’s an aura of toughness that surrounds Kobe, but I must say at certain points during the game, I was a bit uneasy with him being on the court (though still in awe of what he was accomplishing).
• One of the moments when I was most uneasy came when Mike Brown decided to insert Kobe (and Pau) back into the game with a 19 point lead and a shade over 6 minutes remaining. While the bench had given up some of the lead and the momentum was shifting, I was concerned that a fully cooled down Kobe and Pau were brought back into the fray to close out a game that was still seemingly in hand. At the time, my reaction was frustration.  The fact that Kobe, coming off a concussion (and what he described post game as a “constant throbbing” at the base of his head and neck) was put in the game was only part of it. The other part was a strong feeling that Brown needed to get on his reserves and motivate them to play better, not yank them in favor of the starters. There will be a time when Brown will have to rely on his reserves to play well and not have the starters come in to save the day, and I thought last night was an opportunity wasted to show some confidence in that group. A chance to truly coach his team in what he needs from them slipped by, and from a long-term perspctive, that concerns me. Leads me to believe Brown is not a fan of Royal Jelly.
• The other reason the decision to not let the reserves finish the game was a sour one relates to the fact that the bench actually did play well last night. As mentioned earlier, this game was a total team effort even though Kobe went off and the Bynum/Gasol duo played well and were the obvious focal points. Every available Laker played, only two didn’t score (Ebanks and McRoberts), and the others contributed in all facets of the game to help build the Lakers’ lead up in the first place. So in a season where Brown’s decision making about rotations and distribution of playing time have been sources of frustration, last night continued the trend.

Ultimately though, it’s hard to complain too much in a contest the Lakers won by 19 points. Yes, the tenor of the contest changed when Kobe was cleared to play while Love was a late scratch, but those are the breaks in this league.

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Of course, a single game isn’t necessarily the only point of focus for the Lakers right now. Reports of trade rumors are rampant and the speculation is only starting to warm up. Now that players who signed contracts during the off-season are eligible to be traded, the expectation is that more deals will come to fruition.

How this affects the Lakers remains to be seen. As discussed in this very good post at Land O’ Lakers, the Lakers reportedly turned down a deal for another mercurial small forward with some scoring pop. A deal like that sounds nice on the surface until more details come out about what the other team wants and what the Lakers are willing to give (and willing to spend).

My two cents on the trade deadline are this: the Lakers are obviously looking to upgrade the roster. From the beginning of the season and what’s transpired on the trade front this isn’t really a question, but while fans want action now, the team must still make the right deal, and not just any deal. Identifying what the right deal might look like is different from an outsider’s perspective than what those inside the organization may think. Maybe there are salary considerations – especially when measured against  the improvement likely to be made. Considerations of assets (draft picks, young players) are also surely important, as the team only has so many bullets in the chamber to fire in any given trade.

This is why, in my opinion, the team has not yet made a move. The right deal must include the player (or players) that make this team better, while giving the team the most bang for its buck and also maximizing the assets the Lakers have to give up. Finding the deal that does all those things isn’t always easy.

All this being the case, maybe a deal won’t be made. I think we’re all a bit hopeful something is done to improve the team, but the fans’ definition of improved may differ from that of the coaches or the front office. So until the 15th of this month, we wait. Wait for the deal that may or may not come; wait for the team to play at the high level they’ve shown they can reach on a more consistent basis than they’ve been able to show for most of this year.