The Lakers play their first of two games against the Jazz on Thursday, a team that many think the Lakers will be battling with for one of the 10 through 12 seeds in the West this year. The Jazz offer a team of young veterans, a team that inside their franchise, hopes takes a big step forward as their young talent matures and starts to learn how to win.
Part of that growth will surely be due to new head coach Quin Snyder, the former Lakers’ assistant on Mike Brown’s staff who spent the last two seasons as an assistant in Russia (under Ettore Messina) and Atlanta with the Hawks. Snyder is the type of young, energetic, and up and coming candidate I wish the Lakers would have looked to hire, but he instead brings his coaching acumen to the Jazz where he will look to grow with this developing roster and turn them into a playoff team in the stacked West. But I digress.
The Lakers come into this game banged up and offering little of substance besides Kobe on the wing. Steve Nash was ruled out of this game after reinjuring his back after lifting luggage while Lin (sprained ankle), Young (thumb), Xavier Henry (several ailments), and Ryan Kelly are all missing as well. This will leave Ronnie Price at point guard and Wes at small forward to deal with the assortment of Jazz wing-men. I am very interested in seeing how these guys match up with Gordan Hayward, Trey Burke, rookie Dante Exum, and third year pro Alec Burks. All four of these players are intriguing talents and offer nice skill sets.
Add to these players the Jazz bigs — Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, and the emerging Rudy Gobert — and this Utah outfit should give the Lakers a good challenge a nice measuring stick of where they are at this stage of the preseason. Even with all the injuries the Lakers have, they have some size to match up with Utah’s front line while having Kobe on the wing to do battle against the Hayward, Burks, and Exum trio.
It’s Exum who I am particularly interested in seeing. While many (including me) were high on the Australian guard heading into the draft, a lot of that buzz has diminished after the youngster struggled in the Vegas Summer League and could not get off the bench for his native country in the World Championships. Tonight he will get to face off with Kobe in what is a fun match up, even if only in name at this point.
As for the Lakers in general, they are coming off a couple of really bad losses against a Warriors team that severely outclassed them. They face a lesser team than that in this game, but, as noted above, will still be challenged. My hope, however, is that the team continues to jell and show some growth, especially offensively where they have looked out of sync and over-reliant on inefficient shots to try and get buckets.
Where you can watch: 7:00pm start time on TWC Sportsnet and on NBA TV.
Lil pau says
How many people are attending this game? 750? First ten rows are almost entirely empty. Boozer looks horrible, btw…
Joel says
Always good when you can make Dahntay Jones look like a star…
Kevin T says
Kobe has no lift at all. I have never seen him miss layups before. Didn’t want to believe it but it sure looks that way. Well I guess he was great when it mattered, now at 36 with a bunch of miles and the leg injuries it’s not fair to him to be expecting too much. I just hope he stays healthy all year and gives us a few special plays to remember the good old days. Thank you Kobe.
Jerke says
Re Karens “fun” comment last posting – I agree w both sides – yes a losing team is still a losing team no matter what and that sucks – but there is something to be said for a team to be entertaining at least. Yes MDA’s gameplan had holes etc… but at least there was runs and pushes and hot streaks which build excitement and at least give the fans the hope that LA can pull off an upset or catch fire etc… Sure B’Scotts in control/limit pace etc… approach is faux defense and may lead to less blowout losses and perhaps keep the point differential closer on average – but a loss is still a loss – even if its a closer/lower scoring loss. Lowe and other commentators have pointed out in the past that Scott isn’t quite the defensive coach that some might think. Hopefully he’s learned and he gets the defense sorted out a bit then lets the team open up a little bit and doesn’t cater strictly to Kobe postup/isos and long twos. I get wanting to score from close in – but he does realise he has no down low bigs who can do so and purposely limiting outside shooting closes down all the driving lanes. right?
Anonymous says
Miss me now ? Mike D’Antoni
KO says
So please explain. Johnson was terrible last year. This year he is worse. Never mind starting, why is he on the team?
Also Lakers vaunted rookie is very disappointing!
Final complaint. Give it up Nash. Picking up a bad! Really?
Anonymous says
Jim Buss (April 19, 2014)Says He’ll ‘Step Down’ If Unable To Turn Lakers Into Contender.The only thing I’ll accept is Jimbo stepping down.I see no reason to “trust” nepotism.Dr. Buss knew enough to listen to those who knew more about basketball than he did.So far,Jimmy isn’t listening.
Shaun says
Im at halftime since i taped the game and all i can say is we are a mess on both sides of the ball.
We have 0 spacing on offense and the rotation will need to be changed for us to be effective
Kobe cant play like its 06 again and even then we at least had odom, farmar and vucevic to enjoy .. boozer is pretty worthless on the floor except for his 15 foot shot
Randle seems disinterested with this offensive scheme and really we need him to do some classic post game type touches instead of him always facing up and dribbling
Since we had odom to me this seems like the 1st true year that kobe has never had a strong 4/5 on the team and it really hurts his effectiveness
Ita gonna be a long year but hey maybe we keep our pick top 3 pr top 5 protected?
Shaun says
If we somehow get blown out by 20pts for like the 1st 10-20 games … what happens?
rr says
what happens?
—
Boozer hits the end of the bench. Randle starts. Hill and Lin get put on the trading block. Clarkson, Kelly and Davis play a lot. Kobe shoots a lot.
Jerke says
@rr – a week or two ago you added Utah to the mix of Sac/Minn having potentially more upside etc.. than LA in a previous comment I made about western rankings. You were absolutely right. Totally slept on this team – Utah might actually be worth watching this year via league pass etc… for some games to see how those guys play out.
Aaron says
What happens?
——————————-
The FO pats itself on the back and everyone waits to see who we draft. Then we tank for one more year until Kobe’s contract is off the books and we are sitting pretty with loads of cap space and three cost controlled high draft picks to entice 3-4 max free agents (rem the cap will be bigger and we might be able to afford 4) to join the Lakers and this awesome LA weather.
JBN74SB says
Long time lurker, first time poster. Life long laker fan, raised in a hoops family.
The bottom line is that talent wins ball games. We don’t have any. This year will be worse than last. No point in even watching this debacle of a team, at least until randle starts getting 40 minutes a night.
Chris J says
It’s going to be a long, long season.
Brian says
Oh where, Oh Where have you gone, Slava Medvedenko?!!!
With any luck, the Lakers manage to hang on to the Rockets pick this coming year and get a real sleeper/stud player in next year’s draft, somehow sign a high-tier free agent, and send Kobe off into the sunset with one final exciting, contending year. Oh, and the return of a rejuvenated Andrew Bynum and comeback player of the year, Lamar Odom. One can dream … 🙂
Agree says
No way this team is going to be worse than last year if they have Young/Lin/Davis playing healthy this year. If Randle is playing 40mins a game this year, then they will be attempting to break the record for worse record in Lakers history. I’m not too keen on Randle yet, I think he’s a couple years away. The only problem is that Boozer should not be starting, he should be coming off the bench for sure and then let him wander off to some other team next year. Boozer looks even less defensively interested than in the past and he isn’t showing much ability to even rebound anymore. They need to be playing players that they might actually consider keeping after this season.
The Lakers do have some talent for sure, but it’s not on the floor currently. Lin/Young/Davis all show talent–and Clarkson/Randle are definitely future possibilities.
This season is interesting though, depending on which players Scott puts on the floor the majority of the time this team could be anywhere from 30wins with lots of getting blown-out to 40wins with a bit more fight. If it’s the Boozer/Kobe show they are in serious trouble. Overall I agree that from an overall Talent perspective they are in trouble in the West. I still think that Lin/Kobe/Henry/Hill/Davis would be a real solid starting line-up w/ Young coming off the bench with Johnson. Give Boozer some trash time at the 4 off the bench, same with Sacre. But so far its not looking like they are going to do that–so if they try and stick with this ‘veteran’ line-up they are going to get blown out every 1st quarter. They are slow as hell, utterly lack 3 pt shooting and interior shooting and the ability to get to the hole!? So they are left with mid range jump shots, huzzah. Once the season starts and the line-ups and minutes allotments seem to solidify then I will be able to judge if the Lakers are going to be basement or a team that challenges for the 10th-8th seed.
Pat says
Glad to see that Byron is bringing a defensive focus to this team.
KO says
Can it get any worse?
The Giants win the Guants win
They have a real manager. We have DONNIE?
The Lakers are a mess. GS has Jerry West, NY has Phil.
We have Jimmy the Hat.
The defense is worse and not one 3 pointer in 2 games.
Johnson D league
No D in my name Boozer
Nash still stealing money
Randle said he will be rookie of the year! Where the Hong Kong League.
Price has a price. .99 cent store
There is no center although they payed a bunch for one in Down- Hill.
Only thing I have seen from Scott is a angry glare, overworked players and defensive schemes that make Mike D look like a hall of fame coach.
It’s not easy being a long time LA sports fan right now. Think I’ll eat some worms!
Moto says
If I thought last year was painful to watch, I have no words to describe the last two games. My Cuban friends will understand when I say “Que Mierda”.
TheNumberOfFlopsIsTooDamnHigh says
its early after 4 games in the preseason, but not too early for me to see:
the lakers right now offer an uninspired, incompetent and totally outdated brand of basketball.
this is unwatchable. putrid.
i personally don’t believe the FO really thinks they can continue doing this another season without burning through all the brand equity. viewership already declined 40% last year, and time warner is loosing subscriptions left and right. lakers fans of today are not patient enough to endure 4 seasons of painfully shitty basketball and endless loosing. While the business side of things might still look good in the books because of the international appeal of players like Lin and Kobe, continuous loosing will alienate the core fan base and that, my friends, starts a snow ball effect that is hard to stop, and even harder to reverse. so what gives?
JBN74SB says
Agree – Where does the spacing come from in your proposed starting lineup, without any outside or even mid-range shooting? And who guards an athletic 3?
I have thus far been thoroughly underwhelmed with Randle. However, he is the only player currently on the roster that has a chance to be a quality 2 way player in the league. So, let the young man play and run the offense through him and Kobe.
Agree says
I understand the angst. But, I don’t agree with many posters that seem to completely discount Jordan Hill. IF he can stay healthy and the give the guy 30mins+ a game, he will earn his 9 mill. He is definitely not a true center, but he rebounds like one for sure. He doesn’t jack up a ton of bad shots, and has good mobility even if he lacks some size. The dude put up 14 rebs, 12 pts on 5/7 shooting, 2 blocks in 28 mins last night. He is no star or anything, but if has shown when healthy he is a double double guy. Give him the mins this year. If he stays healthy he’s likely going to be a top 5 rebounder in the league this year–which alone makes 9mill palatable. I would like to see him playing the power forward position though, and Davis at the 5. That way we could put Boozer on the bench, hopefully sharing mins with the Rook, or 3rd PF off the bench if Randle steps up.
Henry/Young/LIn are basically your 3pt guys and none of them have been playing lately. Get those guys in, make Wes J a back-up and use Henry as an slightly undersized 3 or as 2 with Kobe at the 3 depending on match-ups. Have Young/Johnson come off the bench with Sacre getting some junk mins (Give Davis a shot for 30mins a game). That team might be competitive and maybe even scratch the 40 mark. The current line-ups will struggle to scratch 30wins. B.Scott’s “attack the basket” plan only works when you have guys that can do that and Lin/Young out injured and Kobe looking like he’s going to be basically a jumpshooter makes for almost not “attack the basket” talent playing lately. I’m confident this team will be superior to last years, once they get everyone back. My only real worry I suppose is that Bryon doesn’t adapt and decides to basically stick with the same starting line-up he has been running/except insert Lin. Get boozer out of there, he’s a one year rental. Let him cheer on the other guys and occasional go out there to shoot some 15 footers and flex, then get him back on the bench as fast as possible!
Baylor Fan says
It is a little early to go into full panic mode. Lin will do a much better job of running the offense and the 3’s will come. Phil needs at least a year to install the triangle and Byron deserves time too. The defense needs to be rebuilt from the ground up and that is hard to do when you do not know who is in the rotation. Byron can use the preseason to figure out the rotation and the season to teach the defense and offense. Kobe has shown enough that he will be able to get his points each game and continue his assault on the record books.
T. Rogers says
Agree,
My concern with Hill is he is best when playing short minutes. He has an amped up, reckless style of play. That is great for a dirty work, short minutes, energy guy off the bench. But it doesn’t translate well to starters playing major minutes. Hill has also been frequently injured and his style of play is a big reason for that. More minutes for him falls under the law of diminishing returns. Plus, he is really undersized for the center position.
With Lin and Young I don’t know if they are consistent enough shooters. Both of them really need the ball to be effective. And both are terrible defenders. That will kill you in the Western Conference. I do think all three of these guys are improvements over the current starters. But that just takes the games from being 30 point blowouts to 15 point blowouts.
Brian says
The Bad News: This is what being on the bottom looks and feels like.
The Good News: In 19 months Kobe’s contract rolls off the books and the cap goes up significantly. The Lakers should have enough space to sign three max contracts! Can you say turnaround!?
The Unknown: The Lakers are currently perceived around the league as a dumpster fire. Can the Lakers change that perception in the next 19 months? We won’t be the only team with extra cap space. Players not only want to play with other great players but for a stable and solid organization. How do we rehabilitate our image?
Agree says
T. Rogers,
I suppose I agree with your analysis of Hill, that’s what a lot of folks think. But he really hasn’t gotten the chance to play 30mins, even when healthy. He looked good in 28mins last night, give him a shot to do that regularly. Ed Davis is undersized as well as a center, but he’s real athletic which can help. They have Sacre as a big body, but I don’t think you play him much unless your playing the Grizzlies etc where a big body may be necessary.
I think Lin & Young are consistent enough, they both jacked up lots of 3’s last year and shot a good percentage. Everyone has up and down games, but I would rather see them shoot 3’s and drive, then the lakers try and defy logic and reality by having their shot chart look like a middle school game where they kids aren’t strong enough to shoot it past 18 foot yet.
Sure they will still get beat by the real good teams by 15, but they will have some games when Lin/Young/ maybe Kobe light it up and they pull out some wins. Lin/Young are key to this team doing anything offensively b/c they can both drive and shoot 3’s which opens everything up. No matter how you cut it they aren’t winning 48 games or anything. I would be happy with 40 and think they can definitely hit that if they do some things differently (plus KD being out for 2months+ helps). Again, that’s why I think this team is interesting, they have some guys that are really good at a few things and haven’t had a chance to gain consistent minutes. They could be the 2nd worst team in the NBA this year, or maybe be somewhat competitive in a stacked Western conference. I do think they will be better than Philly, and the timberwolves, and the bucks.
Dave says
Brian – The Unknown: The Lakers are currently perceived around the league as a dumpster fire. Can the Lakers change that perception in the next 19 months? We won’t be the only team with extra cap space. Players not only want to play with other great players but for a stable and solid organization. How do we rehabilitate our image?
__
This is my concern too.
Well now that the FO realizes that you can’t quick bake a team with minimum salary FAs and be competitive, I think the reality/ruse (depending on your perspective) of the situation is apparent. The Lakers will be awful these next two years. The Lakers blew every opportunity to make a soft landing (wrong coaches/Nash trade/DHoward/Kobe extension/failure to trade Pau/etc). This indeed is what a crash landing looks like.
The Lakers FO has to stand firm now as there are no quick fixes. The worst thing they can do is try to save face and make moves that have a brief impact in the standings but removes some or all of the flexibility of the summer of 2016. If we play our cards right we’ll be back in the mix for the 2016-17 season.
david h says
hey darius: in case you were thinking this but not necessarily posting this:
as of today; friday october 17th 2014
lakers looked pretty good last nite down the stretch of the 4th quarter when playing Utah’s 3rd string.
wesley johnson; more pathetic; less athletic.
kobe bryant: shooting free throws lately like he needs to make 100 before he goes home after practice.
julius randle: blisters on the feet????
carlos boozer: about a decade too late
coach byron scott: still searching for that combination that works.
laker commentators: sounding more like spectators
laker team: destined for championship; of the d-league.
when I was a kid, there was a show called car 54 where are you? today, that would be the car running the lakers, right into the ground.
happy friday, at least.
go lakers
rr says
From Darius’ Twitter:
Darius Soriano @forumbluegold
Wonder if Jim Buss is nervous about that 3-4 year timeline he put on the team contending with him resigning if they’re not.
rr says
Jerke,
Thank you for your comment. Utah’s long-term problem is that I am not sure that they have a truly elite guy in that crew, unless Exum can be one. But they do have a nice group of young guys who can all be/are pretty good-to-very good, and that means that they are in better shape than the Lakers.
R says
Yeah, well Jimmies timeline is pretty elastic; all the more since he’s the (a) owner.
Oldtimer says
Except for Kobe, laker roster is composed of second stringers. Why? If FO were really interested to help, they should have picked proven players like Stephenson, Ariza, Bazemore Meeks or Kaman who could help in the low post. Is this the price of tanking last season? To acquire Randle who is a long shot? So somebody here suggested to tank again in order to get another Julius-liked talent. If Lakers do not make the playoffs, I think it is time for change in FO and Jim. Let go and let others try a new menu. Scott can’t do it with Kobe alone, it will fail on the get go, please add more talents.
JBN74SB says
For those of you who think this time has a chance to compete for s playoff spot, take a look at the first month of the schedule. Could easily be 0-13 heading into game against Denver. It’s going to be a bloodbath.
T. Rogers says
Utah has a nice core of young players. They will be very exciting to watch this season. League pass will be wonderful for me this season.
P. Ami says
KO- The Stanley Cup is nice. The Dodgers won the west and for Clippers fans this looks like a good season. Plus, we get to watch Kobe again. LA is not all bad.
I’ve seen Kobe miss gimmies before. It is not uncommon for him to do so in the preseason.
I have seen not a thing to dissuade me from the idea that Byron Scott is a bad coach. I’ve had long conversations with a media member covering the team and when I expressed my thoughts about Scott his best argument was that his time in Cleveland should be taken off the ledger and he blamed subpar showings in NO on CP3. I see things differently, but we respectfully disagreed. I thought the most meaningful thing he said after I gave all my reasons for why I think the Lakers have made a ton of mistakes in the last few off seasons was that the Lakers are not marketing to people who understand basketball. The majority of the market does not understand the game very well.
Most reporters either work for the NBA, the team or a news outlet that is more concerned with access and eyeballs than it is in truth telling, This is why Bill Simmons was suspended. The NBA sheep will follow the story lines that the news outlets will sell us until the next story comes along. This is a frustrating environment but at least we have this site where analysis matters. Analysis takes time and frankly, we don’t have enough data. What we do have is a situation trending in the wrong direction. Another few weeks of this and I’ll be spending lots of time on the DX site again.
Darius Soriano says
rr,
Indeed. He was pretty clear about this &, frankly, he probably should have not put that out there. This team is not very good & Scott, though very early, is already showing several of the traits that concerned me when his canidacy became legitimate.
George says
Brian: The Unknown: The Lakers are currently perceived around the league as a dumpster fire. Can the Lakers change that perception in the next 19 months? We won’t be the only team with extra cap space. Players not only want to play with other great players but for a stable and solid organization. How do we rehabilitate our image?
____
You must listen to Colin Cowherd, as he refers to the Lakers as a ‘dumpster fire’ all the time.
I think the Jeannie and Jim are going to have to realize that its best for the organization if Jim takes a background role going forward. They will need to either elevate Mitch and bring in a young stud to be the GM or they are going to need to bring in a halo figure like Jerry West to be the face of the franchise and help recruit top tier FAs.
Agree says
Clearly we don’t have a good idea of how the ‘team’ is going to be with 3 of their top 6 players out with injuries (and I’m not counting Nash whom I never believed was going to play anyway).
IF B. Scott would have just said things like, “we will attack the basket and look to get good looks at open 3’s. I don’t want guys jacking up contested 3’s if we can get open looks we will shoot 20 of them a game. We will try and use our attacks to open up corner 3’s and we have some guys who have shot 40% from the corners before.” The 10-15 comment, plus the lack of 3pt shooters leading the Lakers to have shot less 3’s as a team than nearly 30 individual players already is the stuff that ruffles my feathers.
I was fairly open minded about Coach Scott, but not optimistic in the slightest. If Lin/Kobe are attacking, they use PnR liberally with Ed Davis who rolls and shows some amazing ability to get to the hoop, and Scott pushes for Young/Henry/Lin to shoot 3’s anytime they are wide open–then good.
This isn’t hoosiers, they don’t need to be doing all the ‘get rid of the ball’ and run around crap. Good offense beats good defense in the NBA. Defense is needed, but the best offense usually wins out. This isn’t the 80’s where defenses could hand check and man handle people–making defense a much tougher component. Those days are over its pass, shoot, run the court and place decent defense. So far its not looking like they are doing any of those things, so let the youngins play. Honestly, I would rather watch Randle shoot 15 footers at this point then boozer, since maybe someday Randle will be a key part of the team. Bah on all that “boozer can play another 3-4 years” the FO was spewing.
rr says
Jim made that statement in April of 2014, when Phil joined the Knicks. Here’s the quote:
“I was laying myself on the line by saying, if this doesn’t work in three to four years, if we’re not back on the top — and the definition of top means contending for the Western Conference, contending for a championship — then I will step down because that means I have failed,” he told The Times about the meeting. “I don’t know if you can fire yourself if you own the team … but what I would say is I’d walk away and you guys figure out who’s going to run basketball operations because I obviously couldn’t do the job.
“There’s no question in my mind we will accomplish success. I’m not worried about putting myself on the line.”
________________
So, I think Jim’s hope/belief/plan is, basically, what optimistic people have been saying here: the Lakers will add a couple of good guys through the draft, having started with Randle, and then will use the new, enlarged cap to score huge in FA in the summers of 2016 and/or 2017 after Kobe is off the books. Obviously it is not that simple, but that is a key part of it. Even Zach Lowe talked about this in his article on the new TV contract, referring to the Lakers with cap space and a huge cap as the league’s “ultimate bogeyman.”
Frankly, I am skeptical. Baylor and West were drafted. Magic and Worthy were drafted after the Lakers acquired picks from notoriously inept owners, one of whom was so terrible (Ted Stepien) that the league named a rule after him. Kobe was acquired due to the foresight of Jerry West, both in seeing how good Kobe was and in drafting Vlade Divac at a time when no one was drafting international players. Shaq came here at a time before the cap and at a time when the entertainment business, which he wanted to be in, was different than it is now, and joined a pretty decent team. Kareem was born in New York and had ties to LA, and was willing to join a weak team since he had already won everywhere. Pau was the result of shrewd drafting and a shrewd trade. Wilt was paid 250K in an era when Jerry West was making 100.
Now, you can produce TV shows or be in kids’ movies even if you play in OKC or Cleveland, and the Lakers are competing against guys like Ballmer, Allen, and Cuban and the new breed of analytical FOs; CA has very high state income tax, and there is the cap.
So, while it may come to pass, the Lakers getting back on top, given the current NBA chessboard, is going to be very difficult, and it will take some stuff happening that is as good as the bad stuff that had happened lately for Jim to meet his self-imposed deadline.
Anonymous says
Dave: The Lakers FO has to stand firm now as there are no quick fixes. The worst thing they can do is try to save face and make moves that have a brief impact in the standings but removes some or all of the flexibility of the summer of 2016. If we play our cards right we’ll be back in the mix for the 2016-17 season.
___
I agree. Laker fans are not out of the woods yet. The Buss kids could go on a Prokhorovian spending spree this summer and bring in a bunch of 30+ year old vets in an effort to make the playoffs next year. That would all but guarantee that we would be mediocre for the rest of the decade.
Jeannie and Jim do the right thing – just hold on for 19 months!
BigCitySid says
Let’s face it, Dwight Howard made the right decision.
KO says
Great Sid
So did Yugoslavia in WW2. How’d did that work out? Says guy with Serbian Wife????
Agree says
OK so Byron Scott reiterated information about the Lakers only shooting “12-15”. His belief (mostly delusional, unless he isn’t a fan of math) that teams only “make the playoffs” but don’t go deep is crazy town. Clearly teams don’t win solely on 3pters but the Spurs did pretty well and they shoot a ton of 3’s. The lakers need to be averaging around 20 threes a game to even have a shot of hanging with the big boy teams.
If this truly is the offensive mindset of this team from the Coach, perhaps they will be lucky to win as many games as last years D’Antoni led team. The math is pretty simple 33% from 3pt land is the same as 50% from 2pt land. So even below average NBA 3 pt shooters generally should shoot a decently open 3pter unless they have a layoff/dunk. No way most of these cats are going to be shooting 50% from the field, maybe Davis/Hill.
Maybe getting blown out will start to change his tune once it happens in the regular season. Is this Bizzarro world basketball, are they changing the rules back to the 80’s again? So the team can focus on defense by “Its ok to foul alot b/c that’s being aggressive and the refs will stop calling it once they realize the Lakers are Hackers?” I just hope that Lin/Young/Henry/Kobe light it up from 3pt land win some games and Byron realizes that they aren’t going to win games with this crew by dominating the paint and magically play amazing defense without the size/athletes to do so–no matter how hard they try.
jerke says
Nba radio killing Scott this afternoon – last 2 games lakers have taken 95 mid range shots vs 8 three pointers.
Robert says
jerke: My post in mod might amuse you. In the interim: I am guessing he is getting trashed on NBA radio as follows: What was he thinking taking that job? : )
mud says
what the hell did anyone expect to happen with 4 or more guys who will NOT make the team playing?
Snoopy2006 says
From Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com:
I asked Lakers coach Byron Scott about his philosophy on 3-pointers. “I don’t believe it wins championships. (It) gets you to the playoffs.”
This guy is an absolute clown. Once he was hired I tried to tell myself I was being overly pessimistic, but everything we’ve seen from Scott so far (in a limited sample size) suggests he’s clueless and behind-the-times. He’s going to get skewered by the blogosphere this year.
DJ says
Scott did not watched NBA Finals in the last few years ? from the beginning, i don’t like the hiring of Scott either. I think this will be the long season for Lakers, we should be ready for the worst.
Oldtimer says
I still have faith on the Lakers, once the producers start playing with right chemistry, then our team could run with the cheetahs. If Ellington wants to be a Laker, this is the time to show his worth. Scott believes in perimeter shooting as well as outside shots but there has to be a right mixture of a dominant inside play thereby freeing the perimeter. Boozer is slow and lazy to dominate the boards. Hill is a small Center while Wesley disappears in games, a moody player!. Therefore, where was the remaining offense would come from, Kobe and Price. Then comes the subs who are all applicants, by 2ndQ Lakers were behind by huge margin.
There is still time to re-seed this team with abled bodies, how about trying Okafor? Avoid those “China eggs” like Smith, Brown or Appling, it is a waste of pre season games. Get some Euros who can drill threes
Matt says
The recent comments from various sources (FBG and national media) about Scott’s irrational stance on 3 point shots has me very concerned. If the FO has blown yet another head coaching selection then there has to be some changes in how they move forward.
I was not an advocate of Byron but was OK with the hire because I thought while not a dynamic coach at least he would do little harm. If he ends up being in over his head then this would have to be an indictment on the FO.
I won’t be holding my breath…
rr says
what the hell did anyone expect to happen with 4 or more guys who will NOT make the team playing?
==
Price and Ellington are the only guys who will not make the team and played heavy minutes. Appling went 17 as well, but 4 of Scott’s 5 starters played, and they played as many minutes as Utah’s starters did. Also, since the game was in garbage time early, Utah played several guys who won’t make their team. Utah is very likely a lottery team, and they beat the Lakers by 33 in LA.
Certainly, the Lakers will look better with Lin, Young, Henry and Kelly, and people are as concerned with some early indicators on Scott as they with the loss. But b2b home losses by 33 and 41, even in preseason, are a bad sign, to say the least.
karen says
Reread “thenumberofflopsistoodamnhigh”. Perfectly said. A putrid boring outdated brand of basketball scott is coaching. Funny we aren’t hearing anything from magic johnson who completely trashed diantoni every chance he could get
Robert says
karen: I just re-read it. “not patient enough to endure 4 seasons of painfully sh*itty basketball and endless loosing.” That means the last 3 plus this one. No argument from me.
mud says
a terrible sign, but not unexpected, rr.
and so what? if they’re bad, eh, no one expected otherwise. if they can somehow get it together, that will be fun.
rr says
if they’re bad, eh, no one expected otherwise
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Go back and read the posts from 3-4 weeks ago, and then read the posts from after the Denver game.
mud says
read what?
people get excited by wins and depressed by losses. all obvious.
i still think that team can win. i still see that it’s unlikely, but it’s possible. i didn’t like the beat-down, but i don’t think that it’s necessarily a sign of fatality.
but besides all that rr, what are you so worked up about?
KenOak says
lmao- Aaron might be right. Why would Byron Scott say this when his teams don’t typically play that way *and his best record as a coach came on a team that shot a ton of 3 pointers.
Scott on shooting 3 pointers ” I don’t believe it wins championships, nor gets you to the playoffs.”
**I can’t take credit for actually gathering these stats- I found them on a Reddit post**
Proportion of 3PA to the total FGA for each team that won the last 10 chips. Here’s what I’ve got based on your links:
2014 Spurs – 25.7%
2013 Heat – 28.5%
2012 Heat – 19.8%
2011 Mavs – 27.4%
2010 Lakers – 22.7%
2009 Lakers – 21.7%
2008 Celtics – 24.9%
2007 Spurs – 24.7%
2006 Heat – 22.7%
2005 Spurs – 21.6%
Here’s the same stats for Scott coached teams since he took over the Hornets:
2013 Cavs – 22.9%
2012 Cavs – 23.8%
2011 Cavs – 22.4%
2009 Hornets – 24.0%
2008 Hornets – 25.5%
2007 Hornets – 18.5%
2006 Hornets – 13.3%
2005 Hornets – 20.5%
Seems pretty crazy for him to say this and even crazier if he believes it.
BigCitySid says
The results of an ESPN nationwide poll asking if Kobe’s #40 ranking is too low, too high, or about right by state. Cali results are interesting.
http://espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=nba&pollId=4545331
BigCitySid says
Good news/bad news post:
The good: Lakers still have 10 days to go until the games count. 🙂
The bad: Lakers only have 10 days to go until the games count. 🙁
gene says
More free throws attacking instead of shooting 3’s ….That is a plus for shooting more 2’s….
Aaron says
KenOak,
It was very obvious from the start. I would like to give myself credit and tell everyone this is a covert tanking job. But as everyone knows I said this was a very overt tank (as long as you aren’t easily brainwashed). People too often just take things at face value. But if you logically looked at the sittuation and motives like I said… Impossible to think of another possibility than an over tank job.
T Rogers says
Three pointers open up lanes to the hoop. If a team doesn’t take and hit a decent number of threes defenses will just pack the paint on them.
These days teams can’t get any action in the post without well spaced long range threats. But I’m sure Scott knows this. I don’t know what to make of his comments.
mud says
T Rogers, there’s nothing to make of his comments. that’s what the “news” folks do to sell advertising.
if you want an opinion, my opinion is that he wants the players to play a certain way, and so he’s forcing them to do that by taking away the 3s. he doesn’t want them just jacking up shots. i’m sure that there will be enough 3s taken by the end of the season.
ceartas says
Here’s my gripefest.
I’m 65, overweight, have sciatica (but can lift my own luggage) and don’t wanna wait years to see good, fun basketball. I’ve resigned myself to the idea that I may be dead before the Lakers win another championship, but why the eff can’t it at least be entertaining? How is it possible that I waited the entire off-season with only FIBA to satisfy my cravings, only to long for the good old days of D’Antoni? Permission to vomit?
The only way I can see this style of play ever working is if you have a DOMINANT, true, back-to-the-basket, seven-foot center, who can either overpower (Wilt, Shaq) or out-finesse (Kareem) his opponent(s) and can pass out of the double/triple team. A guy that’s a threat to score 30 and makes a lot of 3-point plays the old-fashioned way. A guy who puts the opposing team in foul trouble. Looking around the league, that guy doesn’t exist, so….WTF?
I say put the kids in with Kobe, Lin and Swaggy and let ’em run. Might even win a few games. But if we MUST watch a rout, at least make it fun.
KenOak says
Blake Griffin cracks me up. He doesn’t get fouled nearly as much, or as hard, as Shaq did. Shaq was fouled so much around the neck and elbows that he developed abdominal issues. Get over yourself and man up Griffin. And the foul by Booker wasn’t even that bad!
rr says
3PA and Scott: As I noted earlier in the week, last year, Memphis was last in the NBA in 3PA at 14/game. My guess is that when/if Lin, Henry, Young, and Kelly can all go, the Lakers will be taking a reasonable, if low, number of 3s per game. As DS and other analysts have noted the last few days, one issue there is that the Lakers don’t have a big guy they can run the O through and to, whereas Memphis has Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. Maybe the FO thought that Boozer could do some of that, but he can’t anymore.
But, again, that is because other than maybe Kobe, the Lakers don’t have any really good players. Lin, Hill, and Davis are all OK-to-slightly-above, but that’s it. Henry, Kelly, and Johnson are borderline rotation guys with 1-3 skills. Kelly and Henry are young enough that they might get a little better. Clarkson and Randle are rookies who might be pretty good or even very good, but even if they are, it will take some time. Boozer isn’t very good anymore, and Nash’s body is gone. And Kobe is 36. The team also lacks guys with discrete, elite skills. There is no elite rim protector or 3P shooter, no elite perimeter defender, no elite big who can draw attention to the post, and no elite distributor. Kobe is probably still a very good scorer, and Hill can really hit the glass. But the Lakers are mostly just a bunch of guys in NBA terms.
As to the coaching culture wars, I can see why MDA defenders and people who were against the Scott hire are going at it a little, but a couple of points:
1. One reason that MDA was hired was that he is supposed to be a “fun” coach, and therefore could connect with Howard, who has always made a point of saying that he likes to have fun when he plays. Everybody remembers the SI cover with Nash and Howard before the 2013 season when Brown was still the coach (this is going to be fun!). The fact that the opposite happened is partly on the FO, since Howard said he wanted Phil; partly on Howard since he is not an easy guy to deal with, it is partly on Kobe; and it is partly on no one at all since people have the right to make certain choices about who they work with and how they work. But all of it is also partly on MDA, and people defending him and trashing Scott need to remember that. Helping to keep Howard here was one of the main things the coach who replaced Brown needed to be able to do, and D’Antoni failed miserably in his part of that.
2. That said, there was no reason, based on the track records of the two guys, to believe that Scott would be any sort of big upgrade on D’Antoni, and obviously, nothing that Scott has either said or done up to now would indicate otherwise. But we are only four preseason games in, and the team is short-handed, as it always seems to be, so I think people should wait awhile before they start killing Scott every day.
Aaron says
Again… Scott and the Lakers don’t know less than a YMCA coach. They don’t think this offensive philosophy will help them win games or championships. This needs to stop. Only sheep could believe what they are selling.
rr says
Aaron,
As was the case with your LeBron/Melo/Cousins theory, your double-think tank theory has holes in it that you could drive an 18-wheeler through. You should consider how that one worked out for you. Cousins re-signed in Sacto and James never considered coming here. In addition to that, it is just as easy to make you the sheep in this scenario, since you are operating based on the idea that the Lakers’ FO is very shrewd and calculating. It is generally not a good idea to presume that people in power always know what they are doing.
sufian says
Seriously, this guy Aaron is annoying with his tanking theories. Stop it already.
JBN74SB says
Sufian – Your last 7 words are uneccessarry.
The Dane says
Have any of you followed the career of Larry Sanders from the Bucks? I think he might be the kind of player that would match perfectly with an aging Kobe and a “not the longest” 4 in Randle. There are several ways the Lakers could go after him, but what is the general impression of the guy around here?
mud says
i think the worst thing that the Lakers have done lately, is that everyone seems to want to get the ball and do everything themselves. this must be at least partly responsible for the bad offense…
J C says
Maybe if we start the regular season 0-5 they’ll fire Byron and beg Phil to come back.
Oh – Phil took another job?
There’s only one guy who can save this team now.
Christopher “Doc” Lloyd and his Delorean.
Back to the future!
rubenowski says
Actually, I think Aaron’s tanking theory makes a lot of sense this time. I agree with Aaron for once.
JBN74SB says
Sanders can’t shoot. Need spacing. Regardless, this season is a lost cause. Dark times to be a Lakers fan…
Matt says
Sanders has an expensive and lengthy contract plus he can’t stay healthy. He’s the type of acquisition that Jim needs to avoid so he doesn’t screw up all the cap space of the Summer of2016.
rr says
Have any of you followed the career of Larry Sanders from the Bucks?
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Yeah. I was one of a few people here who brought him up last year.