The Lakers finished their weekend as many who travel to Las Vegas typically do: quietly. They lost to the new York Knicks and aside from a few bursts, were never particularly close. Winning or losing in the summer league isn’t a huge issue, the more important outcome is progress, and it’s kinda hard to find progress in a game where the Lakers scored five points in the first quarter.
Russell took a minor step back in this game, still looking tentative in attacking quickly. It’s fairly obvious he’s till getting used to creases in the defense closing as quickly as they do at this level. Mark Madsen opted for Jabari Brown instead of Russell down the stretch of a single-digit game.
Read that sentence again. That’s not ideal.
The rotation on the whole was confusing. Part of that might have to do with getting a rotation player back, so figuring out how to dole those minutes out can take some adjusting by the coaches. One would think it’s at least fairly simple, though. Dwight Buycks’ minutes should go to Jabari Brown. We’ll see how that plays out as the team gets into the tournament format.
Brown did play pretty well. He hit the open threes he’ll need to if he wants consistent minutes. It would be nice to see him improve his decision making in transition. He tends to put his head down and charge forward, versus keeping his head up to find a teammate with a better chance at scoring than he has jumping into defenders.
One thing stood out more than anything else: When the Lakers play with pace, they looked like a much better team. Madsen and Byron Scott’s Princeton sets move at a glacial pace, so when the play doesn’t work out, guys are forced to run isolations, which rarely went well. Tarik Black’s inability to find outlet guards severely slows the team down, so he and the rest of the Lakers’ bigs will have to work on getting the pass out more quickly moving forward.
Julius Randle again struggled to finish at the basket today. It’s great to see him get to the spots he wants to attack from, but the finishing has been an issue all weekend. We could chalk it up to rust, which is completely fair, but if the issue continues, running isolation sets for him won’t make much sense. As the game went on, it become clear defenders were comfortable giving Randle space, so at some point, Randle will probably need to add some kind of midrange jumper to keep defenses honest.
Stat of the Day: Jabari Brown and Louis Labeyrie combined for one of the most random NBA feuds of all time. On a day where Peja Stojakovic was walking around the arena, it was pretty hilarious to find Labeyrie draw the ire of Lakers fans.
Zed says
Is Madsen even coaching? It looks like they have absolutely no offense? It’s embarrasing. Unorganized. And worse… Unentertaining.
Chobe Bryant says
It was an ugly sight to see on both sides of the ball. I’m growing concerned with Randle – for the last three games he’s charging to the basket, trying to outmuscle his defender and forcing shots up. Passing the rock is like an afterthought. It’s great that he can grab the rebound and initiate the break, but I think he’s very far from having Lamar Odom’s (for example) court vision.
Anyhow, the Lakers could benefit from adding a veteran point guard. Jabari Brown is a great scorer, but he has blinders on as well. It would benefit the young PGs we have.
I was really looking forward to watching the Lakers this Saturday in Las Vegas, but it’s looking pretty doubtful they will be playing in the tourney.
MeThatsWho says
0-82???
Baylor Fan says
Remind me: why were the A-list free agents supposed to come to the Lakers? It is still way too early to get excited or depressed about the team but these players need a lot more experience before they will be competitive.
J.T. says
I can’t believe I counted down the days until the Lakers first summer league game with enormous excitement, and then when it finally arrived, they display a crappy product like this. Summer League was supposed to get my hopes up for the future of the franchise I love so much, and now I feel like I’ve lost all hope. SMH
sharky towers says
Madsen blaming the day off is a huge cop-out. The Lakers have a problem with their coaching (and their hiring decisions with regards to coaches) period. Watching the Jazz and knowing we had a quality young coach in Quin Snyder who WAS here kills me. This is not an overreaction to one game, this has been my position for years now.
Anyway… enjoy the ride… weeeeeeee!
Oldtimer says
I agree Baylor Fan, it’d take sometime before they acclimatized to NBA game.
Regular season should start with 1 Lou Williams 2: Jordan Clarkson 3. Kobe 4 Brandon Bass and 5 Roy Hibbert. The kids should observe and play during practices as they find their groove. Right now, if they play in this manner in the regular season, they get frustrated and develop furthermore bad habits in their young career. .
George says
Not giving up on the kids, however, they are likely not going to create any momentum heading into the season. I think they will need time.
Mitch will need to reassess his playoff prediction and Jim will have to figure out another way to attract two max free agents.
Gene says
Russell seems slow running up the court WITH the ball….Fastbreaks are hard to come up with when your point guard isn’t fast……
lakeshow says
the coaches are awful!
Kevin says
I don’t think the Lakers will make enough progress to attract Jim’s two elite FAs. This rebuild is going to take longer than Jim’s time clock will allow. If the kids struggle into next year I think Mitch is gone too.
Dodi Al Fayed says
I’m still in the dark as to why Madsen is running the summer league team, given the fact there are at least 3 possible starters playing right now. Can someone please enlighten me?
Unlike the Lakers princeton sets, I did recognize the triangle that the knicks were trying to run. I truly hope and will pray that the product that we are seeing with the Lakers is an aberration and not the norm that we will see during the regular season.
I don’t think we currently have inept players, even on this summer squad. I do, however, believe we run an antiquated system with a head coach that still doesn’t believe that 3’s win championships.
Oh, hi, Golden State!
KJ says
i like the play of nance, clarkson and that is about it. Disappointed in the ball movement of this team. That 1st quarter was the worst quarter of basketball I have ever seen by professionals. Russell looks super tight and he is playing awful. Turnover machine. Did the lakers make a mistake? We won’t know for a couple years. But okafor sure looks a lot more comfortable in the big leagues than flow.
Craig W. says
This offense, if you could call it that, does not take advantage of our player’s strengths – it should be junked. This looked worse than streetball today.
TheNumberOfFlopsIsTooDamnHigh says
Let me point out one thing again: it is one thing to watch a game on TV and another thing to sit 3rd row courtside. I usually can’t afford to do that during the regular season (let alone the playoffs) but the summer league afforded me the opportunity again this year.
And like I’ve said before, it is so much more telling! The differences in talent level become amplified. You just see the difference crystal clear, and it isn’t even something that is reflected in the box score or in a win-loss stat.
It is seeing whether a player can dominate and find ways to impact the game any which way possible, regardless of position or physical attributes.
This really isn’t necessarily just about superior athleticism either, or crazy handles, size or “court vision”. It is something you can’t quite put your finger on or explain it, but you see it when you are there live and up-close.
What I’ve been looking at so far is that every team we played looked more in sync, fluid and better organized than us, offensively as well as defensively, and both collectively as well as individually.
No matter if you look at consensus high ceiling guys like Mudiay, Okafor, Willie Cauley-Stein or more risk/obscure prospects such as Bobby Portis (Chicago), Mario Hezonja, Porzingis or Cameron Payne (just to name a few), they all look more talented, dominant and ready to contribute to a playoff push than our supposedly superstars in the making Russel and Randle.
And everyone who says its only summer league be damned, all those picks (except Randle coming out of a long rehab) and all the teams on the floor are in the exact same situation than we are.
I am not a scout or coach, and I am now wondering how different the impression is that one gets from an individual work out setting vs. an actual 5 on 5 match up (whether thats d-league level or whatever should not make any difference to see what you need to see).
But I can tell you this much: had I seen Porzingis in a game like set-up before the draft there is no way I would have picked Russel over him. And that’s just one example.
I have great respect for and trust in Mitch, after all he did pull Clarkson out of the hat, as well as taking a chance on Upshaw, and he picked LARRY with 27 (which was a shocker to every one at first I think) and he somehow dug up Tarik Black, who I think will all turn out to be good picks, but I am just really down on our chances to have a significantly better season than last year.
Everyone wants to see Russel and Randle get starter minutes and see them develop fast, but I am convinced that this would be a complete disaster in the wins/loss column.
And again, I don’t care how small the sample size, you can just tell who’s talent level is going to contribute early and who’s isn’t, based on the actual eye test.
I hope I’m wrong, because I just can’t bear another suck season of 20 something wins guys.
Kbj says
I want to say anybody who thinks this team is making the playoffs is insane. Also, forget about Durant. He’s not coming.
Russell needs to have a good game soon. He can’t continue to get outplayed by guys like Pierre Jackson and Jerian Grant. I know he’s 19, but he looks awful out there. Same goes for Randle even though I guess Randle has the excuse of coming back from injury.
Radmd says
Being the number 2 pick for LAL ahead of Okafor has “created” some pressure for Russell. I wonder if he would have performed better if he had been a lower pick. He has shown flashes of brillance with some of his passes, but he seems to have already let the pressure get to him a little. Nevertheless, one can see that he definitely seems much more interested in passing than Clarkson, but his lack of athleticism is somewhat concerning. I have yet to see him blow by any defender on his own. It’s obviously too early, but could Skip Bayless’s opinion about Russell have been right? He said on first take that he had watched him several times and just doesn’t see the hype about Russell. Immediately after the LAL picked him he tweeted that the Lakers just made an all-time bad mistake! The Laker fans really need a breakout game from Russell in the summer league. Give us just one please so we can hope!?
It certainly looks like pairing him with Clarkson is not a good idea.
Clarkson is playing rather selfishly. We know what we have with JC, a shoot-first combo guard, who shoots the 3 rather poorly but is athletic and can hit the midrange shot and finish decently at the basket.
Anthony Brown so far looks like the best of the three picks relative to where he was drafted. Larry Nance hussels but has no offensive game. Doesn’t even look at the basket ever when he gets the ball, and immediately gives it back to the guards. I think he has missed all of his open outside shots.
Vasheed says
About the only positive has been Nance. I’m not sure what should be gleamed from this with what seems like there is no game plan. I didn’t like what I saw at all, when the Zinger layed the ball in the hoop over Randle. Too easy. >_< A few of Russell's TO's should have been assists. The back court fling was ugly.
I think normally Clarkson would be seated by now for the summer to allow other players to get minutes but, they want to see him and Russell play together. However, it seems to be stagnating the offense as players are watching Clarkson.
grumpy says
Like a lot of other people here, I’m blaming a good chunk of this ugly game on the coaching staff. The players look like they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing and the only plays they seem to run is the pick and roll or isolations. The ball movement was absolutely atrocious.
Kimberly says
#firebyronscott
Should start trending…
I’m just very worried about our FO. Kupchak seems pretty with it when he talks… Excepts when it comes to byron.
I recall when thibodeau was fired from bulls a few months ago, and there were rumors of firing byron then- kupchak took to the media and stated that the lakers were “incredibly happy” with byron. I just don’t get it.
I really just don’t get it.
I just don’t get it.
Kimberly says
I can’t overstate how much I agree with those who lay the blame of the awful play on the coaching staff.
Our team has been playing against OTHER SL TEAMS. There should be no excuse about not having enough time to gel etc… Our rooks are essentially playing against other rooks. Every team has had the same amt of time to gel- we supposedly have more talent.
There is no reason to play Buycks and J.Brown over Russell. No reason to sit Russell during the last stretch unless he was injured.
Our coaching staff is unreal in incompetence. Madsen seems like a nice guy. While he graduated from Stanford, and thus presumably have some smarts, he seems like a total byron puppet.
*Think we should go for a Steve kerr like coach… Brent Barry anyone??
Phil says
I’m a long time lurker that never posts, but I had to say something here. There’s a lot of hysterics and overreaction to a few bad summer league games.
I’d like to remind everyone that people that the summer league is full of weird performances that mean nothing. To wit:
When D-Rose and Beasley went head-to-head in the first summer league game when they went 1-2 in the draft, Rose scored an inefficient 10 points and Beasley went off for 28 and 9, and everyone was freaking out that Rose was the wrong pick.
The Sonics with Durant lost all 5 games and he was roasted by some blogs for his inefficient shooting and one-dimensional game.
http://wagesofwins.com/2007/07/21/durant-disappoints-again/
Tim Duncan was SCHOOLED by Greg Ostertag. Melo was dominated by Nikoloz Tskitishvili. Guys like DeAndre Jordan, David West, Serge Ibaka were unmitigated disasters.
Meanwhile, guys like Jordan McRae, Russ Smith, Cody Zeller, Ian Clark, Kelly Olynyk, Jacob Pullen, Kent Bazemore, Anthony Randolph, Andray Blatche, Authyus Jeffers, Austin Daye look like future superstars. Nate Robinson had his freaking jersey retired because he was such a summer league legend. Oh, remember our summer league stars Derrick Caracter and Andrew Goudelock? No? There’s a reason for that. NOBODY EFFING CARES ABOUT SUMMER LEAGUE.
The offensive sets they’re trying to run are just atrocious, creativity-stifling, momentum-killing disasters. I blame the coaching, not the players.
Maybe all these guys turn into busts. Who knows? But there is almost zero correlation between one’s summer league performance and the quality of one’s NBA career. It’s a little early to be freaking out.
Archon says
Randle is an interesting player to project. If we are being honest there is definitely bust potential because he’s a tweener who isn’t an explosive athlete. Guys like that don’t get the benefit of the doubt from refs when they attack the rim so he’s gonna have to finish with finesse instead of power. He has a good first step and good footwork so you see signs. He will absolutely need a functional pull up jumper because teams will just back off and challenge his shot at the rim. Look at how hard Lebron James had to work in the finals with no jumpshot and Randle is smaller and nowhere near the athlete James is.
Mansa says
Folks, I know we haven’t looked good so far, but good lord the, overreaction to these Summer League games are ridiculous. These are young guys trying to get acclimated to the NBA. Randle is coming off injury, Russel is a 19 year old who was hyped up and needs time to get used to the game. And News Flash, Mark Madsen is not our coach. Why don’t we give Byron a chance to coach this team during the actual season and see how the younguns play with some of our vets.
Everyone had high expectations for summer league, and now you’re ready to act like the young guys are busts because they’re struggling. I’m so surprised at the negative reaction. This is SUMMER LEAGUE. It is a learning process.
Kimberly says
Mansa-
With due respect, I don’t think the sentiment is that our players are busts- “news flash” madsen is teaching Byron’s system- the same “system” that has led to his dismal win percentage for the past four years. Byron is by all accounts not an nba caliber coach- not in today’s nba. Not an overreaction at all. Atleast I don’t think i am. Just frustrated that our players will stagnate in developing.
It is seriously a mystery that the lakers FO and kobe find this acceptable….
karen says
have watched all summer league games and am in total disgust what i see with these laker players and the style of play. Get clarkson out of there before he gets injured, black too. Madsen/scott coaching is an embarrassment. Russell is a bust. There are no positives that i see other than clarkson and nance
tankyou says
I’m with those who think Byron Scott is not a good Coach, but NOT b/c of summer league. It seems more than obvious to me watching last season, and then watching all those horrible seasons in Cleveland before the Lakers.
Russel 8 turnovers, and 1 assist. It’s summer league, but come on. I’m certain I could register those same numbers with little problem. Again, the competition he plays against isn’t going to get any easier than this. Currently Russel looks like a D-league projects, I know that’s taboo to send top draft picks to the D-league, but if he doesn’t make major strides by October that’s what he is at this point. Doesn’t mean he still can’t be a good player, but no way this guy should come anywhere near the starting line-up at the begginning of the season.
Honestly, Randle is the guy I’m a bit frustrated with, but for all intensive purposes he is a rookie *again*. So I’ll give him some slack, but at this point it looks like a no brainer to start Brandon Bass. The all veteran starting line-up looks like the only realistic option to start the season. So people better not get too excited to watch Randle/Russel play a ton–b/c I can’t see them making that leap fast enough to be solid rotational players. Let’s just hope that pre-season, practices, and the NBA season can develop them enough that they can be solid rotational players by Jan.
Alanfredffb says
No one is saying that the players are “busts.” Summer League is a training ground and the first opportunity to start to implement offensive and defensive schemes and to develop winning (hopefully) habits. That is certainly true for the young players with contracts. What has been disappointing so far is that there has been little if any of those goals shown in the first three games. There has been far too much individual play, as revealed by the scarcity of assists.
Madsen has shown very little ability to direct the players into positive habits. What we have seen so far is only slightly graduated from streetball. I fear that the development of critically important players such as Russell, Randle and Clarkson will be hampered by this experience rather than improved.
teamn says
Amazing how much content Darius and co have been posting lately!
BigCitySid —
I probably agree that the three youngsters should start, but I wonder if Byron will prefer the vets and the FO will want that approach as well for various reasons.
I also doubted that Byron was the guy to lead a youth movement (I have felt this way since before he was hired and I’m sure I’m not the only poster to say this). That makes it less likely in my mind that Clarkson, Randle, and Russel all start.
We’ll see what happens. It’s very early and there’s a long process ahead for this organization, meaning years.
Michael says
Summer league is a try out. Guys are going to be subbed in and out – even at times when they shouldn´t be. This time is not about winning. It is about learning (for both the players and the coaches). When the actual season starts and if we look this bad, then by all means bring out the noose, and we can collectively chant, flog and lynch the coaching staff. For the meantime we can watch the painful process of a bunch of youngsters figure out how to work within this given system with a short amount of minutes on the floor.
Vasheed says
I’ve been disappointed so far but, I do think Kimberly is right that a large portion of the struggles has stemmed from the game plan being run and the coaching staff. My one solace is that Scott has had some success with point guards in the past.
Steve says
Last night’s game was interesting. I thought the team did a decent job of hanging around especially after a tough start. Going into halftime only down five seemed like a win based on that tough start.
The one big thing that stuck out to me was how the Lakers have really only two guys right now that can get their own shot (Clarkson & Russell). Randle gets to the rim well but it’s clear that opposing scouting reports will challenge him to finish and not foul. Russell is three games into his pro career and we all will have to live with his mistakes. I also have to remind myself that Clarkson is still less than a year into his pro career (if you don’t count summer league). You can see that Russell and Clarkson will both be really good – it’s there and easy to see. What’s left is a bunch of guys who are catch and shoot guy and/or have trouble getting to the paint against summer league competition. So for summer league – the team will only be as successful if Clarkson and Russell both play well, which will free up other guys to make shots.
Let’s not overreact to another loss. I give Madsen credit for sitting Russell – he has to understand that he has to take better of the ball and some players need to sit down in order for that message to sink in. The truth is that the coaching staff had the team in a position to win with under five minutes to go. At that point, the players have to perform and make plays and with Russell on the bench – that leaves only one guy (Clarkson) to can create his own shot.
Moving forward, I would hope that Russell, Randle and Clarkson play more minutes together. Brown hopefully gets more aggressive and perhaps Upshaw and Black can be somewhat a threat in the post. All in all, the team the scores the most easy baskets usually wins and New York made more easy baskets last night.
Go Lakers!
Craig W. says
I think it is silly to even talk about starting three rookies next year – now that is summer league fan talk in action. Only Aaron thinks we should tank to keep our pick next year (top 3 protected).
Folks, our top picks are only 19/20 yrs old. Wiggins won rookie-of-the-year and he didn’t move the win needle for his team. We got the vets for that – decent pickups IMO.
TheNumberOfFlopsIsTooDamnHigh says
Hey Darius, where is my post from last night? Anything wrong with it? It took me forever to write it lol, would like to see what all the other excellent posters on this board think.
J C says
We all know Byron’s not an innovator. He was hired to help uphold the Laker brand because it was suffering. Unfortunately that’s not going away, yet.
Assistant coach Madsen is getting a summer trial just like the players.
Yes it’s only summer league, and also at the same time it would be nice to see our young players play well. So I can understand the calm wai and see posts here as well as the nervous ones.
IMO good things take time. We all knew Okafor would be more polished and it’s already true. How good will Russell get? It’s gonna take time to know. Mitch saw something in him, and the team wanted to pick a point guard rather than a big man. That took some courage. Let’s see what happens.
If the team flops, watch for some shakeup.
They won’t sleep on this through another whole season.
Mansa says
Kimberly – I understand your sentiment, all I’m saying is let’s at least start judging performance based on the season and not a few summer league games. I’m more than willing to give Byron a shot based on his history with developing and coaching PGs. If they have a down year this year, I think Byron is gone. But at least give the man a chance to either coach himself out the door, or prove his worth. I don’t think people realize how bad the players were on our team last year. The gap between Kobe and the next best player was HUGE. When you’re wondering who the second best player is out of Nick Young, Boozer, and Lin, then you have a problem. But the team was always on games and remained competitive. So now let’s see what Byron does with some upgrades in talent and a conscious decision from jump to not let Kobe play himself ragged.
Todd says
Craig W. Folks, our top picks are only 19/20 yrs old. Wiggins won rookie-of-the-year and he didn’t move the win needle for his team. We got the vets for that – decent pickups IMO.
—
Agreed, the vets are decent pickups for roster spots 6 -10. They won’t move the needle (using your term) for the Lakers to the degree that the playoffs are a realistic objective.
The kids (Randle and Russell) will likely struggle for the first half of the season then begin to find their groove in the last part of the year, like Clarkson did. That might be a little optimistic because Jordan was a 22 year old rookie and Randle/Russell are much younger.
I think by any objective perspective the Lakers should be a 30 – 35 win team. You’ve got a decidedly average group of veterans and a group of young players that need time. I’m not being negative, I think to expect more (this year) is not realistic.
The other side of the coin is that our FO has a big fat time bomb strapped to them (by their own doing). It’s looking more and more likely that the time frame for the Lakers to turn the corner will exceed the timer on the bomb. This is where someone has to be a grownup (Jeanie?) and acknowledge what many of us realize – this is going to be a long process. The kids will need time to develop and we need to stay the course. There should be no talk of flipping the kids for win now veterans. Jim and Mitch’s future is secondary to getting this franchise back on track.
Darius Soriano says
Flops,
I can’t find your comment anywhere! It’s not in the spam filter nor was it deleted. Not sure what happened at all. Sorry!
teamn says
Craig W,
I asked yesterday on an earlier post what folks thought the lineup would look like (I realize its early, but I am interested in opinions) and stated that I thought the tension between playing vets vs youngsters, wins vs development would be an interesting plot during the season. At least one poster responded saying the three young guys (Russel, Randle, and Clarkson) should start. In a vacuum, I would probably lean that way myself, but given lots of other considerations, that is probably not likely and perhaps not the best choice. Not sure it would be “silly” (and I am not advocating another tank), but I think its an interesting debate for the franchise.
Personally, I’m in the camp that believes this is a multi-year process, but I recognize that others think things will turn around dramatically next year. Regardless, we need the young guys to show significant growth by the end of the season, whether they start or not. Agree?
Michael says
Looking at recent young teams such as the Sixers, having three players with minimal experience in the starting lineup may be a mistake. I would like to see Clarkson, Russell and Randle all start, although I think Randle might be the first or second guy off the bench.
Renato Afonso says
Look, playing in actual games is the best way to develop young talent but i doesn’t mean anything if they can’t win the starting job. You have to go through trial and error in practice. You have to learn how to be a professional and how to work harder than the guy next to you. It’s not about giving the starting job to the vets just because they’re vets. It’s about giving the starting job to the best professional basketball player, with no regard to age or development. If Randle isn’t better than Bass then we can’t expect him to be better than the opposition night in and night out.
Give them time and if by the all-star game neither Russel or Randle start showing some of that potential then we can start worrying…
Oldtimer says
Rookies are not played on Season One because they have growing pains mojo.
When you graduated from HS and moved to College, were you able to adjust with the laissez-faire lifestyle. No favorite teacher babying you anymore, old professors are grumpy, lazy to explain and expect you to search answer yourself and teaches you the first lesson of what is education?
The same is happening with our rookies. Russell passes are clearly communicated to his teammates because of cramming of the coaching staff. Black is not used to complicated passes, he usually gets the ball through Lin or none at all, his main duty is defense and rebound. This time he is asked to score hotdog passes! Anthony Brown is a shooter but there is no screen play and everybody is doing their one-on-one repertoire, he gets the ball at the last second, do you expect him to excel with his specialty. Nance was elated with all the cheers and attention in previous game, maybe he is confident life in NBA is easy hustle. He didn’t expect Mr. Hustle Fisher will box him out from oblivion.
In totality, Mr. Analytic Maddog gets confuse with his analysis-paralysis, could not decipher a simple offense inside-out and don’t force shots or get fascinated with dribbling to the 24 second clock. No authority figure out there, “if you commit TO, I’ll bench you”. Well, he let problem control the outcome of the game and tell everybody…..it’s a learning process, there was an interruption from the Sin City so the boys were not in sync.
How do we remedy the situation? Back to the drawing board. Engage in tutorial to NBA in order to accelerate their learning before playing on the job. Randle should continue rehab not with injured leg but with his shooting, timing and more practice. It is building the stamina, training the muscles and judgement. My prescription these kids should gradually inserted with the roster as the need arises. Randle and Russell should not be starters. All the rookies should play more games in the D’League as a form of tutorial to NBA 101. I bet under such crash course, by January they will be ready to assimilate and produce with the Vets. Wish we can think of another solution but can’t go back to what was already decided. Time to suck it up and accept Russell and Randle as they are.
Oldtimer says
This is precisely the reason why rookies are not played on Season One because they have growing pains mojo.
When you graduated from HS and moved to College, were you able to adjust with the laissez-faire lifestyle. No favorite teacher babying you anymore, old professors are grumpy, lazy to explain and expect you to search answer yourself and teaches you the first lesson of what is education?
The same is happening with our rookies. Russell passes are clearly communicated to his teammates because of cramming of the coaching staff. Black is not used to complicated passes, he usually gets the ball through Lin or none at all, his main duty is defense and rebound. This time he is asked to score hotdog passes! Anthony Brown is a shooter but there is no screen play and everybody is doing their one-on-one repertoire, he gets the ball at the last second, do you expect him to excel with his specialty. Nance was elated with all the cheers and attention in previous game, maybe he is confident life in NBA is easy hustle. He didn’t expect Mr. Hustle Fisher will box him out from oblivion.
In totality, Mr. Analytic Maddog gets confuse with his analysis-paralysis, could not decipher a simple offense inside-out and don’t force shots or get fascinated with dribbling to the 24 second clock. No authority figure out there, “if you commit TO, I’ll bench you”. Well, he let problem control the outcome of the game and tell everybody…..it’s a learning process, there was an interruption from the Sin City so the boys were not in sync.
How do we remedy the situation? Back to the drawing board. Engage in tutorial to NBA in order to accelerate their learning before playing on the job. Randle should continue rehab not with injured leg but with his shooting, timing and more practice. It is building the stamina, training the muscles and judgement. My prescription these kids should gradually inserted with the roster as the need arises. Randle and Russell should not be starters. All the rookies should play more games in the D’League as a form of tutorial to NBA 101. I bet under such crash course, by January they will be ready to assimilate and produce with the Vets. Wish we can think of another solution but can’t go back to what was already decided. Time to suck it up and accept Russell and Randle as they are.
tankyou says
@teamn, The only spots to me that seem secure in the starting lineup are Clarkson-pg, Kobe-sg (sorry he’s not going to fill the 3 with the roster we have), SF–who knows? PF–Brandon Bass, C-Hibbert. It’s hard to imagine the season starting off with any of the rooks starting. That’s not a line-up that makes me think we will win much this year, but at this point the 2nd stringers defensively will likely be horrible at least until Randle/Russel learn to defend well (hopefully they do). No matter how you cut it, we are going to be a slow team if Kobe is on the floor and Hibbert. Plus Byron seems to prefer the methodical method of having a lousy offense that limits the other teams fast breaks. We have no real knock-down 3 point shooters on the roster at this point, we have a few guys that are low 30’s, and maybe swaggy finds the range again and becomes our lone high % 3 pt guy. I continue to argue that at least for awhile this team will be worse defensively and worse offensively than who we trotted out last year. Its not as if williams is a great 3 pt shooter, and he really is a lousy defender with no size to boot. Bass/Hibbert basically are our defense, maybe the new SF’s make an impact, let’s hope so. I’m going to have to drink beer pre-game if we turn back into a long 2’s team, with even less offensive excitement than last year. B/C Hibbert & Bass aren’t world changers on defense by any means. This may not be a tanking year, but its definitely a developmental one and last hurrah for Kobe year, not much else.
Mid-Wilshire says
My guess on a possible starting line up for the beginning of the season would be as follows:
PG — Clarkson / Russell
SG — Lou Williams / Jabari Brown
SF — Kobe / N. Young / A. Brown
PF — Bass / Randle / Nance
C — Hibbert / Black / Sacre
Upshaw — D League
That would mean that the starters would be the following ages: 23 (Clarkson), 28 (Williams), 37 (Kobe), 30 (Bass), 28 (Hibbert). Average of these possible starters = 29.2 years. This would “protect” the younger players and give them a chance to develop (as Clarkson did last year).
However, by mid-season, the starting 5 could (operative word *could*) be the following:
PG — Russell (20 y.o. on February 23)
SG — Clarkson (23)
SF — Kobe (37)
PF — Randle (20)
C — Hibbert (28)
Average age = 25.6 years.
If some variation of this were to happen, then the Lakers’ youth movement would be very much in evidence. If so, then the Lakers would be embracing their youth movement in a gradual manner rather than going cold turkey for a bunch of young guns starting on day one which would probably not be wise. Therefore, let us not expect Russell and Randle to start day one.
What this means is that a turn around (as I’ve said 600 times before) is a gradual process. This will take years, not months.
So…please, let’s stop the panicking and just watch things play out. This will take time. (See the GS Warriors.) Enjoy the process. Otherwise, you’ll torment yourselves unnecessarily.
LordMo says
Told you guys last year Zach LeVine was the pick! With him at off guard with Clarkson back court would have been set!
Told you this year J Winslow was the pick! Again the back court would have been set!
Clarkson is pissed off and is playing like it. You can tell regardless of what he is saying he does not like the fact the Lakers drafted another PG and tried to trade him away!
We need to give it time but the Lakers ability to spot sure fire cant miss talent which you must do with your lottery picks ain’t looking too good right now!
LordMo says
Be sure to watch Stephen A. and Skip today they have been roasting the Lakers and frankly I must say I’m in agreement. Stephen A. was dead on in saying…You should have not made the pick if you were not sure you had the deal in place! While I know we do not speculate on such here. I’m just using this as an example of the Lakers FO woes. This is going to be painful…only Russell (as in Westbrook!) can save us!!! Come home bro!!! If you are reading this…Please bro we need you homey in the worst way. The home team is hurting!!!
TheNumberOfFlopsIsTooDamnHigh says
Mid-Wilshire, you hit the nail on the head, that is the only line-up that will allow us to even hope for more wins than last season. I would even go further, for the time being, and have Nance back up the 4 until Randle gets his feet back under him. From the looks of it it will take months.
Darius, my post from yesterday showed up after all, but not until this morning. Thanks for responding anyways, you rock man. I’ve said it before, this is the best Lakers board by far, love reading the nuanced and insightful articles and responses.
dxmanners says
anybody booing 19 year olds in July is an idiot.
CHearn says
@tankyou, “This may not be a tanking year, but its definitely a developmental one….”
Thanks for the laugh!
Vasheed says
I would think the Lkaers line up will look like this
PF – Bass / Randle / Lance
SF – Bryant /A. brown/Young
C – Hibbert / Upshaw /Black
PG – Russell / Williams
SG – Clarkson / J. Brown
Cheer leading – Sacre / Kelly
Randle is intended to be the starting PF. Scott pretty much said so but I have doubts he will be able to pull things enough together to start. I’m hopeful at some point during the season Randle will be able to pull it together but I have been bearish on Randle since he was drafted.
Young – Has been in Scott’s dog house so I think he will be marginalized. But at the 3rd slot in depth the only other answer would be Kelly and based on last year that is not happening.
I would expect Hibbert to Play roughly 30 min per game with Upshaw filling in the rest of the minutes clogging up the paint on defense. I expect Black to be brought in situationally to run small ball at center.
Russell is the 2nd pick in the draft. The optics of not starting him look bad. Short of him being a total failure through training camp I expect him to start. I expect him to do better than this though.
Clarkson – Too good to not start but he will spend time at the point too. A lot will be asked of Clarkson this year.
Kelly – Is a situational stretch 4. However, Lance is like a new and improved Kelly without quite as good a stroke. Short of an injury I don’t expect Kelly to see the floor. Not his fault just really crowded again at PF this year.
Sacre is Sacre. He is not a bad player as some her suggest but he is not the defensive presence that Upshaw is or offer the speed of Black. So Sacre rides the bench until an injury requires him to play. As the 14th or 15th guy on the bench this isn’t horrible and Sacre seems to have a cool demeanor to always be ready until needed.
Williams – The winner of the 6th man of the year award would probably expect to come from the bench. I think playing him with the starting line up with Kobe is problematic and also same problem playing him with Young. Functionally a SG but matched up vs other PGs.