Any critique leveled against any team on the second day of the season has many caveats attached to it. For the Lakers, this is especially true. Not only is the “it’s only been one game!” caveat important, so are the ones tied to the team’s youth, the high amount of roster turnover, and the resulting lack of familiarity and continuity which comes with it.
Simply put, any real criticisms should be held off on for now. We really are too early in the season to come to any lasting conclusions. Let’s see what things look like after 15-20 games to get an idea if what we are seeing are actual trends or not.
However, some of the issues we saw in Wednesday’s loss to the Timberwolves aren’t new. This is especially true on offense where the Lakers looked very much like the team they were last season in many ways. And not good ways, either.
In reviewing the game, one play stood out to me that captured many of the team’s issues and encapsulated why they can sometimes struggle in the half-court.
Let’s just explain how the play unfolds:
- The possession starts with Russell walking the ball up, not crossing the mid-court line until there are 20 seconds left on the clock.
- The play begins with a guard to guard entry and then a second pass to the wing where the PF (Randle) makes a catch, not to attack, but to really just let the play’s continuity action continue. The action developing is a cut by the guard who originally made the guard-to-guard pass (Russell) with the second guard (Huertas) also looking to cut to the weak-side.
- Again, Randle is not looking to attack, but instead just wants to reverse the ball back to where it came from at the top of the key. When he finally swings the ball back to Hibbert, there are only 14 seconds left on the clock.
- After Hibbert makes the catch, Huertas circles back to the top and receives a hand-off from Hibbert. When he gets the ball back, there are 10 seconds left on the clock.
- Huertas then looks to Kobe, who is trying to establish position at the mid-post.
- Kobe is fronted, however, and cannot get good position. He then breaks off his spot to gain possession of the ball. When he finally makes his catch, he’s 27 feet from the rim. There are 6 seconds left on the clock.
- Kobe, fully aware of the clock — you can see him sneak a glance at the shot clock above the basket on the opposite end of the floor — turns, faces, recognizes he has some space, and fires up a jumper right as the clock starts to go under the 5 second mark.
- The shot airballs. This is one of Kobe’s 10 misses from three point territory on the night.
This is, basically, what the Lakers’ offense looks like in its worst form. The ball is walked up, the play is slow developing, the action within the play – screens, cuts, etc — doesn’t threaten the defense or get them in a reactionary position, the ball is reset at the top against a dwindling shot clock, Kobe is put in a position to shoot late in the clock as everyone just stands in one place and watches.
Again, this isn’t a new phenomenon under Scott — especially when Kobe is in the game. This is why, even though there has only been one game, I am a bit concerned. The Lakers are still over-reliant on individual playmaking in what end up to be isolation situations. Too often they are not threatening the defense in ways which force them to move or react or be put into the type of help situations which trigger the types of rotations that lead to open shots off ball movement.
Not every play looks this way, of course. But more do than anyone would like. And while time and cohesiveness and scheme understanding will help smooth out some of the rough edges — like, for example, Huertas’ hesitation in making his cut when Randle wanted to reverse the ball to Hibbert — I do fear the pace within the sets and the ultimate goal of the possession are still too focused on creating an isolation from an inefficient spot on the floor against a shot clock too far along to have secondary options.
I do not want to condemn the coach here. But I do hope the team moves away from these types of actions as the season progresses. Last season, after injuries ravaged the team and Clarkson took over as starting PG, that is exactly what happened as high P&R’s became the staple. Will we see something similar this year? Time will tell.
Mick says
Forward this to coach Scott please, plus what’s with all the 3s coach? Sheesh.
Paul says
Does the Princeton offense encourage players to attack or to do just the opposite? If it’s the latter, the offense doesn’t belong in the NBA
mud says
this is the kind of thing that happens when there are a lot of new players who also have little experience. last year’s team was full of these kinds of players because of injury. this year’s team is just full of young, inexperienced players.
i expect them to make mistakes and to execute poorly. it’s fine as long as they learn from and correct those mistakes in a few games. if not, then they really will have a chance at keeping that draft pick, to nobody’s benefit….
Nik Kannan says
I can’t ever remember micro analyzing every possession for a 1st game of the regular season. I was happy with somethings (notably Randle), not very happy with other things (Decision making – losing a sizeable 4th quarter lead to a young team). To start – It hasn’t been mentioned but the Huertas foul on the K-Mart’s half court shot was the stupid play of the game. 1st taking fouls in the fourth quarter instead of just getting back on defense is just lazy. Coaching better tell him to quit that.
2nd stupidest play of the game was Coach Scott not calling a time-out with 10 second left in the game, instead waiting for Kobe to make the call. Make or miss, down one this would have given us two possessions with 10 second left not a make or miss at home to win it. Down one with less than 24 seconds left, you try to score as fast as you can, cause if you miss you can still foul, & be down 2 or 3 with time left. absolutely bone head by Byron.
3rd – Ryan Kelly is a wash – if he cant his the three he can’t not play for this team. Why can’t Brandon Bass make a shot. This is a major weak spot in our second unit. If it going to be that crappy, we want Nance to play. end of story.
4th – If we are going to lose games, at least have D’ Rus in the game in crunch time. Could he have made the 1 three Lou made, could he have maybe made the one Lou missed… would he have been better on D against Rubio…. If not, well give him the PT & let him get there.
I was disappointed, but encourage, a win in Sacto on Friday -all will be forgiven. I really dont want to be playing from behind in this division, can we at least get to 8 & 4 or 12 – 10 before we can already start mailing it in….
Crossing my fingers…. Byron get it together man, you actually have to coach, there is no J-kidd on the floor- yet.
Everclear says
Going to be another long, long, long season.
tankyou says
Well, I’m more than ready to condemn the coach. I watched him Coach the cavs, my 2nd favorite team growing up–for 3 years. THEN I became sick when he was chosen to coach my favorite team. I’ve watched Scott “Coach” 100’s of games and I’ll give him credit for one thing–he’s consistent, but not in a good way.
As this article points us, the offense for the most part just pushes the guys toward ISO plays. It’s more than obvious after last season, or watching Scott’s garbage form of the Princeton.
He wants this bloody slow tempo crap most of the time, by his public comments and the things he says to his players. So guys like Jeremy Lin last season were the worst type of player for Scott b/c he doesn’t want a fast paced offense–even when it can be a huge advantage.
IF Jason Kidd wasn’t on that Nets team, basically acting as the coach for all intensive purposes–they would never have gone anywhere. The Lakers need to join the modern NBA and set up plays for corner 3’s, and use the shock clock more wisely. And get guys to attack or at least bloody well look to see if the defense is set, rather than just going through the motions of passing like this is a Hoosiers movie where they have to make 4 passes every play. The good news is we have Young, Kobe, and Lou who are all ISO-kings. But Kobe isn’t quite himself anymore, so you have a team that will struggle to shoot 40% from the field, with no real good 3 point shooters. So you aren’t going to win with 40% from 2, and 30% from 3, and only 1 real defensive player on the court at any given time.
Someone previously mentioned Kendall Walker, Russel turning into a slightly better shooting version of him is a concern. Slow eat the shot clock iso basketball just isn’t much fun to watch either, it was OK to some degree when Kobe was amazing and Shaq was a force of nature, but at this point its just blah.
Craig W. says
I well remember this play…and thought, “What the h*** is going on here?”
Yes, it does remind me of some of the plays last year, where there seemed to be 5 individuals out there who had no idea of where the other four were supposed to be, so they just stood around. If this is a play, then Scott needs to bench the players who try it out. If it is part of our offense, then we need to ‘Mike Brown’ Byron Scott.
My big take away from last night was that we really, really didn’t seem to be able to defend – that’s one very good reason for all the whistles – and Byron Scott was so intent on letting his players figure out what to do (shades of Phil Jackson) that he didn’t really do any coaching in the 3rd/4th qtr.
Anonymous says
D’Angelo Russell = kendall marshall 2.0.
Anonymous says
hire mike brown fire mike brown hire mike dantoni fire mike dantoni hire byron scott fire byron scott hire the next guy fire the next guy…….and so it goes
mud says
a couple of fallacies i’d like to correct, or offer another opinion about…
D’Antoni quit. he wasn’t fired.
Byron Scott WANTS the team to run, but the half court offense is important too. the players need to execute. last night, they executed for half the game. the other half was young guys trying to do too much.
there was plenty of blame to go around for the loss, but the blame won’t improve the team.
Mid-Wilshire says
Yes. I agree. The offense become very stagnant, especially from the 8-minute mark of the 3rd quarter (i.e., with 4 minutes left in the quarter).
But until then, I actually thought the Lakers looked pretty darn good. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that. Just look at the comments on the thread from the game. There was decent ball movement, by and large good shot selection, and outstanding balance with 6 players contributing offensively.
But over the last 16 minutes of the game, things fell apart. Clarkson picked up his 4th foul and had to sit. Kobe went to the bench. (BTW, I like the way Byron managed his minutes.) And the reserves lost their intensity, at first on defense with all the fouling and then on offense with the failure to move the ball and the over reliance on iso plays.
My point is that if the Lakers can “bottle” what they did in the first 32 minutes of the game, then they’ll have some very positive things to build on. Sometimes growing is not just a matter of learning from your mistakes (of which there were plenty last night) but remembering what you did well.
As I said before, I’m disappointed with the loss. But I honestly believe there’s a lot to build on.
Juan Carlos says
Kelly was awful from the beginning as was Bass…you go with them so long but when the rest of the team is starting to tire and lose it, then Scott needs to get off his butt and make changes..when Phil let the players rot on the court without a time out to let them figure it out,he had studs and veterans, something we dont have now, and Byron…you are NOT Phil…
aka says
a few thoughts:
brandon bass looked terrible out of position at the 5 both in preseason and yesterday. I don’t want to rush judgement, but it sure feels like playing Kelly at the 3 last year. It doesn’t make sense, as he has no advantages playing out of position. I really hope byron doesnt take as long to figure out something that seems just so damn obvious. black should really be the backup 5, and whether you play bass or kelly at the 4 would depend on matchups. I’d even like to see nance get some time, maybe at kelly’s expense, as kelly seems to me to be a preseason/ practice player. ie someone who lights up preseason or practice, but never really seems to shine in real game time.
the princeton has to go:
I think most of the problems we have on both offense and defense stem from byron’s choice to run the princeton. The only times the offense actually looked good was when they seemed to break from the poorly run princeton, and run some pnr action or the three pointers were falling unconsciously (lou will and nick young were on fire the first half) but most of the shots going down were not easy open shots generated by the offense. I’m tired of watching terrible offensive sets that seem designed to encourage an iso situation with a short shot clock ending in a contested long 2 pointer or three pointer. Byron clearly has stated multiple times his distaste for the three pointer and the pick and roll ( too easy to defend he claims) When the players actually run the system (fourth quarter as things inevitably tighten up and the running is harder to come by) the offense becomes unbearably bad. this was the same thing that happened last year.
Aside from the fact that the offense leads to terrible spacing in this form, and some plays that make my eyes burn (multiple dribble hand offs that do absolutely nothing to create space…)
I think its hurting us on the defensive end too. If you’re not running pick and rolls, or an offense designed to create space and corner 3’s, that means you’re not getting a lot of reps in practice in how to defend the offense that the majority of nba teams run now a days. In practice, the first and second teams are running whatever garbage version of the princeton we are running, which is frankly, easy to defend. So the defensive reps we are getting do not adequately prepare us for modern offenses. I’m pretty sure that’s a big part of why our defense looks terrible, and about as bad as it did last year. If your head coach doesnt understand the value of the short corner three, and pick and roll actions, there’s no way he’s defining a coherent approach to defending these staples of most offenses.
I have my concerns about whether Russell will fulfill the lofty expectations of the 2nd overall pick (no right hand, has difficulty penetrating even with a pick, and a jump shot that is a cross between a jump shot and a set shot with a relatively slow release among others ) but I think the princeton is the absolute worst choice for developing your supposed pg of the future. He should be running a ton of pick and rolls to see the different defenses and figure out where the weakness are when he gets blitzed or if they back off, or they hedge soft or hard… instead when he does get the ball, this offense asks the point guard to drop it off at the elbow, or do a ridiculous dribble hand off… i hope the lakers realize sooner rather than later scott was an excellent choice .. for tanking and keeping a pick. now the pick and the young guys need an actual coach and a system to grow in. without this, no marquee free agent is going to want to come here, and we will be forced to watch yet another year of putrid basketball, and likely stunt the growth of the aforementioned draft pick that you suffered to get in the first place.
LakerFanatic says
Just wanna say first off that many teams including the spurs run entry offense motion that doesn’t mean every player is a threat to score the ball…there is ball rotation…misdirection and a comfort level you get into…I thought it was good…clearly kobe got fouled on that play but still not the best shot…if the lakers can play 48 min plus of team basketball they can win 45 games
KO says
Trminder. While teambwas going through that brickathon in the 4th Scott had 3 time outs. Only Kobe used one leaving 2 gir the next game I guess.
That is stupid, amateur coaching from a long time coach. Every coach in league stops bad momentum. Not him. He lost game one yet blamed players.
Also Okafor 26 pts, Muddeia 17 pts, Russell 4 fouls, 4 turnovers 4 points. Nice.
Kaleo says
First game of the year….yeah I get that, lots of new players yeah I get that too….bit of the jitters again, I get it…..Byron coached like a dick head…..his offense is offensive. It’s down right shameful. A new coach with creativity and movement – up tempo style is gonna do it. Not the plod along stuff he’s asking them to do. Byron isn’t the coach for the Lakers – I’ll make that clear, right here right now. First game or not, you’re up by 15 to the Wolves and lose – AND lose at home. Disgraceful. No imagination from Coach Scott….we’ll be better this year than the last 2 years but only marginally. Scott goes and someone who knows how to coach solid offense and kick butt defence – and the Lakers will be more competitive than they hoped to be this year. Keep Scott….and we won’t win 30. The play shown above is typical of what LA has been doing for most of the last 2 decades…..shot clock down ” who you gonna call”? Kobe Bean Bryant. I love Kobe, but man, it’s NOT his time anymore…..the young Players are young for several reasons…..one of them is to RUN….and RUN…..and RUN.
While we’re talking firing someone….Jim Buss can’t be too far behind. He wanted Byron. He should perhaps GO WITH Byron?
I totally agree with keeping the defence on their toes, guessing what’s going to happen next? But it doesn’t seem that way.
R says
I was surprised and disappointed the Lakers passed on Okafour and nothing I’ve seen so far has lessened the disappointment. Yes it’s early yet.
Robert says
Game: That was a big loss. We have an easy starting schedule and we must stock up on some wins here.
R: Philly would not take Russell and Clarkson for Okafor at this point. And to think we could have had Okafor and kept Clarkson. And yes everyone – I know it is early, and I will reserve “final” judgment, but I said Okafor all along and R said it well. Nothing to change my mind yet.
Offense: As I said multiple times in preseason, when you have Kobe, Nick, and Lou, there is going to be many possessions of one on one isolation type ball. It is what it is.
Kaleo: Yes – they go out together in the summer of 17.
mud says
by the way, the Princeton offense flak HAS to stop.
EVERY SINGLE NBA TEAM HAS PRINCETON AND TRIANGLE SETS.
San Antonio and Golden State run those sets all the time.
the Lakers Scored 111 points. clearly, the offense wored, except for late in the 3rd and early in the 4th when the Lakers ran isos and stopped moving the ball.
stats says
Muddiay = 11 TOs in a win
Okafor = 8 TOs in a blow-out loss
I’m certainly not sold on Russell, but all of ’em have a ways to go.
I’m having fun with the CARMELO tool at 538: http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/carmelo/
Some time ago they did a statistical analysis of last year’s draft class that was very cool. Unfortunately I can’t find it now, but essentially among the top draftees they projected Towns and Russell as the most likely, by a wide margin, to become superstars. BUT they also gave Russell a 40% chance of being a bust, which was a much much higher probability than the rest of the top 10 draftees. My take-home: the Lakers swung for the fences with Russell. It’s going to be awhile before we know if they connected.
J C says
You know how they say – if you think maybe you’re crazy, you probably aren’t –
because truly crazy people don’t know they’re crazy?
Byron is so bad he doesn’t even comprehend how bad he is.
Byron doesn’t call time outs because he has nothing to say.
He doesn’t make defensive adjustments because he doesn’t know what those are.
And he can’t suggest to Kobe that he pass the ball instead of jacking up 28-footers
because he thinks that’s the new NBA, taking three-point shots whenever you’re open.
He thinks benching Russell in crunch time but playing Kelly is going with a veteran.
Stop me before I kill again.
Clay Bertrand says
I hate to say I told you so……ACTUALLY I like saying it. There are a number of you all on this site that shared the sentiment that Russell is USELESS if he is not the Point Guard and that we drafted him as a 1 and that should be his primary position as opposed to Byron Scott’s professional opinion to start him at the 2 playing OFF the ball.
Now comes this stroke of genius from Byron who apparently reads Darius’ site and our musing commnetaries:
http://www.lakersnation.com/kobe-bryant-says-dangelo-russell-moving-back-to-point-guard/2015/10/29/
Wow. SOOOO a bunch of Laker fans commenting on a web site are more astute observers of the Lakers than Byron Scott???? Appears so…..
Gene says
Was the offense and coaching doing good when the Lakers had 90 points before the 4th quarter and when they led by 16 points in the 3rd quarter?…
KO says
Mud also Kobe 0 for 8 in 4th quarter helped.
Fern says
Actually, i think Byron Scott not calling a time out on that last play was a good call, the Wolves got caught flatfooted with Julius just barreling all the way down the court, he could had made it or get fouled, nice fearless play by Randle he is going to be sooo good, and the last play was actually well drawn it just didn’t go in. We lost that game because the offense got stagnant and the guys that were hot in the first half went cold specially Kobe brrrrr. Plus our defense was atrocius down the stretch. No surprise there, DAR needs the ball to be efective he is a pure pg, making him play off the ball is a waste of his talent and would stunt his growth. That is not good coaching strategy right there, at least it looks like is going to be rectified.
mud says
yeah KO, that wasn’t great, but why did the team not set up correctly and just dump the ball to Kobe? they don’t have to give him the ball, either. Kobe should shoot, especially at this time of the year when he really hasn’t been playing for two years. he looked good. as frustrating as it is, your shooters should shoot, and the ball won’t always go in.
the game was lost in poor execution and poor defense late in the 3rd. why nitpick it? this should be expected from a team full of rooks and second-year guys in key positions. it’s also an almost completely new team. some confusion and disharmony on the court might be expected. that they didn’t handle pressure well, might be expected.
losses are frustrating, but i enjoyed that game. there were so many moments of the kind that have been so lacking of late. consistency is the hardest part of the game. it’s the only thing that rookies and second year players can’t get until they’ve been doing the do for a while. if the Lakers could consistently bring what they brought in the first half, they will truly be a top team. it’s up to the players to come through or not. draft picks are great, but they have to get acclimated before they’re much help, especially if you are trying to have a good team that wins more often than not.
turnovers and fouls, which are often caused by defensive mistakes let the Wolves back in the game, not shooting. the Lakers scored 111pts.
rr says
Mudiay: SI.com pointed out that Mudiay is in an excellent situation for a rookie PG in terms of team positioning, rebuild cycle, and roster construction. Russell, of course, arguably is not.
Okafor: I (and many, many others) said in the off-season that Okafor would look better–maybe much better–early on than Russell would. Nothing that happened last night–Kobe taking 24 shots, Williams finishing the game, the Lakers blowing the lead, Okafor looking good–should surprise anybody.
Scott: Byron and Kobe are all that is standing between the FO and a time of reckoning, so it is understandable that some people who are heavily invested in this FO succeeding are focusing so much animus there. Also, most fans want to watch either a contender with an established winning coach/highly thought of new coach or a young team with a young coach who can grow with that team. Watching Byron Scott coach Kobe Bryant on a team that will probably lose about 55 games fits neither paradigm.
Team: They are more interesting to watch than the last two teams, and that is a good thing.
R says
Okafour: rr, yes I think I recall you – and others saying Okafour would look better than Russell in the early going. This may sound sarcastic, but really isn’t: should a Laker fan take comfort in this and if so why?
Regarding Kobe taking a lot of shots: yes agreed we can expect this to the bitter end, yes yes of course.
R says
Re BS and Kobe well right watching an arguably ineffective coach with an arguably washed up superstar isn’t all that inspiring. It’s a case of running out the clock really.
Seems that way to me anyway. The only aspect of it I like are Roberts Kobe alerts. Jimmie and Jeanie should pay him.
Vasheed says
The Lakers are full of guys who can move the ball. I think BS’s Princeton offense is more of a hindrance to the team than anything else. I don’t think there is a plan B though.
Craig W. says
It wasn’t just rr that said Okafour would look better the first year. This was a frequent observation – saying Okafour was the most NBA ready player in the draft.
If you agreed with that it makes no sense to complain because Russell, statistically, didn’t approach Okafour’s performance in the first game.
rr says
Craig,
R October 29, 2015 at 10:17 pm
Okafour: rr, yes I think I recall you – and others
Okafor: I (and many, many others)
mud says
the Princeton is all about ball movement. in what way does it hinder guys who are good at moving the ball?
i don’t think most of the people complaining about the Ptinceton offense even know what it is. it’s not either Preinceton or pick n roll. they are intertwined. like any set offense, it takes a little time to learn, but once the sets are part of muscle memory, they give players a framework to operate in when the other team’s half court offense is in place. set offenses always look bad when implimenting them on a new team, but just like PJ’s Triangle teams, once installed, it makes it easier for the players to beat the defense. pick n roll is always an option in a set offense.
again, EVERY team uses Princeton and Triangle sets.
Nik Kannan says
Gene – I actually agree with u, regarding not calling a time out. Reviewing the play.. randle hesitated thinking a TO would be called… if he pushes the ball takes it to the rim, good things may have happened.. I like that Byron is holding these guys accountable… they just aren’t ready yet.. but we still have to show them the way… next time they will know better, hopefully we get a lay up out of it.
also I didn’t mention Nick Young played well… he deserves some credit.
harold says
Let’s look at the positive points..
Clarkson, Randle, Williams, Young, Hibbert played well. Kobe played well for three quarters but seemed to run out of gas. Lakers up by double digits until Clarkson is taken out due to 4 fouls, and Randle, Hibbert and Kobe are given a rest.
Not so positive:
Bass and Kelly….Bass at center does not work. Black should have been in there. He is much more aggressive defensively than either Kelly or Bass.
John L says
Wow, I take a lot of solace when reading this article and all of the great comments from our Laker Nation. What gets me is why is that we see all of this better than every coach since Phil’s departure? For example, in 2012 OKC fronts Bynum the entire series which results in disrupting the entire offense. Mike Brown refused to make any adjustments and simply said Bynum needed to play more physical which led to an early 4-1 exit. D’Antoni has 3 low post threats in Kobe, Pau, and D12 with a supporting cast of slow and old players but refuses to play through the post. Now Scott is running this horrid Princeton offense which doesn’t fit either Russell or Clarkson’s skill set. All we see is walking the ball up slowly while crossing half court at the 17 second mark. Ball movement and player movement without any attempt or intent of threatening the defense. But I disagree that the offense is designed to create an isolation. That would be giving B Scott too much credit. It’s because the offense is so bad that there are only 5 seconds left resulting in either Kobe, Lou, Swaggy, Julius, or Clarkson having to bail us out on an isolation. Again, we all see this but the current coach does not. So do you have to be an actual moron in order to coach a Lakers team? Is that the prerequisite? It sure seems that way. The minute B Scott told Mitch and Jim that he was running the Princeton they should have ran as far away as they could. I remember after parting ways with D’Antoni most Laker fans wanted to hire B Scott. I knew back then it was a bad decision. It almost feels like Mitch and Jim hired B Scott just to appease the fan base after the previous atrocious hires of Mike Brown and D’Antoni. Well, Lakers Nation you got what you wanted. But look on the bright side, B Scott might lead us to an even worse record than last years 21-61 debacle resulting in us keeping that top 3 pick!
Bc says
Lakers played very well for the first three parts of the game, but it is painful to lose in the fashion they did. Coach Scot is doing a good, Lakers team needs a couple of impact players at key positions who can make plays as well as defend.
Randle is the best player on the team right now, his size skills set should be maximized and challenged by getting him to play point-forward role. He should be taught to position himself to attack to score first, and to help Roy play defense together. He can be a Pippen, Karl Marlone, Shawn Kemp, and even KG, all in one player. This is one bright spot.!
Kobe is shooting a dismal 33% average and if he shoots twenty times in a game, you do the math. A wise use of Kobi’s contribution is to let him play for not more than 15minutes per game, as a point guard. Swager P should take up 15 shots per game.
Because Russell is a new captain fresh from the academy, you should not let him fly your most expensive fighter plane yet. At best, right now, he should be learning how to play point position at this level, and I wish them to make the playoffs this year.