Happy Monday, everyone. Here are a few of the best Laker-centric reads, news and notes from around the web:
- THREEEE THAT’S THE MAGIC NUMBAH: At this juncture, it is safe to assume that the Lakers will not be earning a playoff berth this season, meaning the team’s odds of making a third consecutive trip to the NBA lottery are alive and well. Recently, Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times took an early look into the the Lakers’ potential draft position and broke down three scenarios that can affect the team’s probability of keeping their oft-discussed top-three protected pick.
- WAIT SO, HE ISN’T PERFECT?: If the Lakers do indeed manage to retain their draft pick, the consensus top prize among pundits is LSU forward Ben Simmons. And while many don’t expect his chief spot among this year’s prospects to change come draft day, Jonathan Tjarks of The Cauldron notes that Simmons’ more significant flaws could raise questions of fit among a few lottery-bound teams.
- MANNING UP: After the Lakers’ blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday (and that’s putting it kindly), Byron Scott proclaimed that the younger players were “scared” and “in awe” of OKC. As covered by ESPN’s Baxter Holmes, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle disagreed.
- MORE MANNING UP: Also after Saturday’s loss, Drew Garrison of Silver Screen and Roll relays that Russell had some interesting postgame comments regarding Scott’s offensive system.
- WHERE’S THE MAGIC?: As has been noted, the Lakers fell to the Thunder on Saturday. This is nothing new. Here is something new: Magic Johnson was “speechless” after the loss.
- SWEET LOU: There appears to be one singular opinion on Byron’s decision to bench Russell and Randle in favor of Lou Williams and Larry Nance Jr. — it shouldn’t have been done. Regardless, the change has remained in place thus far and Carter Johnson of Hoops Habit believes Williams has quietly thrived in his newfound role.
- SCARED LOU: Oh and hey, apparently Lou Williams is also incredibly terrified of ghosts. Who knew?
- CAREFUL, KOBE: In case you missed it, Kobe threw down a vintage dunk over Houston Rockets center Clint Capela. That was fun. Yet so it happens, Kobe was sidelined for the following game against OKC with a sore right shoulder. And apparently, as Dan Feldman notes, the last three times Kobe has dunked, he’s missed the next game. Fittingly, Byron Scott says Kobe should save his next dunk for the final game of the season.
- DINNER DATE: Prior to Saturday’s game, Kobe and Kevin Durant were spotted having dinner in Oklahoma City. After the matchup, neither player felt compelled to reveal what was discussed over the evening but, as covered by ESPN’s Royce Young, Durant did heap praise on Kobe’s “epic” career.
- DEFENDER BEWARE: Durant also had this incredible crossover move that made Julius Randle look helpless. The league is a fun place when he’s healthy.
Lakers’ Schedule for the Week:
- The Lakers have a four game slate this week that includes a back-to-back set featuring a road matchup against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, December 22nd (6 p.m. PT, TWCSN) followed by a home game versus the Thunder on Wednesday, December 23rd (7:30 p.m. PT, TWCSN). The team then has a date with the Clippers on Christmas Friday (7:30 p.m. PT, ESPN and TWCSN) and closes out the week at Memphis to take on the Grizzlies on on Sunday, December 27th (3 p.m. PT, TWCSN), kicking off a three-game road trip.
BigCitySid says
-“Byron Scott proclaimed that the younger players were “scared” and “in awe” of OKC”. If Scott truly believes that, he’s definitely retarding their development by allowing Kobe, and not them to play the bigger more important minutes of the game.
– Lakers aren’t going anywhere this season, Let the kids play the bulk of the 4th quarter. Kobe can entertain his fans in the 1st 3 quarters.
stats says
Interesting that the youngsters are giving public pushback… I don’t think BS gets the boot before the end of the season, but things could get interesting if this trend continues.
KevTheBold says
Any coach that distances themselves from all responsibility, and further, insults their team with burning insults like “pathetic” “scared”, especially rookies, has no business coaching.
These kids have already demonstrated their talent, intelligence, work ethic, and respect.
Now they are expected to give up their manly pride?
The very pride they require to compete and win?
I believe that the front office now has all the evidence that Scott is doing damage to our future.
R says
Interesting write up about Simmons. All the usual caveats about criticizing a youngster apply, except its doubtful his wing span issue – real or imagined – changes much if at all.
Still, I’d be happy if the Lakers have the “problem” of figuring out how to play Randle and Simmons together. (Byron’s not the guy to get them to mesh, IMO.)
The Lakers are so lacking in talent they need to draft the best player available and if they are lucky enough to draft at #1, well great.
Kevin says
The FO’s decision to diffuse the objectives for this season: win, make Kobe the focus and develop the kids — all against a backdrop of maintaining cap flexibility — is an easy on from their perspective. The coach, the team and the fans are the ones that pay the price. We all can see that this year is pretty messed up.
It seems, to me, the FO went into this year with the following objectives:
1) Win
2) Make Kobe the focus
3) Develop the Kids
That has given way to:
1) Make Kobe the focus
2) Develop the Kids
3) Win
Chris J says
Byron’s “old school” is going to get him thrown out of the classroom. If he thinks the kids lack something, he should be developing those areas of weakness in practice and the locker room, not before the TV cameras. Same nonsense in his telling reporters he hadn’t spoken to Randle nor Russell about their demotion from the starting lineup. Seriously? This is the guy to whom they’re supposed to look up and respect? Good for them for speaking out.
If the coach won’t lead and develop, won’t put a plan into place to be competitive on the floor, why is he there? (Cue the “stealth tank” comments, though I lean toward the theory of growing, gross incompetence among the front office and ownership.)
Alan says
Teams can cheat the salary cap by seeking excellence in other areas of their organization: Coaching, consultants, overseas scouting, college scouting, medical & training regimens and the appropriate use of analytics.
– Boston’s choice of Brad Stevens has brought them the best young coach in the game and a face of the franchise.
– The Warriors have used Jerry West as a consultant to add credibility and insight into their personnel and coaching decisions
– The Spurs have used overseas scouting to their advantage over the years (Ginobli, Parker and Splitter)
– The Suns medical and training staffs have been identified as being among the best in the league
– The three-point shot, which more than anything else defines the shift to analytics in the NBA
The Lakers just got crushed by 40 points. The roster doesn’t provide any upside this year and possibly only organic growth by the kids next year (if we lose the pick and get shut out in free agency). If, I’m Jeanie Buss I understand that because I’ve given Jim the green light to rebuild this thing his way.
However, does Jeanie know enough to ask about the progress the team is making in these other areas? We all know Jim’s timeline to bring them back to the Western Conference Finals. What is Jim’s timeline to bring organizational excellence to the Lakers?
If we’re not able to win on the floor the Lakers should be using their financial dominance to build up their capabilities in these other areas.
minorthreatt says
Good post by Alan. The Lakers should be maximizing opportunities like these because they’re the Lakers. The fact that they aren’t is worrying at a couple of levels, one of which is that when the rot sets in, people stop expecting you to act like the Lakers, and instead to act the way you’ve acted for three years now, with no clear end in sight.
The Knicks were the Knicks…until they weren’t the Knicks, but only the long-running punchline to a Jimmy Dolan joke, with occasional cameos by Isiah Thomas
rr says
I see Duve linked to SSR today, which devotes about 85% of its content to thinking of different ways to say Byron is dumb while ignoring the FO. Tiring of that as I have, I posted something similar to this and it to some extent applies here as well although things are more balanced here. A guy said the line below in a post and it is me after that:
“I just come to one conclusion and that is that he truly is a coach that can only find success when he has a floor general that can control the game.”
Repeated for emphasis–
As I have said several times, this was painfully obvious before he was hired, and can be confirmed by spending 5 minutes or so on his Bask Ref coaching page. Even his Finals teams in New Jersey were below average on O. His best team, the 2008 New Orleans Hornets, had Chris Paul to run the show, David West to run pick-and-pop, Tyson Chandler to anchor the D and be the roll man, and Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson as old-school floor spacers/ 3P guys. That team went 56-26 and finished 5th in ORTG. When Scott has not had a guy like Kidd or Paul, and when he has not had an active big to anchor the D (Kenyon Martin, Tyson Chandler) he has lost, and lost big. Any reasonably well-informed fan knew this before he was hired. The team that he was hired to coach and is coaching now has none of those elements and as noted by any number of analysts in preseason, this year’s team is overstocked with high-usage perimeter players, three of whom (Kobe, Young and Williams) are known as inefficient chuckers who like to ISO and shoot. It also lacks a stretch 4, unless you count Ryan Kelly, and since the FO drafted Randle and Nance and signed Bass, it seems like they don’t have much use for Kelly. And it has no mobile two-way big nor a legit post-up threat. And of course he learned how to motivate from Riley—hence the tough-guy stuff.
There are different ways to interpret that set of facts, which are not mutually exclusive:
1. The Lakers FO are Machiavellian Con Men running a “Stealth Tank”
2. Scott told the Lakers FO that he would evolve and adapt but either lied and/or has failed.
3. The Lakers FO can’t match coaching hires with personnel decisions, but are pretty good at personnel decisions.
4. The Lakers FO is doing a poor job in general and is over-extended.
5. The Lakers FO is really good but has just had a lot of bad luck lately, and the team’s performance is mostly due to Scott’s historic incompetence.
6. The Lakers FO was pressured into the Scott hire by ignorant forces beyond their control.
Wherever one lands on the issue, the facts on this team and on this coach, and the likely outcomes thereof, were clear long before the FO signed him and put this roster together.
stats says
Most of us agree BS is not a great coach, but I have an honest question here: if he were fired before the end of the year, what coaches are available and capable of positively shaping our future? If you were a GM, who’d be the five guys you could call in tomorrow to interview?
I know Phil has his own issues, but I miss the dude. In the Kobe vs. Dallas highlight there were some real scrubs on the team and yet everyone knew their roles. Then again, this could be revisionist history and rose colored glasses…
Marques says
So the questionsooner are: what do Randle and Russell project to be? And is Byron Scott holding them back.
My guestimation is we have 2015 versions of Amir Johnson and Mario Chalmers, but I could be wrong. Russell may have more upside then he is showing, not much more though.
The B Scott’s offense has nothing to do with defense. And I dont see the requisite “fight” it takes to be a superstar.
Having said that, we may have that rare Chauncey Billups or Kyle Lowery.
rr says
Randle and Russell: The problem I see with both of them is that I can’t see that either of them will ever have a lot of defensive value. Randle IMO doesn’t have the length or the lateral quickness, and Russell is not an awesome jock. I do think that Randle will be a pretty good offensive player/rebounder, and that Russell can be a very good and maybe even great offensive player. Russell’s college numbers were similar to John Wall’s, and I think his rookie numbers would be with the same opportunity that Wall had.
Clarkson is a pretty good/decent combo guard and will probably get a little better than he is now.
Scott: He may be hurting them a little, but I do not see it as a big deal and I do not see much evidence to that effect. I think that the roster construction is a bigger issue than anything Scott is or is not doing. I am confident that the career arcs of Russell, Randle, and Clarkson will be determined by their talent and work ethic much more than by a year or two of playing under Byron Scott.
Baylor Fan says
Byron’s fate is in his hands. Kobe needs to play as many games as possible to put seats in the stands and eyes on the telecasts. That means that Kobe’s minutes need to stay in the mid twenties. Every time Kobe thinks he is feeling better, he plays more games and minutes and ends up missing games. The high draft picks need to show improvement and that they can be the foundation of the team. After all the losing and very bad basketball, the FO cannot admit that they struck out on Randle and Russell. If replacing Byron is what is needed, it will happen. Assistant coaches always have better relations with the players (they do not have to be that bad guy). That means the temporary coach is already sitting on the Lakers bench. So, Byron has some serious juggling to do to keep his job.
Mid-Wilshire says
With 1/3 of the season finished, David Murphy of Bleacher Report has given grades to the Lakers’ 4 primary young players — Clarkson, Russell, Randle, and Larry Nance, Jr. His article seems objective and well-balanced. Here’s the link:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2601087-early-season-report-cards-for-la-lakers-key-prospects
KevTheBold says
@Marques, rookies show their upside in flashes.
In case you missed it, D’Angelo’s upside, and “fight” is showcased in the second game vs Minnesota, 3rd, 4th and his forced OT.
You have already been proven wrong by calling him a bust, and you are wrong again.
P. Ami says
This has gone beyond confirmation bias. Byron Scott is worse than I thought. He is a basketball turd that can’t coach his way out of a rectum.
An acquaintance of mine has spent considerable time around NBA players and lets just say that Michael Jordan once described B-Scott in terms similar to Phil Jackson’s comments on Kwame Brown. I’m starting to think that the man is compensating for this character flaw by bullying his players in the press. One day Byron might learn that Pat Riley was tough on his players but also knew how to make a game plan and adjust according to circumstances.
AusPhil says
Anyone equating DAR with Mario Chalmers is not watching very closely. I think the last 2 weeks have shown that. And Randle’s quickness puts him clear of Amir Johnson in my mind.
Let’s just keep the experience (or lack of) in mind when discussing these guys. We’re clearly going to be a bottom 5 team this season, and have to be developing the youngsters for the future. And for me (and many others here) Byron is doing a horrible job of that, and the communication issues we’ve been talking about here lately are indicative of this, and bode poorly for the growth we want to see in JC, DAR, JR and potentially Junior and Brown as well.
Just my 2c.
Vasheed says
Russell’s comments were spot on. Scott’s system is a serious drag on the team.
Fern says
excellent article Mid, thanks i agree, again is funny reading some people putting labels on rookies, comparing Randle and Russel to Amir Honhson and Mario Chalmers, wow, they both have shown flashes and are still learning and growin, im ok with their growth despite BS’s bs…
Todd says
The Kids are young and with such a limited sample size its hard to be definitive about what they will be. We’ll know much more in time. That’s really all you can say for now. The article Mid-Wilshire linked was a tad too generous in its grading, for my taste, but not too far off.
What we’re seeing now is huge variation in their games (more so with Randle/Russell than Clarkson) in terms of minutes and performance. It might have been better to start the R&R off on the bench from day one and let them earn their way into the starting lineup. I’m not a big fan of taking something away from them for no apparent reason (BS’s rationale for the move made no sense toe me).
The key for the Lakers is whether all of the kids attain a level of consistency in their games. You can’t build a team around players if they lack consistency. For this rebuild to be successful at least two of them have to be consistently better than good.
Vasheed says
By the numbers, Scott’s offense is horrible:
http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2015/12/21/10634192/la-lakers-offense-bad-sucks-ugh-byron-scott?ref=yfp
KevTheBold says
@ Vasheed, excellent article!
I knew Scott and Kobe were partly to blame, but Randle was an insight and shows why the team is thinking twice before passing to him, thus his scoring is taking a dive.
I still believe that Murray has a hand in his shooting woes of late, and the team in general.
Why they would hire him as a shooting coach baffles.
His shot is so low and accessible that he needed to fade back nearly horizontal or be blocked.
Fire that dude, the stats are down since he came around.
Anonymous says
According to every metric, the Lakers O sucks. BTW, their D sucks too. Byron Scott’s last five teams have vied for the the worst record in the league. His New Jersey teams won the east during a notoriously bad period in that conference. I’ve posted this before, but the east teams of the early 2000s had the weakest strength of schedules of all NBA teams, aside from Chicago. Chicago was ranked just ahead of one western team. For all the ability some people have for rationalizing Byron’s situation here in LA, there is just too much evidence a cat can drag, like a family of slaughtered mice, into a conversation that shows two things. The eye test shows that the Lakers are poorly coached. The numbers show that the Lakers are poorly coached. Their record shows they are poorly coached. If you believe the young players drafted by Mitch are worthy of draft position, then their development shows that the Lakers are poorly coached.
If you ask me, there are coaches available who can develop the team, oversee the making of a positive and meaningful culture, and still lose enough games to get us the second most number of ping-pong balls. The damage being done to the development of this team is wasting potential and with there still being a chance we don’t keep our pick, keeping Byron just seems a waste on all fronts. I’m not saying that Larry Browns grow on trees, but an older coach who develops players and doesn’t need to stick around past this season if a top-tier free agent decides to join the team. A coach with development skills will showcase a core built around three high draft picks (obviously hoping one of those picks is the #1) and Clarkson. Then maybe that free agent selects a coach they like and we spend next season fighting for playoff position and growing into a contender. I personally see potential in our current core. These guys can be star players and the coach should be supporting that process, not stunting it.
Anonymous says
Larry Brown is an interesting thought. I’ve kicked that idea around in my head more than once. Larry is a great teacher and I have a fond place on my heart for his from when he was the head coach at UCLA.
On the positive side he’s a great teacher of the game and since Randle and Russell didn’t stay long enough in college to get grounded that may be a beneficial. This makes even more sense if the Lakers keep their pick and select another one and done player.
The downside is that the Lakers are really suffering from a lack of continuity on the sidelines. This hasn’t been as bad as it seems because the FO has embraced cap flexibility, which has prompted significant roster turnover every season. But, now that we have a young core I think having a solid voice for more than two seasons would be helpful. Ideally you’d want a Brad Stevens type, some one who is top coach that is young enough to relate to today’s players and can be part of the team for the next decade.
Brown’s age limits his tenure from the start. But, if the next Brad Stevens isn’t available handing the youngsters over to Brown isn’t the worst idea. Although, you’d need to make sure that all parties were in agreement on what Brown’s responsibilities are. Brown has been known to make player personnel demands on his GM — which we wouldn’t want him to do.
karen says
Bleacher report just named scott as the most hated coach and named all his ineptitudes. lakers may be holding back on replacing scott as giving a big free agent his choice of coach as incentive to come to lakers. Brooks comes to mind, ex thunder coach
Mid-Wilshire says
For those of you who are looking for the next Brad Stevens, I have a suggestion: Sean Miller, current head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats. Here’s a link to his bio:
http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=207987844
Miller has a splendid resume. He was hugely successful at Xavier. Then he went to Arizona (in effect, replacing a legend in Lute Olsen) and has been successful there, as well, averaging 23 wins per season and guiding the ‘Cats deep into the NCAA tournament every year. His 69 wins in his first 3 years are more than any U of A coach in history and more than any other current Pac 12 coach in his first 3 years in the Conference.
Furthermore, he is something of a defensive specialist. Over the last two seasons, UA opponents have connected on less than 29 percent of their three-point FG attempts (345-of-1,194). Only one other team nationally can match that. And Arizona has allowed fewer points per game in each of Sean Miller’s first three seasons: 72.0 ppg in 2009-10, 67.9 ppg in 2010-11 and 62.7 ppg in 2011-12. (Figures are unavailable for the last two seasons.) In fact, UA had held opponents to less than 60 points 26 times in Miller’s first three seasons.
The players whom he has sent to the NBA all seem to be tough-minded, in-your-face defensive types: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Aaron Gordon, Stanley Johnson, and the probable steal of this year’s draft (although he was undrafted), T.J. McConnell of the Philadelphia 76ers.
He has a resume that can’t be matched. He coaches defense. His players are all well-schooled in sharing the ball. (No iso’s at the UA.) And they all seem to have an excellent team concept.
Whether he would want to leave the comfortable confines of an over-grown college town like Tucson (population: 1 million) for the NBA jungle and the garish lights of Los Angeles (population: 96 million and counting), is another matter. (I wouldn’t.) But he might.
He’s 45 years old…kinda youngish-looking. And a former point guard (University of Pittsburgh).
It’s just a thought.
sam says
my two cents regarding the current lakers young core and team development:
look at the Bucks, the Celtics, the Jazz, even the Magic and Wolves… rebuilding takes years with multiple talent at each position. once you accumulate a so-call “core” it still take time for them to jell. it took the Bucks three years, but slowly and surely they have become a “respectable” and “dangerous” team each and every night that’s still very young. the same applies to the Celtics, the Jazz, the magic and even the Wolves…
i just do not agree nor believe in with re-building on the fly… simply look at SAC and PHX, they are a mess the last 5 years…
JC, JR and DAR are pieces to build with and they just need time, AND playing time, to develop…
can’t wait til the next draft, if keeping our pick, we have a chance on Simmons or Ingram.
go Lakers!