After over a week off, All-Star weekend, a front office shakeup which captivated the league, and two separate trades with the Rockets (Lou Williams for Corey Brewer + a 1st round pick and, later, Marcelo Huertas for Tyler Ennis), the Lakers are back playing actual basketball tonight when they suit up against the Thunder.
The Thunder, too, have a different look after trading Cameron Payne, Anthony Morrow, and Joffery Lauvergne to the Bulls for Doug McDermott and Taj Gibson. In the short term, this deal likely helps the Thunder more than the Bulls as Gibson is the best player traded. In the long term, this trade likely comes down to who becomes the better pro — Payne or McBuckets, which is something we just can’t know at this point.
In any event, this is a match up of two teams who will look different than the versions which entered the All-Star break, which means adjustments to new/tweaked roles and incorporation of new guys. Having practiced yesterday helps, but there’s still some things to work out — something which applies more to the Thunder (adding guys who should be in the rotation) than the Lakers.
Beyond accounting for those adjustments and some potential rust due to the long layoff, I am hopeful for a good game which puts the focus back on the court and what the players can do. It’s easy to be caught up and distracted by the events of the last few days, but I think it’s fair to say those moves were (mostly) made to correct course and establish the long term plan which best fits this organization.
That means further empowering the young players and letting them sink or swim. Which is something I will be watching for tonight. Will the young guards get longer stints? Will they close the game? This isn’t to say that you can’t coach them hard or pull them for making mistakes or do whatever else is needed to establish good habits. That said, the focus should shift even more in their direction now and there’s at least one fewer excuse/impediment to them on the roster now.
With that, I hope to see a good game where the team competes hard. They should be refreshed and looking to make their mark in the last 20+ games of the year. Let’s see what they’ve got.
Where you can watch: 5:00pm start time on Spectrum Sportsnet.
fern16 says
Well, here we go, such a promising season start. And now we are hoping to luck out for the 4th straight time with the lottery i don’t think we be that lucky again. Disappointed. But im sure of this, if DAR don’t pick up his play he will be dealt in the offseason. Im certain of it.
bluehill says
You may be right …
“All I said was that my boy is going to play for the Lakers, and I’m going to speak it into existence,” LaVar Ball told ESPN on Saturday night. “I want him to be a Laker, but I wasn’t saying he’s only going to play for the Lakers.”
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18768704/lavar-ball-clarifies-remarks-ucla-bruins-star-lonzo-ball-only-playing-los-angeles-lakers
Pbz06 says
DAR is finally getting extended run (17 minutes already) and showing his promise. I’ve been saying that I wanted to see him play 36 minutes per game just like most young guys on rebuilding teams. His numbers project really well as a 20 year old (like 20/7/5 well). So far he’s in pace for basically that and more.
Should be exciting with him, Zu, and Ingram. They’re the youngest core in the league and brewing something special. Both Zu and DAR have player efficiency ratings at or just about league average. How’s that for promise? Their numbers project better than Levine, Wiggins, Booker 🙂
Pbz06 says
Lol ok.
fern16 says
DARnis playing more assertive today and effective but can he did that every game?. He is supposed to be a leader of this team. If he is healthy they have to play him 35 minutes at night at least. Enough cuddling he either swim or sink.
Pbz06 says
Exactly. Need to unleash all the young guys. No more Lou chucking, or Deng/Mozgov soaking minutes. I also think Zubac should be starting soon. There is no reason for Calderon or MWP to see the court anymore this season.
fern16 says
He is shooting under 40% for the season. His assists are slighty up and thats about it. I would expect him to be scoring around 17 ppg and way more assists. His numbers are disappointing. Can’t spin that. And im a supporter of him but he has regressed. I hope that with Lou out of the way now he shows what he can do.
Pbz06 says
Way more assists? I can’t tell if you’re joking because he’s averaging 4.7 apg in 24 minutes per game. The offense has better ratings when he’s in the game. Yea he’s shooting 40% but most of that is rhythm and timing. His stroke is good and he needs to learn to finish in the paint.
BTW check out Westbrooks numbers as a 20 year old 😉 check Steph Curry too (oh wait, he was still in college).
Like I said, a 16 PER as a 20 year old PG is nothing to sneeze at.
fern16 says
The main thing we can get out of this game is that DAR played really good. I don’t expect him to score 29 points every game but is a major leap foward for him, 6 assists and 4 steals, very nice. Four turnovers and didn’t shoot well from 3 but those can be corrected. This wasn’t against bottom of the barrel teams like Sacto or Jersey. This was against a very improved Thunder team. He needs to be consistent. He needs to lead this team.
jetjaz says
these next 20 games will determine which of these young players get traded for a name free agent. Nick only getting 5 points is sad. But he may be upset as they tried to trade him and couldn’t
_Craig W says
I am not sure what most of us fans thought would happen if we traded our best scorer and best closer away. Since it was probable we would lose if Lou Williams was still on the team, I’m not sure our trading him away increased our odds of winning.
We did see lots of fight from our young players. We also saw a number of mistakes and some bad shooting. Not sure any of this was due to Lou leaving, but his loss certainly emphasized what happens when we go cold, or pass the ball to the other team – particularly a transition team.
One thing – our schedule is very home heavy and filled with under .500 teams, so we may find more wins than some would like ahead. That means we will be hearing hand-wringing about the loss of our draft pick, along with how bad our very young players are.
Perhaps, just perhaps, it would be a good idea if the NBA agreed not to draft players until 2yrs out of high school. We certainly don’t seem to be able contain ourselves when our young players don’t ‘grow up’ fast enough.
All this is to say this is what development of a very young team looks like.
drrayeye says
We almost exclusively played our young core, and they were a scrappy group. Our “Russell” put up a credible game against their “Russell”, and we never totally lost our composure. We weren’t trying to lose, but our loss, coupled with wins by Phoenix and Philadelphia dropped us into last place in the West–and 2nd worst in the NBA overall.
From a longer term strategy perspective, this was about as perfect as it gets.
new rr says
_Craig W
“All this is to say this is what development of a very young team looks like.”
Indeed. Williams was in many respects in the way of that development to no purpose, so the team cashed him in for a draft pick, which, we hope, the FO can convert into a cost-controlled rotation player. And that is why some of “us fans” wanted him gone and never wanted him signed to begin with.
bluehill says
Listening to the Magic interview during the game and he sounds like he’s going to be a hands-on to the extent of coaching players during practices. I shouldn’t be surprised given what’s happened over the past few weeks, but I was. He’s really running the show now.
His comments about using these last 20 games as an evaluation period and looking at intangibles like competitiveness, work ethic, pre- and post-game habits makes me think he values those traits pretty highly, obviously everyone does, but Magic may be willing to trade players whose intangibles don’t match their talent level.
For me, the intangibles of some of our young guys are a bigger concern than their talent. DLo and Randle, in particular. Doubt we will ever know what Magic concludes except by who is still on the team in a couple of years, but DLo is right when he says that “it’s like you’re starting over and trying to impress.” I think that’s a good thing.
Clay Bertrand says
Calderon to be bought out soon. Should the Lakers fill that roster spot with another young guy to take a flyer on for a couple of 10 day contracts??? Supposedly, Larry Sanders, not really a fit per se looked lackluster in Laker workouts.
If this is truly an evaluation period, and Calderon isn’t playing anyway, than his roster spot SHOULD be used to try to get a look at someone. Several teams have already dipped into the D League post deadline to add a couple of the top players on 10 days.
Lakers SHOULD do the same. Vander Blue TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ; )
ALSO: I’m pretty sure that Randle was pissed at Russell’s ball hogging all night culminating in his chucking the last shot (predictably). Randle seemed to BEELINE for the locker room at a loss over not getting the ball.
I thought Russell shot too much for how many points he got. Needs to get to the line more in the future. But you can see he tried to be more assertive even if it was sorta selfishly.
Pbz06 says
I hope they buy him out and take a look at someone, although it shouldn’t matter since the guys that should be getting run are already on the team.
I feel like DAR took about 3 stupid heat check 3pointers that were out of the flow, especially that one at the end which was stat padding. He still shot 46% for the game, which is good, and he had a couple layups roll out too. He had some excellent passes out of the PnR, whether they were drop passes or slip passes or when he slinged it weak side to open guys. Nick Young missed seeing of those open looks or else he was close to having 9 assists.
That’s what we need. Someone to step up and control the flow. Overall he did good. Zubac and Ingram continue to impress (although Ingrams stats are horrible). Randle and Clarkson still do too much Iso and need to learn to be in the flow.
For anyone complaining about DAR, you can’t have it every way. If he’s not shooting enough, it’s because he’s not engaged nor alpha. If he is aggressive, you say he’s hogging. If he scores 25, you say you want 8 assists. If he has solid game all around, you say you want better defense. He literally just turned 21 yesterday. Which PG that young gave you alpha dog offense and lock down defense? How many veteran guards do that? Which PG shuts down everyone? Last I checked guys like Harden, Lillard, McCollum, Curry (and many others) are poor defenders. Or is it that there are a lot of good guards in the league? Let’s settle down on the Defense talk. That’s just for people who made up their mind and looking for criticism.
A Horse With No Name says
drrayeye FYI, we are still in 3rd place in the race to the bottom (Suns beat Bulls in OT).
You’re right though: scrappy game by the younguns at both ends. It’s not hard to see the Magic Man effect: everyone gave great effort, and even Luke seemed more animated than usual as he exhorted the team to move the ball and keep up the pace–which they did for the most part. Playing how they played last night might garner a few more wins than the organization wants right now, but we will have to see. (Not sure how they manage that, as the upcoming schedule is much easier than what they been seeing.) Don’t understand anyone complaining about DAR’s performance at all. He played with pace and would have had 9-10 asists if guys could shoot. I can live with a few ill advised chucks.
Clay Bertrand says
Pbz06
DAR was more assertive than he has been in a few games. But 26 shots to get 29 points was a little rich. He needs to get more points from the line BY MAKING HIS FREE THROWS to be a more efficient scorer and still be able to distribute so everyone eats. He only got to the line twice. Keep in mind that Randle and Ingram COMBINED shot 24 times at roughly the same combined % as DAR.
DAR did play a better all around game than his stat line would indicate. As you point out to a degree, the team shot poorly (including Young) which obviously affects the assist numbers.
But the look of his game had some selfishness to it. His game meshed with his comments about Magic and having to look over your shoulder and prove yourself again to a new GM etc. He is the only young guy who said anything about that.
I am not anti DAR or someone who picks on his deficiencies regularly. Even Luke had some interesting comments about his trying to get “10 points from one shot” mentality and that he took some “poor shots”.
Overall, I liked his assertiveness. Admittedly, DAR is going to be unfairly scrutinized by me and others because of his position. Its unfair because as a PG, he has the pulse of the team to learn and manage in addition to his own game which he hasn’t nearly fully developed yet. He is held to an extra standard as a floor leader so the extra scrutiny, fair or not, comes with the territory to a degree. There are so many demands of him and criticisms that aren’t harped on about Randle or Clarkson for example.
DAR is still feeling his way around both his role, and his game. I think he’s best when he’s putting up closer to triple double numbers than when he’s leading the team in scoring. He was in a good groove for a couple of games there then he tailed off. He will have to allow these other hungry dogs like Randle show what they’ve got to keep them trusting him and keep the chemistry growing. Its not an easy position for him to be in.
Clay Bertrand says
A Horse With No Name drrayeye
Bulls beat the Suns in OT from what I saw………..
Its not the few ill advised chucks themselves that are the issue regarding Russell. Its that those few ill advised chucks SHOULD have been shots for other guys. Its not just about ONE player in a vacuum looking at his game.
Especially for the PG, there are other elements of his game to look at to measure success by. Case in point, Russell Westbrook. Obviously he’s at the top of the league but last night, he shot poorly and still made MAJOR impact in other areas getting another Triple Double. I am not comparing the two players. I’m comparing how they impacted the play of their teammates.
DAR has to continue to build trust among his also young teammates as their floor leader, if he ever wants to become one. THAT is what Luke and Magic are looking for. NOT 29 points on 26 shots. Yes he’s 21. Yes he will improve. But he still needs to be held to the standard he will need to uphold if he’s gonna be a lead guard. Lead guards share the ball more basically.
A Horse With No Name says
Clay Bertrand A Horse With No Name drrayeye Yeah. Bulls beat the suns! (That’s what I meant, yeah–thanks.)
Boy, though. It took Westbrook years to become an intelligent distributor–and it’s still a work in progress for him. It takes time. To me DAR is starting to show why he was the 2nd pick. As his minutes go up we are going to see his growth continue to accelerate, along with dips and doos.
Clay Bertrand says
A Horse With No Name Clay Bertrand drrayeye
Good point. He is only averaging 26.7 min on the year and last night he logged 36.
His stats would likely be more “eye popping” if he played the same minutes as Devin Booker for example who is 34-35 mpg.
He will certainly have a few games here to be THE MAN with no Kobe and no Lou. When its JUST young guys, we get to FINALLY see who will rise to the occasion.
I’d love for Russell to blossom.
fern16 says
He does need to get to the line more