At the mid-point of the season the Lakers have posted a record of 12 wins and 29 losses. That is worse than the team’s record last year at this time, which, at the start of the season, seemed unimaginable. Last year’s team was decimated with injuries, had no Kobe Bryant, and Mike D’Antoni was the coach.
I did not expect the Lakers to be good this year, but I figured that Jeremy Lin would be an upgrade at point guard, Carlos Boozer would be the tough guy the Lakers needed up front, and Julius Randle would be a rookie-of-the-year candidate. Most of all, I figured any team with Kobe on it would be better than last year’s team.
Hoops Habit
I was wrong. The point guard situation is worse. Randle was lost in the first game of the season. While I think Boozer has been a calm and professional presence in the locker room, on the court he can’t guard anyone without fouling.
Then there is Bryant.
He has played well at times this season, but earlier in the year he was taking too many shots which stopped ball movement and caused everyone else to sit around and watch. Lately, while he has been much more efficient, his presence in and out of the line-up makes it impossible for the team to create any chemistry and consistency.
It is fine to make a conscious decision that Bryant will sit out the second night of back-to-back games, however, the decision on who starts, who comes off the bench, and the order in which players are inserted into the game, all depend on whether Bryant plays. When that is a game-to-game decision virtually every night, it is a difficult situation.
To be fair, the Lakers were embarrassing at the start of the season, but have improved. Most nights they play hard and are often competitive for the first three quarters, but they are still losing. Especially alarming are signs in the last few games that the team is getting used to losing and that they expect and accept it.
Earlier in the season, the players were more intense on the bench during the games, now we see smiles and laughter and bantering with opposing players even when the team is losing. In post-game interviews there used to be a sense of frustration and a belief that the season would turn around. Now, I see a calm resignation on the faces and in the voices of the players and coaches. The most shocking thing of all – something I never thought possible — is that even Bryant seems resigned to losing.
The poor performance of the guards is a good reflection of the Laker’s season thus far.The guards consist of Bryant, Ronnie Price, Lin, Wayne Ellington, and Jordan Clarkson. Price is the starting point guard, which pretty much says it all. Byron Scott praises Price for his toughness, which is true – watching him throw his shoe at an opposing player in preseason was “priceless” and the other night he angrily ripped off his face mask and hurled it at the bench.
However, toughness should not be mistaken for talent. Many nights Price does not score at all, and while Scott praises him as a defender, he must be watching a different game than I’m watching.
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Lin has been a profound disappointment. I was excited when he joined the team and thought he would take full advantage of the huge opportunity to prove he deserved to be a starter. The starting point guard position was his to lose.
After watching Lin for half the season, the inescapable conclusion is that he is not cut out to be a starting point guard on any NBA team. Most nights he is a turnover machine, his scoring is erratic, and the only thing consistent about his defense is it is always poor. Some have tried to excuse his inefficient play by blaming Scott or Bryant but those excuses don’t fly. Lin has at best, been unreliable, and at worst, he has played below average whether Bryant was on the court or not, whether he started or came off the bench, regardless of the matter the minutes he played.
Ellington plays hard and at times displays a nice outside shot, but he is up and down. One night he looks like a great outside shooter who can create his own shot off the dribble. The next night his shots barely hit the rim. For most of the season, he was playing on a regular basis with the second unit where he was able to become comfortable with the players around him. Now, as circumstances have evolved, he is in an unenviable situation. In games when Bryant sits, Ellington starts and is counted on to play a prominent role. But when Bryant is on the court Ellington might not play in the game at all.
As for Clarkson, one of Scott’s biggest failings has been his refusal to give Clarkson reliable minutes in this lost season. It is unconscionable. A few games ago, in his first extended playing time of the season, Clarkson was very efficient, scoring 14 points. The next game he played a mere six minutes, and for several games after that he did not play at all.
Clarkson is not perfect. He often appears reckless and out of control, but that is a problem shared by many rookies and it takes real game experience for things to slow down. The way Clarkson has been handled, one has to seriously question the wisdom of those in charge.
Blue Man Hoop
Scott has been quoted as saying he might shut Bryant down for the season if the team is not contending for a playoff spot in March.
Attention Coach Scott: The season is already over.
The Lakers are not contending for a playoff spot. There is nothing to play for except to position the team for next season. That means playing Clarkson – and playing him a lot – to see if he deserves to be part of the Lakers’ future. Playing Price and Lin all the time (or at all for that matter) is pointless because they are not the future.
Laker problems do not end with the guards. The team does not have a true center other than Robert Sacre, who is a nice guy and a great teammate but cannot contribute much on the court. As for the logjam at power forward and the plight of small forwards Wesley Johnson and Nick Young, those subjects deserve a longer article than I can deliver here.
Most players on the current roster have been in the league long enough. We know precisely what they can and cannot do on the court. We know they are not the future of the franchise, if the team hopes to be a contender anytime soon.
The Lakers do have four young players, however, where the facts are inconclusive. That does not mean any of them will eventually make the grade, but we just don’t know yet for sure. I am talking about Ed Davis, Tarik Black, Clarkson, and Ryan Kelly (yes, I am including Kelly in this group even though it has been painful watching him since his recent return from injuries).
These are the youngest players on the team and for that reason the spotlight should be on them in the second half of the season. If this does not happen, something is seriously amiss with the coaching staff and management.
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