Lakers: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

With every positive step the Lakers take, it seems like they take even more steps back. Byron Scott’s attempt to fix this may prove to be a season long struggle.

The Lakers played their second set of back-to-back games in a week, using an improved defensive effort to defeat the Detroit Pistons at home followed by a lackadaisical road loss to the Phoenix Suns.  It was an inexcusable lack of effort, rather than fatigue, that was accountable for the poor showing against the Suns.

Kobe Bryant was present for the win but absent for the loss, and therein lies part of the problem. So desperate was Byron Scott to secure a win against Detroit that he played Bryant an alarming 36 minutes, and he was so sore afterwards that he could not even make the trip to Phoenix the next day. Bryant continued his inefficient shooting against the Pistons, making his now routine 6 of 19 shots, but he nearly had double digit assists and rebounds and was instrumental down the stretch.

When Bryant is around, the other players will always defer to him and never learn to fully assert themselves, in turn stunting their development. Then, when Bryant is out, the players are forced to adjust and the rotation changes. The net effect is uncertainty and inconsistency, which is likely to plague the team all year just as it did last season with Bryant in and out of the line-up.

On the positive side, certain players had strong showings the past two games.

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Jordan Clarkson continues to be the leading scorer most nights and shot an efficient 50 percent in both recent contests. When the team hits a dry spell and stops scoring, it is usually Clarkson who asserts himself to reignite the offense. He still needs to work on his perimeter defense, and he needs to more consistently assert himself on offense, but Clarkson continues to get better.

Clarkson is by most counts the team’s best player at the moment. If anything, he should be given even more minutes. He is one player who never seems to tire and should be playing 35 minutes a night.

Roy Hibbert was solid the past two games on both ends of the court. On defense, Hibbert fills the lane and blocks a lot of shots, but the Lakers suffer when he is on the bench as they have no true center behind him and are using Brandon Bass as his back-up which is not working.  The real surprise has been on offense, where Hibbert asserted himself more, not only hitting a variety of shots but continuing his excellent free throw shooting.

Nick Young has been a pleasant surprise at this early point in the season. Known throughout his career as a defensive liability, he is working hard on that end of the court and is improved. He is more careful in his shot selection which is a welcomed change, thus he is more efficient on offense. Most important, Young is exhibiting more maturity in the locker room and on the court, something many observers previously thought would never happen.

Lou Williams is frustrating at times given that his shooting continues to be horrifically inefficient (there are reports that he is suffering from a serious hand injury). But he is one player who never seems intimidated and is always on the attack. In big moments he wants the ball in his hands, and the team needs someone like that when Bryant is out. Williams is playing big minutes and is almost always on the court in the fourth quarter, so it is likely that the Lakers’ season will be heavily influenced by whether he can recover his shooting touch and improve his scoring efficiency.

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When the season started who would have predicted that Metta World Peace would be a prominent featured player during the season?  To his credit, he got his chance and made the most of it. His shooting has been feast or famine, but in the last contest against the Suns he started the game four for four. More over, he can always be counted on to provide tough defense.

It is still painful to know that Anthony Brown is sitting on the bench and has been recently assigned to the D-League, but World Peace is the kind of player Scott cherishes so as long as he is productive, it is likely that at age 36 he has earned another year of playing in the NBA.

Larry Nance, Jr. did not play well against the Suns, but up until that game had made a solid contribution and was in the regular rotation. He is strong defensively and on the boards, but he needs to assert himself much more on offense.

Right now, perhaps the biggest problem on the team is the play of D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, whose development is main key to the season.

Randle had a strong preseason and appeared poised to become one of the best and most dominant young players in the league. It has not happened, however, and he has regressed through the first eleven games of the season. His worst performance was against the Suns, where he was in early foul trouble, did not score at all until late in the third quarter, and was a non-factor all night long.  In fact, Randle seems invisible much of the time and has been turning the ball over with alarming frequency, which is perplexing for a big man with his skills.

Opposing teams have scouted Randle and learned two things. First, they lay off him in order to cut off his drives to the rim and force him to take mid-range jump shots which he mostly misses. Then, when he does drive into the lane, they know he will always shoot with his left hand so they cheat to that side.  The result is usually a turnover. Randle will have to adjust his game if he wants to move forward in a positive direction.

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Russell’s problem is different. He is slow and deliberate in a game that is dominated by speed. It was a disaster against the Suns, whose two speedy guards, Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight, left Russell in the proverbial dust on defense. On offense, Russell does not have the quickness to drive and kick and thus far his mid-range and three point shooting has been inefficient.

Lakers critics are clamoring for Randle, and especially Russell, to play more minutes. Scott has taken a lot of heat over the issue, but he is in a difficult spot.  They are not playing well, which has been pretty much the status quo for Russell while Randle has regressed. Scott is going to have to figure out a way to jump start both young men, which may be his most important challenge at the moment.

Finally, while the team has shown improvement on defense, and is playing closer games now, they are being undermined by losing turnovers and offensive rebounds. Most times it is not that the opposition is playing great defense, Laker players are just sloppy and lackadaisical with the ball, thus they are handing the other side too many easy scoring opportunities.  In terms of rebounding, the other teams are out-hustling the Lakers, which should never happen and is disturbing.

Eleven games into the season there are some positive developments but there are also major problems that will impede any significant progress unless they can be solved. The biggest issues are rebounding and turnovers, and the lack of improvement by Randle and Russell.

Next: Lakers Stock Watch and Grades After Loss To Suns

It is the job of the coaching staff to figure these things out, and they had better do so soon.