Lakers Offense Proving to Be a Huge Concern As They Fall to 3-17 on the Year

The Lakers have been criticized by fans and media alike for their poor and often embarrassing play this season

Currently, the Lakers are in last place in the Western Conference, their record is second worst in the NBA. In the end, it is unlikely that they will reach their record of last year which was the worst in the franchise’s history.

The misery that has become the 2015-16 season was recently masked by the feel-good story surrounding Kobe Bryant’s retirement. For the past few games it did not matter whether the team won or lost, or how they played, for the emotional farewell Bryant has received in arena after arena led to post-game smiles all around.

After Bryant made his announcement, coaches and players were no longer interrogated about the team’s poor performance, they were mostly asked puffball questions like, “What are your thoughts about Kobe’s retirement” and “What have you learned from playing with Kobe?” For a few games, no one cared how many minutes Bryant played or if it was good for the team and for Bryant himself.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The team’s latest loss to the Pistons was so embarrassing that it was a jarring reminder of just how bad this team is and how clueless the coaching staff is to try to make things even a little better.

As has become the trademark of this team, the Lakers came out flat and for all intents and purposes the game was over after the first few minutes – the Pistons jumped out to a 15 to 0 lead.

Is it too much to ask for the team to show some passion and energy to start their games? The Lakers showed no fight at all, and the final score, 111 to 91, made the game seem closer than it actually was.

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In sum, aside from Jordan Clarkson who was terrible against the Pistons, the Lakers are shooting poorly from the outside and are not scoring much at the rim either. Anthony Brown might help improve the outside shooting, but for some reason which has never been explained, Scott thinks so little of Brown after starting him the last five games of the preseason that he does not even dress for the games.

Combined with the fact that the team leader in assists is Bryant who is averaging fewer than 3.5 per game, it is easy to see that the Lakers are not moving the ball and when the do shoot they usually miss.

There has been signs that the Lakers’ defense has improved since World Peace and Bass began to play so much, even though they contribute little on offense. The overall statistics do not lie, however, as Lakers opponents have scored over 100 points in 15 of their 18 games, and in two others, they scored just under a hundred points.

The options on this team are limited, so Brown needs to be given a chance. So, too, does Tarik Black, who will do everything as well as Bass but will likely score more points. It might be worth giving Marcelo Huertas a try as well. He won’t score a ton of points but he can penetrate and is a good passer, and that may lead to more points from the second unit.

The Lakers are said to be playing the Princeton Offense, which has been largely disproved as a viable offensive approach in today’s NBA. Curiously, when Mike Brown was fired, most blamed the fact that he insisted on playing the Princeton Offense which was said to be outdated, yet no one criticizes Scott for doing the same. It did not work under Brown, it has not worked under Scott, and it should be scrapped in favor of a more modern approach that better suits the personnel the Lakers have on their squad.

Of course, most nights it is not clear what offense the Lakers are actually playing because they just look disorganized and chaotic. Isolation basketball does not work anymore, and that has been the team’s primary approach to playing offense. In the most recent game against the Pistons, they had a mere three assists in the entire first half.

There has to be spacing and the ball has to move until someone gets an open shot. Until the Lakers learn to play that way, and become proficient at it, they won’t score enough points to win most nights.

The coaches need to design an offensive system that takes advantage of the skills the current roster possesses, instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. There also needs to be even more emphasis on youth. Randle, Russell and Clarkson are generally playing more, but the rotations are inconsistent.

For example, the other night Clarkson was benched for most of the fourth quarter while the team was trying to overtake the Hawks. This kind of thing happens far too often with Scott as head coach.

Larry Nance Jr. could play even more minutes, and the decision to keep Brown in a suit and tie and Black on the bench makes no sense. Both have potential to help improve the offense, and there should not be any significant loss on the defensive side.

Further, someone will have to explain why the front office kept Robert Sacre and Ryan Kelly on the roster if they were not going to play, while younger players with a possible future, Robert Upshaw and Jabari Brown, were cut.

In the end, defense is very important, but at this stage the Lakers are losing because they go through regular periods – often at the start of games and/or late in the third quarter – when they just can’t score. Right now the biggest problem is their offense, and until there is real improvement on that end, there is little hope of finishing anywhere other than at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

Next: Nick Young Ejected for Shoving/Fighting Anthony Tolliver

What do you think about the current state of the Lakers? Let us know in the comments below.