Los Angeles Lakers training camp for the 2017-18 season has just begun. And Lakers management, coaches and fans alike are filled with optimism that the team is ready to start turning the corner.
If the Los Angeles Lakers franchise is indeed ready to get back on the road toward its historical winning ways, the following numbers have particular significance.
Wins and Losses
4: The number of consecutive seasons with fewer than 30 wins (the only four sub-30 win seasons in the L.A. Lakers 57-year history dating back to the 1960-61 season). Nearly everyone expects that this year’s team will break through the 30-win barrier. In fact, it would be a major disappointment if it didn’t.
91: The total number of combined wins over the last four seasons, an average of under 23 wins per season. The Lakers used to win 91 games in a season and a half!
2010: The year the Lakers won their most recent championship. Although the team hopes to begin the climb back to NBA prominence, that 7-year streak will without a doubt be extended to 8 this season.
2013: The last season the Lakers made the playoffs. The team has a chance, however slim, of returning to the postseason this spring.
Los Angeles Lakers
Youth and Inexperience
3: The number of players aged 30 and over likely to be on this year’s opening roster (Luol Deng, Corey Brewer and recently-added Andrew Bogut).
11: The likely number of players aged 25 and under on this year’s roster (everyone else other than Brook Lopez, who is 29).
3: The number of NBA All-Star game appearances by players on their current roster (Deng twice and Lopez once).
6: The number of players likely to be on this year’s opening roster that was also on last year’s (Jordan Clarkson, Deng, Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance Jr./strong>, Julius Randle and Ivica Zubac).
4: The projected number of rookies on the opening night roster (Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and Thomas Bryant).
This will obviously be a very youthful team, probably the youngest in the league. It should be exciting to watch, and will undoubtedly have a wide range of highs and lows- sometimes in the same game.
The Draft– the collegiate draft is the primary means that a front office uses to start to turn a team around.
11: The number of first (7) and second (4) round picks the Lakers had the past four years. Nine are still with the team- six first-rounders (Randle from 2014, Nance from 2015, Ingram 2016, and Ball, Kuzma and Hart from this year) and three second-rounders- Clarkson (2014), Zubac (2016) and Bryant (2017).
0: The number of first-round picks the team currently has in the 2018 draft (their pick will be conveyed to either Philadelphia or Boston as part of the Steve Nash trade).
1: The number of second-round picks the Lakers will have in 2018 (their pick goes to Orlando due to the Dwight Howard trade, but they will receive Denver’s pick from the Jose Calderon trade).
Clearly, the team has relied on the draft to get to this point but isn’t counting on an influx of rookies a year from now.
Other Numbers–
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110.6: Average per-game points allowed by the Lakers defense in 2016-17, which ranked dead last in the NBA (per NBA.com). Coach Luke Walton said that improving the defense will be a point of emphasis right from the start of training camp this year. Players like Bogut and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope should help set a tone. But good team defense ordinarily takes experience and time together, factors the Lakers lack this year. So it will be interesting to see just how much progress is made on the defensive end.
1: The number of players who have averaged 20 or more points per game in an NBA season (Lopez has averaged between 20 and 21 PPG four times). The only two other Lakers who have averaged 15 or more PPG are Clarkson, who scored 15.5 in 2015-16, and Deng, and the last time he did so was in 2013-14. (All statistics are per basketball-reference.com). Which Laker(s) will step up this season?
$46 million: The approximate amount of cap space the Lakers will have, as of now, in 2018. This amount could increase or drop, depending on decisions they make about several expiring player contracts, including those of Lopez, Caldwell-Pope and Randle. Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have often stated that the Lakers intend to pursue big-time free agents next July.
Beyond the numbers– Management has also repeatedly said that the focus of the upcoming season is not on the number of wins and losses. Rather, it’s more about non-numerical factors, such as seeing their young players continue to improve and laying the foundation for the future.
Next: 5 Bold Predictions For Lakers 2017-18 Season
But in many ways, for every player not named Ingram or Ball, it will be a season-long audition to see who Johnson and Pelinka will retain next year and beyond. And much of the front office’s judgment will likely be measured by numbers.