Los Angeles Lakers player rankings through first 30 games of the season

8. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

2018-19 per game stats: 9.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.17 blocks

VORP: 0.2, 6th on the Lakers

WS: 1.5, 4th on the Lakers

DEFRTG (last 10 games, minimum 10 minutes per game): 107, 8th on the Lakers

OFFRTG (last 10 games, minimum 10 minutes per game): 113.4, 2nd on the Lakers

MOET: 4

KCP’s Offensive Rating is 2nd on the Lakers over the last ten games, but that’s fool’s gold. KCP has a 7-1 assist to turnover ratio, which really raises up his OFFRTG, but he’s only averaging 1.4 assists per game, which shows that he rarely handles the ball. KCP’s offensive game is one-dimensional; he shoots 3’s. Over the last 10 games, KCP has been hitting 42 percent of his 3’s, which I’ll give him credit for. However, I can’t rank a player who’s supposed to be a 3-and-D guy, but who doesn’t actually play D, any higher than 8th.

7. Lonzo Ball

2018-19 per game stats: 8.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.53 steals, 0.37 blocks

VORP: 0.5, 3rd on the Lakers

WS: 1.0, 6th on the Lakers

DEFRTG (last 10 games, minimum 10 minutes per game): 104.6, 7th on the Lakers

OFFRTG (last 10 games, minimum 10 minutes per game): 109.1, 6th on the Lakers

MOET: 7

This is where things get tricky. I love Lonzo’s game and I think he makes a huge impact on the court, but he trails Josh Hart in VORP, WS, OFFRTG, and DEFRTG, so he has to behind him in these rankings.

Lonzo’s shooting 36.5 percent from the field and 23.4 percent from downtown over the last ten games, but the rest of his game has taken off. His assists number are up, his number of drives to the rack is up, and he’s flying around on defense. To put it simply, he’s doing Lonzo Ball things and he’s a difference maker for the Lakers.