5 reasons why Lakers need to play an uptempo game this season
By Robert Marvi
4. They have no low post players
Traditionally, to be successful in slowing down the pace, you need to have at least one big man who can control the tempo by virtue of being a solid low post player so that you can take time off the shot clock and dictate the pace.
The Lakers don’t have anyone like that on this roster. To paraphrase Rick Pitino, Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert and Joel Embiid ain’t walking through that door.
Anthony Davis is one of the greatest in the game right now, but he’s mostly a run and gun player who doesn’t post up a lot and lacks any polished bread-and-butter moves with his back to the basket. He’s more of a perimeter player overall, as he played guard for much of his high school career until a major growth spurt turned him into a power forward and center.
LeBron James can post up and be effective with his back to the basket, but for some reason, he doesn’t really do it. He was starting to do so early in the 2018 NBA Playoffs while displaying a strong fadeaway jumper, but he quickly got away from that.
LeBron is LeBron – his game hasn’t evolved much throughout the years, to the point where he now draws criticism from some for controlling the ball too much and refusing to buy into a coherent offensive scheme, instead preferring to be that scheme or system.
Most Lakers fans know how ineffective Dwight Howard is with his back to the basket. He gets most of his baskets on lobs, offensive rebounds and pick-and-rolls.
Why try to implement a certain system or style of play if you don’t have the skill sets to make it work really well?