Los Angeles Lakers: The good and the bad from the first week back
The Bad: The Los Angeles Lakers’ starting backcourt
Danny Green has connected on only two out 13 three-pointers since the restart, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is shooting just 20 percent from distance.
LeBron James theorized that the Lakers have shot the ball poorly thus far because they aren’t back in game shape yet:
"“We’ve been out for a while, and I think the game legs will continue to come as this AAU tournament continues to go on,”"
There’s probably some truth to what LeBron James said; however, Danny Green’s jumper has looked far from pure, and KCP’s been rushing his shot. Either way, Green is a 40 percent career three-point shooter, and Caldwell-Pope has shot well from distance this season for the Lakers (39%).
Both players should get their strokes back. It’s their defense that is concerning.
On the surface, Danny Green’s defensive statistics look decent enough. Green’s ranked 9 among all shooting guards in ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus (1.35), and he’s 31st among all guards (minimum 15 minutes per game) in NBA.com’s defensive rating.
Dig deeper, though, and you start to see that he’s underperformed all season on the less glamorous side of the ball.
Danny Green has a 13.4 usage percentage, easily the lowest among all regular Lakers rotation players. He averages seven shots per game, and when he touches the ball, he averages 0.73 dribbles, one of the lowest marks in the league for a starting guard.
Danny Green expends as little energy as possible on offense for an NBA perimeter player. He should have the strength to lock down his assignment on defense.
The Lakers aren’t paying Green $15 million a year to be an above-average perimeter defender. They’re paying him the third-highest salary on the team so that he can be a true ballhawk.
Danny Green has looked slow all year.
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During the Lakers’ next contest watch Green on defense, really follow him, and you’ll see that he consistently gets beat on the perimeter. Focus in on the former Raptor, and you’ll notice him unenthusiastically close out on three-point shooters. Overall the Lakers are one point worse on defense when Danny Green’s on the court.
When I was in college, my buddy’s and I loved to watch cheesy, poorly acted sports movies during boring afternoons (don’t ask me why). One of our favorite films was “Never Back Down.”
It is a poorly written movie about amateur MMA fighters in Florida. Towards the end of the film, the villain, Ryan McCarthy, is scheduled to fight in an MMA tournament. Before his fight starts, his opponent does an assortment of flips and jump kicks to intimidate McCarthy.
Our villain watches his opponents display with a smirk on his face, and when the whistle finally blows, he kicks the guy once in the chest and knocks him out.
Every time I watch Kentavious Caldwell-Pope guard the pick and roll, I think about Mike McCarthy in “Never Back Down.”
When KCP guards the pick and roll ballhandler, he bends his knees, stands on his tiptoes, and spreads his arms. He looks the part of an intimidating defender (that’s the flips and jump kicks before the fight starts). Then, the opposing big comes over, sets a screen, and blows up KCP (that’s the one-second knockout).
It seems like every time KCP guards the pick and roll; he’s completely surprised when the screener comes and sets a screen. He gets knocked off course and never recovers. Caldwell-Pope can’t guard the pick and roll, and opposing teams know it.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope doesn’t pass the eye test nor do the stats like him. He’s ranked 110 in ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus, and he’s last on the Lakers in defensive rating.
Danny Green’s defense is going to be a minor problem for the Lakers during the playoffs, but KCP’s defense is a big worry.