“We back.”

As streamers fall to the court in the aftermath of the Lakers snapping their 3 game losing streak by getting a win vs. a red hot Nuggets team, these are the words Anthony Davis says to KCP as they bring their heads together on the sideline. It’s a message to a teammate, but, I’d imagine, also one to himself. It’s both words meant to reassure at a time where the team desperately needs it and ones that reflect a certain confidence, or even arrogance by refocusing this team’s goals — and his role in achieving them — back into the center of the frame.

Davis, after several games of not looking like himself, finally broke out of his funk and reminded everyone of how special he can be on both ends of the floor when he’s engaged and feeling healthy. In the final minute of a game the Nuggets threatened to win after being down double digits, Davis hit a big basket in the paint to put his team up four and then, on the Nuggets final offensive possession, he closed out from the paint to the 3-point line to block a shot that would have brought Denver within a single point, ultimately recovering the loose ball and dribbling out the clock to seal the win.

AD finished the night with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. He moved well, played with good activity level, regained his some of his previously absent defensive timing, and (as the cameras showed us) played through some general tightness in his calf to play his best game since returning from injury. AD wasn’t quite back to full form, but it’s as close as he’s been since his 9-week layoff and, if we’re being honest, a level he’s only really hit a handful of times in this wackily compressed bloodsport kumite of an NBA campaign.

Whether AD’s proclamation to his teammate is accurate or not remains to be seen, but I am encouraged. Davis has always been a player who knows what going up a level entails. He’s not been to the playoffs many times in his career, but in every postseason he’s participated he has elevated his game to be a better player than he was during the regular season — which, considering his stature in this league, is a real achievement. Lakers fans saw this firsthand with last season’s ridiculous 1st Team All-NBA and All-Defense regular season that he somehow managed to top with a complete demolition of opponents during the team’s push to winning the title.

Coming off the level he’d shown since his return, what the Nuggets game also did was remind us of what is possible. Make no mistake, the Lakers were in a bad place. Forget the standings and the potential of participating in the play-in game, this team no longer resembled the group that was favored to win the title just 5 months ago. They didn’t look it on the court in their play, but also they did not look like it mentally. There was no urgency, no sense of togetherness. They were disparate pieces trying to summon something that just kept eluding them. Like a car with a bad starter, the ignition only clicked and never turned over to get the engine revving.

Anthony Davis, even at the level he showed vs. the Nuggets (to say nothing of the one we know he can reach based on last season’s run) can change that. He is the algorithm that unlocks the code for accessing the best these Lakers can offer. Make no mistake, LeBron James is the team’s best player and, if not the best player in the game, in the conversation for that. But, in the construction of this team, his greatness is the Lakers floor; he gets you to a baseline of competence and gives you a path towards competing at the highest level.

Alternatively, Anthony Davis’ greatness is the team’s ceiling; he is the player who, when paired with LeBron, gives you the path towards dominating any and all comers. Davis is the cheat code who makes your small-ball lineup too small and your big lineups to slow. He is the one who defends other team’s bigs as a primary assignment, switches onto their smalls in a pinch, and can be deployed onto their power wings in order to give everyone else a more advantageous matchup or to put them into more ideal help situations. His versatility, on both sides of the ball, at his size makes other teams adjust to him — usually unsuccessfully.

The version of Davis we saw vs. the Nuggets, then, is somewhat of a proof of life. It’s affirmation that the thing it was fair to wonder was still there, actually is. The next step is accessing that game after game, but I’ll take what we got on Monday night and let it wash over me for a bit longer. The Lakers play again on Thursday, but in the mean time, I’ll feel a bit better because the player I was waiting to return not only told us, but showed us on Monday that he’s back.

The post Proof of Life appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

If Frank Vogel could have his way, he’d have a roster of 15 star players. Really, that’s what every coach wants, right? Give me the most talent, and I’ll win every game. Vogel, like every other coach, knows this is not possible, of course. So, Vogel pivots to one of his favorite sayings: Be a star in your role. Give me the best of your ability in the thing we’re asking you to do and everyone benefits.

For LeBron James and Anthony Davis, this is straight forward enough. They’re 2 of the best handful of players in the entire league. Their ability to play to their immense talent level consistently is why they’re foundational players for this team and would be for any team they’d be on. For the rest of the players, things are not as straight forward. You see, most players do not come into the league as role players, rather they become that over time. The NBA isn’t always a meritocracy, but the cream does rise to the top. You prove yourself good enough and teams build around you. When it turns our you’re not at that top tier, it becomes about finding the things you will succeed at and slotting you into a role that, hopefully, highlights those attributes — particularly on teams whose goals include winning a championship.

You see this very clearly on the Lakers roster. Dennis Schröder isn’t AD or Bron, but his ball handling, shot creation, and scoring ability slot him into a fairly important role. If things get a bit messy with him sharing the floor with LeBron, it’s clearly been decided the team will live with that sloppiness because of his scoring punch offensively and the intensity he competes with defensively. Things are less complicated for role players like KCP, Caruso, Keef, Gasol, Trez, Wes, and even THT. They have clear strengths, and other things they’re not as good at. The Lakers ask them to do as much of the former as they can while trying to limit the latter. The hope, then, is that they will be a star in their role because the asks are smaller and align with their individual strengths.¹

This brings me to Andre Drummond. Drummond, in his own way, reminds me of Schröder in that he’s an established veteran in this league with a certain pedigree and reputation as being a player who has had higher asks put on him before he played for the Lakers. Drummond’s made two All-Star teams in his career and has served in a role where he was a top-2 offensive option and a hub of his team’s attack.

The difference between him and Dennis, however, is pretty clear. Now that he’s a Laker, the asks for Drummond will be much different. When Drummond was an All-Star, the game flowed through him in ways that simply will not happen in Los Angeles playing with the guys he does now. The pecking order is too different and putting those same asks on him would mistake what his talent level is relative to the rest of the league with what his talent level is relative to his current teammates.

This change in asks is what concerns me most about Drummond and it goes back to the ideas I mentioned earlier about meritocracy, proving yourself, and the role born from it all. Drummond does not have a mastery of doing the little things well because, frankly, he’s never been asked to do the little things all that well. Drummond’s job was to do the big things and it’s been that way his entire career because he showed a proclivity to be able to do them. His teams then built around his talent and succeeded, in part because of them, and failed in part because he’s just not as well rounded as he could be considering his talent level.

Take this as an indictment if you want, but I do not know a a particularly kind way to say this. Sometimes you’re very good, but not great. There’s no shame in that. There’s only so many guys who sit atop the league and not being one of them doesn’t mean you suck. And this true even if your team and circumstances ask you to be someone that you’re not quite capable of being. Said another way, the league is full of players who make max salaries who are not capable of carrying their team in ways consummate with their pay. It is what it is.

(As a side note, Drummond’s also a classic player who was super talented in college, but fell a bit in the draft because of questions about his motor and an ability to play hard all the time. Those concerns have turned out to be well founded. Again, this doesn’t make him a bad player, but it makes him someone who, despite his talent, simply will not be a guy who will ever likely be an All-NBA guy or someone who serves as the best player on a team that will threaten to win a championship. This also describes about 95% of the league, so I don’t think this should be considered me throwing shade at the guy. Anyways. Side note over.)

When evaluating Drummond’s place on the Lakers, then, things get tricky. Because he’s as talented as he is, the want to try to “make it work” will be strong. Go back to the top of this post: every team wants more talent. That said, as I’ve explained, at some point if your talent does not establish you as an actual “star” you need to be able to pivot to being a “star in your role”. I have serious questions Drummond, in the short time he’ll have to do it, can effectively be that for these Lakers. Again, he is not a master of the little things and because of that there is an inherent discrepancy in what will be asked of him and what he will deliver. Not because he’s incapable, but because he does not have experience doing them night to night at a high level.

Contrast this with Dwight Howard, who I think can be an informative comparison when thinking of Drummond. Howard, by the time he came to the Lakers (the 2nd time), had a richer pedigree and history of success in this league than Drummond has had to this point in his. Dwight nearly won an MVP award, had won DPOY multiple times, and once led a team to the Finals. To reach that height, you not only do the big things very well, but you also do the little things well too.² So, when Dwight came back to the Lakers last season, it was a matter of him buying into no longer being asked to do the big things and instead doing all those little things only. Dwight ultimately did buy-in and accessed that part of his game to be a valuable contributor. He was a star in his role.

Drummond, however, has never had to do the little things but is being asked to do those things now. Is he capable? Sure! He’s very talented! But I question if he has enough time to access those parts of his game because it will require a certain re-wiring of his approach in a very short period of time. In theory, if the ask is to set good screens, attack the backboards, defend at a high level, and score as a 3rd or 4th option type who has nearly every basket spoon-fed to him, that sounds totally plausible, right? Coaching and X’s and O’s contribute to how that looks on the floor, but Drummond is certainly capable of these things.

Fact is, though, that actually doing some of those things requires positioning yourself in different parts of the floor than you normally would, making in-play reads to best accomplish your end goal, and then playing hard all the time. I like Drummond as a player, but if I were to describe what he currently does well, those aren’t things that would necessarily be at the top of the list. As an example, there was a possession vs. the Kings where AD was posting up a smaller player on the right block, but was being fronted. Drummond was in the dunker’s spot on the left side of the floor. In that situation, Drummond’s read is to flash to the FT line in order to bring his defender with him to open up the over-the-defense pass to AD or to create a high/low chance between Drummond and AD. Drummond didn’t see the read and sat there until signaled by both AD and the ball handler to flash. By the time he did, the timing of the play broke down and Drummond took a bad floater that missed.

I bring up this play not to highlight Drummond’s mistake, really. I bring it up to highlight that Drummond isn’t used to making that read! Drummond is usually the guy in AD’s spot being fronted; he’s the guy who the offense is being run for! There’s an entirely different set of asks of Drummond right now and the Lakers are trying to give him time with his new teammates in this new role to figure it out. I get the sentiment, I just don’t think it’s going to be very successful. Maybe I’ll be wrong, but from my vantage point the issues of time and change are pretty big to believe things will practically improve to the level the team needs them to.

None of this makes Drummond a bad player. Read that sentence again, because it’s important to understand. What it does make him, though, is a bit of a square peg in a round hole. He’s being asked to be a star in his role when he’s used to simply being a star. And the adjustment required to make that transformation would be fine over the course of a full season, but feels forced over the course of weeks.

The post From Star to Star in your Role appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

After another frustrating loss, this time to the lowly Kings on Friday night, the Lakers are clearly still trying to find their way in the wake of getting their roster fully healthy. LeBron James returned to the starting lineup and played even better than could be expected, showing a level of control and feel that reflects his mastery of the game while at the same time beguiling his nearly 7 weeks missed with his high ankle sprain. Anthony Davis looked less engaged than his own pleas for desperation would imply was coming, but did get into more of a rhythm with more engagement as the game progressed.

These are the positives that should not be ignored, even if the mounting concerns are beginning to cast a larger shadow than anyone would want with only 9 games remaining in the regular season. No one captured this balance better than Frank Vogel. The head coach offered his trademark even keeled-ness, but did highlight the contrast between what he’d like to see, what he’s getting, and what he’s trying to accomplish during his post-game media availability:

And herein lies the rub for Vogel as he navigates the close to the regular season (and all that comes with that) along with trying to get his team prepared for the playoffs. You do not need 20/20 vision to see the Lakers struggles or to understand the stakes of the standings as it relates to the playoffs. The Lakers are not playing well, they’re losing games because of it, and are now at real risk of falling not only out of the 5th seed, but all the way to 7th and the play-in game(s).

That said, as much as anyone wants to question the approach, the Lakers are clearly still trying to make up for lost time by force-feeding lineups that we simply do not have a lot of information on. The Lakers attempted to close the game against the Kings with the group they started the game with, using AD at PF even as he tried to chase a 6’4″ Terence Davis around the perimeter while Andre Drummond got roped into handling the point of attack defense in the P&R between Tyrese Haliburton and Richaun Holmes (Drummond’s primary assignment). Needless to say, this didn’t work out very well and Vogel eventually went to Kuzma in Drummond’s place, but waited until there were fewer than 2 minutes left in a game the Lakers trailed by 2 possessions.

Vogel, as he said post game, is clearly looking to get more information on players he wants to rely on and groupings he thinks can succeed¹, but doesn’t yet seem to know if they can or to what level they will. In that respect, I understand the pursuit, even if I think it’s somewhat of a lost cause at this point (more on this another time). Vogel needs the data; he needs to get this on tape so he can study it and make the most informed decisions when the stakes are highest. Or, so, I assume.

This should be said as clearly as it can be: Vogel is no dummy. His preparedness and pulling of the right levers throughout the Lakers playoff run was instrumental to them winning the title. If you believe different, you’re deluding yourself to try to argue a point only those who already want to agree with you will nod along with. Have fun with that, but I live in reality.

Anyways.

Vogel is a victim of time now and in a race towards the playoffs he’s still mapping out the route he’ll use once that journey begins. If he has to sacrifice his starting position in order to ensure he has the right information on the route he plans to travel, it’s clear he’s saying “so be it.” There’s something to admire in those convictions, there really is. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but then again, I’m not the head coach. I’m writing this while I lay on the lower level of my kids’ bunk bed; I understand I actually don’t have all the relevant information and knowing what I don’t know is part of why I think I can comment on this at all with a certain amount of dignity and why I carry the perspective I do in the first place. But, I digress.

Here’s the thing, though. In a game with a definite winner and a definite loser, it’s very hard to have a two track mind. Vogel (seemingly) wants information to inform future decisions, but getting that information could cost you on the scoreboard and the standings in the present. He surely already has some ideas about what works and what doesn’t, but going to that hand now likely interferes with the hopes of having every player on this roster available to contribute in the type of high leverage moment that may specifically suit them as an individual. Again, getting to know what situation that is in the first place is part of the reason why doing things this way is happening at all.

No one is asking me, but I have this platform so I’m just going to say it.

I think Marc Gasol should play more and I think the minutes allocation at center should be 1. Anthony Davis 2. Gasol 3. Whatever matchups dictate the choice between Drummond and Trez. When in the thick of the playoffs, maybe that’s how things end up going anyway, but I’d be doing it this way now. When it comes to the rest of the rotation, my priorities shift towards LeBron, Dennis, KCP, Caruso, and Kuzma.

I’ve already named 7 key players, with both Drummond and Trez lurking for the 8th spot. In the playoffs, how many more guys can you credibly play anyway? No more than two, and possibly only one. If looking through the rest of the roster, that means (roughly) a shift or maybe two a game for one, or at the most two, from the Keef, Wes, THT, McLemore bunch. That’s quite the difference from what we’re seeing in these games now!

Again, Vogel is no dummy. I trust that when it’s time to pull the trigger on lineups his gut says will work, we’ll see more of AD playing center, more of Gasol, and many more minutes allocated to the top 7 players I named above. For now, though, he will continue to operate on a two track mind. And while I hope that goes well, I think we’re seeing the difficulty in that approach.

The post A Two Track Mind appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

The current version of the Lakers is not the version that will be playing in a week, or, basketball gods willing, a month or two months from now. This is something that we need to remind ourselves of, if not daily, then as frequently as our heads require the reassurance. In a season of flux for all NBA teams, the Lakers have suffered more disjointment¹ than many other teams, particularly those sitting at the top of the western conference. Some of that is self inflicted, some inflected upon them.²

The windy road to this point cannot be ignored, but also cannot be overly dwelled upon. This is the crux of the issue facing the team. While the past certainly influences their future, their present is what dictates all. Day by day they must understand what got them into the position they’re in, but, to a certain extent, ignore it all in order to do what is needed to get where they want to go. The ramp up to defending their championship is on, right now, even if the stakes of the regular season cannot replicate the urgency of the playoffs.

This is an important point: urgency cannot be faked. Anthony Davis made a call for playing with more desperation after Wednesday’s loss to the Wizards, but a random game in Washington at the end of a 4 game road trip is not game 3 of a playoff series tied 1-1. And while I understand there are many levels of intensity between those two things, the spirit of the point remains. The core of this team is championship tested and proven, making the pursuit of lesser things feel more trivial. It’s human nature.

The mind is too powerful to trick and will know the difference between a training run and a race with real stakes. To further this analogy, the Lakers don’t have a sea of bodies to chase right now, they’re simply running on a road by themselves. They can push to go harder, but calling on that extra gear requires them to actively seek out that higher level rather than it presenting itself to them organically for them to respond to and meet. This is especially true for a team that has won at the highest level. There’s an inherent confidence that emanates from this team because the title that everyone else seeks out is currently owned by them. Why not feel like you can achieve at that level again? It’d be weird if they didn’t feel sure of themselves.

In saying all that, soon there will be fewer excuses to continue down the path they’re currently jogging. There will be context, for sure, but not excuses. LeBron will be back and will need — like we’ve been seeing with AD — a period of getting used to simply playing again and all that comes with that. Even for a super computer like Bron, there is a boot-up period where things around him will be moving quickly and he will be trying to keep up. But, even as that context shapes their environment, they must start to work on the things that are not at the level they’d like and seek out the form they’ll need when the games do “matter”.

Because, make no mistake, the warning signs are clear as day — at least to this observer. This team can be mistake prone on both sides of the ball. When they start to press offensively, they turn the ball over or force up suboptimal shots. They can go long stretches of not generating good offense at all, suffering scoreless stretches that last far too long. When offenses force them into multiple defensive rotations on possession after possession, they can begin to show cracks and surrender the exact shots the opposition are hunting. On both sides of the ball, the individual decision making of each player on the floor, under more scrutiny, begins to expose that single player’s limitations.

As the saying goes, you’re only as strong as your weakest link, and the current version of the team is putting players on the floor, for key stretches, who are showing they’re more than capable of being that weak link.

There’s reason for optimism this will all change, of course. LeBron’s return will begin to slot players back into right sized roles. His position as the lead decision maker offensively will mean fewer possessions for everyone else to take matters into their own hands. We should see fewer possessions where Drummond tries to isolate after getting the ball in the mid-post, fewer early clock shots from Kuz and Ben McLemore (and maybe less of McLemore in general), fewer possessions where Dennis is the lone shot creator and even fewer than that where THT or Caruso are put into that position at all.

I’m a big believer in player optimization via smaller asks and right sized roles. In this sense, getting LeBron back is like the pawn making it all the way across the board and being promoted to the do-it-all queen. Every other piece is now able to play to their strengths, rather than moving clumsily around the board trying to trap the opponent’s king without the ultimate piece that triangulates it all to achieve what’s sought after.

We’re not playing chess, though. These are people, not pieces on a board who can only move in certain ways or execute certain tasks. Winning at the highest level isn’t just slotting players into the right roles, it’s them understanding those asks, buying into executing them, knowing what is being asked of their teammates as well, and trusting that everyone will do what is needed of them as individuals while also committing to helping each other when it’s their responsibility to do so.

Establishing this trust takes time; it takes reps. Time and reps are what the Lakers have not had very much of this year and with only 10 games left in the regular season, won’t get much of moving forward. And, even with a core group of guys who did it together last year, there’s too many new variables to blindly believe recapturing that form is likely. Possible? Sure. But likely? Not so fast, my friend.

But this is the Lakers lot in life now. Mourning the time lost and the lack of time left is a natural desire. But, the thing about time is that it does not stop going forward while you linger behind worrying about it. There’s a danger of being left behind.

That said, the Lakers, when whole, are so talented and have enough variety of player type and skill sets on this roster to play any style or matchup with (or dictate matchups to) any opponent. The pressure on them is real, but maybe that’s a good thing. Remember, urgency cannot be faked and at some point this team is going to feel that pressure. The hope is that they can respond with the best version of themselves, because if they can, whatever (deserved) anxiousness us outsiders feel right now will feel silly in hindsight.

Getting to the point they can respond that way, however, won’t just happen because it’s supposed to or because we think it should. The work that’s required is real and the steps, though sped up into a condensed timeline, are incremental all the same. This team must recognize the work and attack it with a focus that, for a variety of understandable reasons, has been lacking (for the group as a whole) for most of this season. Summoning that is the first priority. I hope we can see it soon.

The post On the Lakers, Urgency, and Time appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

I am in the 6th grade and it is the first day of my month off from school as part of our “year round” academic calendar. Me and my best friend decided to go play in some sort of riverbed/drainage ditch thing near his house that we were told several times we should not play in.

As we were wont to do, we were running down one incline of this upside down trapezoid ditch and daring to jump over the water that stretched from about halfway across the bed of this this ditch to the other side of it. We did this over and over again because, well, we were 12 years old and there wasn’t any internet and those were the days your parents told you to “go play outside” and that you should “come back when the streetlights come on.”

Anyways, down one side, jump, land. Again and again.

On the last time I did this thing I’d just done a dozen times, I miscounted my steps and as I planted my foot to clear the 6 foot shallow puddle, I stepped on a piece of mossy, wet cement. Rather than leap off that planted leg, I slid on one foot. Sort of like Gumby. I slid and slid until I crashed into the other side of the ditch. Disoriented, I half rolled over and my friend said, “OH MY GOD ARE YOU OKAY? DUDE, YOUR LEG!”

At that moment, I looked at my right leg and I was clearly not okay. My right foot was turned out to the side at an angle it should not be and I was in shock. I did not feel any pain, but that was only temporary. After going to the hospital, I was told that I had a compound fracture in my leg and ankle. I’d also dislocated my growth plate. I was in a cast to the top of my thigh for 8 weeks. So much for my 1-month vacation from school.

Anyways, after I got my cast off I was on crutches for nearly a month after. I had zero strength in my leg and it took me a long time before I felt comfortable walking, much less running or playing sports (which I did a ton before I got hurt). It was months before I made my way back to what I was in those moments before I hit that Gumby slide. It took doctors to fix my leg, two months in a cast, and then another 6-8 weeks of my parents stressing to me I was going to be okay and pushing me to keep doing more, even if I didn’t feel ready.

I was thinking about my broken leg earlier today in relation to the Lakers. You see, the Lakers are sort of broken right now too. They’ve lost 3 of their last 4 games, the last of those 2 losses coming to the Heat and the Wizards (two teams with losing records) in Los Angeles. The Lakers could have won both games had they simply made a couple of plays more or cut out a couple of the self inflicted errors that have become a frequent aspect of their games this season. They didn’t, so they lost.

Of course, there’s context to these losses. The Lakers are not, currently, whole. Anthony Davis is about a week into a an absence that will last at least a month. Dennis Schröder could return later this week, but remains out due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Without those two, the primary playmaking and shot creation burden falls mostly on LeBron and several players who are not equipped to perform this task consistently in an NBA game vs. opponents who care.

Like me when I sat in my cast with my leg throbbing, it won’t be like this forever for these Lakers. Again, Dennis could be back as early as this Friday. AD, health willing, will be back around the middle of March. This team will, hopefully, be whole again and when they are the expectation is that they will regain the form they showed earlier this season. Hopefully.

Here’s the thing, though, to make their way back it will take more than just their current bad health situation to expire. Like me when my cast came off, there will be much work to do before these Lakers resemble the team that they were early in the season. That dominant team, with two top-5 players and all that depth which looked like the clear favorites to repeat as champions.

Because, if we’re being honest, that Lakers team hadn’t really been showing up lately either. Even with AD and Dennis in the lineup, there were too many games where the Lakers looked disinterested, physically tired, mentally drained, or all the above. Their defense would wax and wane, their shooting had began to decline, and they were mostly winning on the strength of their talent, not because of a commitment to playing with energy or by being engaged with doing all the of the little things that help you win. The results were there, but the process was not.

To make it back, then, the Lakers will need a certain commitment to actually getting back. They’ll need to do more than they were doing before their current situation befell them, and by a lot. Their focus on winning defensive possessions, cutting out turnovers, pushing the pace, and playing for each other will need to return. They’ll need to play with joy, with energy, and with the verve of a team hungry to win rather than a team that believes they’re simply expected to by showing up.

Winning in the NBA is incredibly hard. No matter how talented you are, greatness is never truly guaranteed. Teams who achieve that status worked for it and every step of the way they took the measures to make it so. Talent surely helps and is the baseline attribute that is needed to make it happen. These Lakers have that. But the focus on taking every step and doing the right thing way more often than not is another pillar of success. Without it even the most talented teams will fall.

For the Lakers to make it back, then, they can’t just expect things to suddenly turnaround when they have their full complement of players back. It’s going to take a commitment to doing the things that great teams do if they actually want to be great. Just like it took more than me getting my cast off before I was back to running around like the dumb 12 year old I was.

The post Making it Back appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

From now through the rest of the regular season (and maybe longer!), I’m going to do a Lakers Stock Report for 5-9 guys on the team every handful of games (or so). I’m hoping to use this as a snapshot of which direction players are trending and, with that, give us a better look at the team as a whole in how they’re performing as the season progresses. This is the first installment. Your feedback is appreciated, so leave a comment below with your own thoughts. Now, on to the post…

LeBron James ($KING): Trending Up. What can really be said about LeBron at this point? We can debate if he’s still the best player in the league or the frontrunner for the MVP award — which seems ridiculous considering he’s in year 18 — but what can’t be debated is he’s been head and shoulders above any other player on this team and is the catalyst for how they’re winning games. In the Lakers last 5 games (all wins) he’s averaging 26.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 9.8 assists on 50.5% shooting from the field. He’s not missed a game this season and in the team’s last three games he’s played an additional 20 minutes just from overtime periods. His 3 point shooting has fallen off some in this stretch (mostly because of a 2-10 night in the first OKC game coming off the double-OT win vs. the Pistons), but he’s also tallied more combined steals and blocks (14) than personal fouls (9) during this period too. Has his effort waxed and waned some? Yes. But when it’s time to win the game, there he is, making the key plays.

Anthony Davis ($BROW): Trending Neutral. AD has missed the team’s last two games with tendinosis in his achilles, but the team is saying it’s not serious and if these games were more important I’d imagine he’d be in the lineup. In the last game he played, he had 30 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal on 13-22 shooting in the win over the Pistons. In the game before that, he only had 13 points (5-8 shooting) but had 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks against in the win over Denver. His defense has been better than advertised on most nights and is passing and individual shot creation have been quite good even though his overall usage is down. If this were any player besides AD, we’d say he’s having a great year, but his status and reputation as one of the league’s best handful of guys means he’s graded on a different curve. I’d probably have his stock trending up if he’d not missed games with this injury.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($KCP): Trending Down. KCP has hit a rough patch this season after starting the year on fire. Over his last 5 games he’s averaging only 7.4 points and has only hit 4 of his last 14 attempts from deep. Extend the benchmark to 10 games and it’s not much better: 6.1 points per game and 7 of his last 30 from behind the arc. KCP has been a streaky player over the course of his career, so this extended dip in production and shooting accuracy could very well be simple regression to the mean. He is still playing hard defensively, even though the smaller backcourt means he’s defending bigger players more often. Overall, he’s having a fine year, but this stretch has not been kind to him.

Dennis Schröder ($RÖDR): Trending Up. Dennis’ last 5 games has seen his scoring pick back up (19.4 points per game) while seeing his assists kick up (5 per game) from what they were in January. His on ball defense remains strong and his general feel for how to operate within the Lakers systems while playing next to LeBron and AD is improving. He’s had some off ball issues defensively and his shot/pass decisions can, at times, still frustrate. But, in the big picture, he’s playing pretty damn well and his overall competitiveness has been key on nights where the Lakers energy hasn’t been as high.

Marc Gasol ($BGSPN): Trending Neutral. There’s not a lot to say about Marc this year and I think that’s probably going to remain true for pretty much any 5-10 game rolling sample. His averages for the last 5 games are almost identical to his season numbers and besides a more assertive shooting night here or there, you’re not going to find much fluctuation in what he provides. His passing is a wonderful addition to the team and his positional defense remains top notch. But athletes of all sizes will cause him various issues either due to foot speed, ability to elevate, or both. You can nitpick parts of his game, but I think that’s missing the bigger picture with him. He’s solid and for a minimum salaried player in the role he’s being used, I’m perfectly good with that.

Montrezl Harrell ($TREZ): Trending Up. From a stats perspective, there’s probably not a stronger 5 game stretch statistically from Trez than this last stretch. He’s shooting 75% from the field in February while scoring 16 points and grabbing nearly 6 rebounds a game. He came up big as a scorer in the two OKC games that AD missed and was a fixture of the team’s closing lineups as the lone big on the floor in both those wins. His defense has been better of late too, particularly because the Lakers have been asking him to play in drop coverage less and instead have been utilizing his ranginess more by playing him up in the P&R and switching more outright. Just a really good stretch from Trez and it’s been nice to see him fill in for AD the way he has — particularly with his scoring.

Kyle Kuzma ($KUZ): Trending Neutral. Don’t mistake this rating for me not liking what Kuz has been doing in his minutes. He’s been active defensively and on the backboards, with two 2-block games in his last 5 contests and 19 total rebounds in the last two games that AD sat. However, during that same stretch he’s hit only 8 of his 25 attempts from distance and has only taken 5 total FT’s (making only 2 of them). So, I’ve liked his energy and general approach to the game, but his production and consistency as a shooter has not been to the level it was in January. He’s doing just fine, though. So no Kuz hate from me.

Talen Horton-Tucker ($THT): Trending Neutral. Like Kuz, don’t mistake this for me being at all down on young THT. Every game he shows you a flash of his enormous potential with either a drive and finish, a great pass, or a highlight defensive play. That said, the ups and downs of being a just turned 20 year old getting his first real NBA minutes is real and THT is not exempt from that. Over the last few games the off-ball defensive miscues have been higher than I’d like and his outside shooting has let him down a bit (1-8 over the last 5 games). I do like that Vogel is consistently finding around 20 minutes a game for him, though, which is exactly what he needs to continue to develop and, hopefully, be playoff ready when his number is called.

Alex Caruso ($GOAT): Trending Neutral. AC has missed two straight games with a hand injury and it remains to be seen if he’ll play either Friday or Sunday. Before going out with injury, he’d been playing fine, though it bears mentioning that of the 3 times (in 19 appearances this year) that he’s had a negative plus/minus 2 of them came in the games before he sat out hurt. So, why is he trending neutral and not down? Well, first, AC is almost always a positive contributor and in the two games previous to those (Hawks and Celtics), his plus/minus numbers of +13 and +14 were best on the team. Second, even though he’s not a boxscore guy, his FG% has been good this month in the games he has played. Third, when you watch the games, he always seems to make an important play or two on both sides of the ball that contribute to winning. And, most important, they’re my rankings and what I say goes.

NOTE: I am not including Keef nor Wes in this edition of the stock report since they’ve only played in two games after sitting the previous four due to Vogel reducing the rotation. If they end up sticking in the rotation or getting more run in general, I’ll add them next time.

The post Lakers Stock Report, Volume One appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

If there were ever a time when you’d expect LeBron James to slow down, it would be this year. Not because of eroding skills or because of sapped athleticism, but because conventional wisdom said there was no better time for him to choose to.

The challenge of last season cannot be overstated for LeBron. From the Darryl Morey tweet that sparked controversy in China right as the Lakers flew there for preseason games to Kobe’s devastating and untimely death in a January helicopter crash and the subsequent grieving to COVID-19 shutting down the season in March to the Orlando Bubble restart and the resulting isolation from July through October, the mental burden James carried as a leader of the franchise and face of the league was all too real.

Over the course of the 2019-20 season, no player was asked to do more than James. And, by the close of the campaign, no player actually did more than him. The #washedking #revengetour culminated with him on the top of the league once more.

Then, only 10 weeks after his team won the championship (where he collected another Finals MVP) the new NBA season began with him and his remade roster positioned by pundits to repeat. Considering the short turnaround and all that he’d just done to get his team to the perch they were elevated on, LeBron, embarking on his 18th season and at 36 years old, was supposed to take it easy.

Maybe he’d “load manage” more and take nights off. Maybe he’d show less effort on the defensive end and turn to his younger teammates — in particular Anthony Davis — to carry the load during the regular season. Before the season started James even joked that would be the case in a great interview he and Maverick Carter did with former President Barack Obama.

LeBron, though, didn’t turn those jokes into reality. Through the season’s first 16 games, the Lakers have the league’s best record and he is the one setting the tone night to night; he is the one leading the team forward in their quest for a repeat title.

Sure, he’s had some uninspiring nights — the MLK Day loss to the Warriors stands out as the chief example. But in Thursday’s win over the Bucks, it was Bron who carried the Lakers home. Burying dagger 3’s and dunking home the victory over the reigning MVP’s eastern conference powerhouse. LeBron James is here, showing through his play, that he’s not going to take any steps back just yet. Conventional wisdom be damned.

I could rattle off a bunch of stats here, but there’s little point in that. His scoring, rebounding, and assist numbers are right in line with his career averages. He’s again part of some of the league’s best performing lineups, finding instant chemistry with Marc Gasol — another 36 year old basketball savant — to form the NBA’s best performing duo in terms of net rating when they share the floor.¹ His shooting accuracy from beyond the arc is unprecendented for him considering the volume he’s taking.

His impact on winning remains among the league’s highest and after his performance in Milwaukee the whispers are getting louder about him being near the top of the league in MVP discussions.

Again, it really wasn’t supposed to be this way. With Davis’ playoff ascension and the additions of Schröder (in particular) and Harrell, James was supposed to ease back some. His scoring and playmaking responsibilities were supposed to go down. His activity level on and general commitment to defense was supposed to fall way back from where it was last season. He was going to coast through the regular season and ramp up for the playoffs in order to best position himself for that 5th championship he’s chasing.

But none of it has really happened that way. Sure, the new additions have helped him pace himself more. And the nature of how he’s scoring and the level to which he’s the focal point within and initiator of offense has been more subdued. But, scour Basketball Reference and there he is: team leader per game in points and assists while being 2nd in rebounding.

It’s his 18th season. He’s 36 years old.

But, he’s just still so good. And while that was assumed, I did not expect LeBron James to be showing it in this way at this early stage of the season. Conventional wisdom was that it was going to go different. But he continues to defy it and watching him do it each night should serve as a reminder to appreciate him while we can.

The post LeBron James Continues to Defy Conventional Wisdom appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

When Kyle Kuzma was asked about what his primary focus was heading into this season he didn’t mention more consistent scoring, ball handling, or even improving his 3-point shooting. These are obviously all areas that matter to Kuz and would help his overall trajectory as an impact player, but entering into his 4th year and looking to grow his game he instead said something much less glamorous: defense.

You see, Kuz is no dummy. He made real strides defensively last season, showing real chops as a wing defender whose size and quick feet allowed him to stay in front of perimeter talents and effectively challenge shots.

Growing and improving that ability this year would almost surely mean more responsibility alloted to him, and responsibility often translates to playing time. If Kuz is on the court more, his want to score the ball could be better fullfilled. Said another way, you can’t score from the bench and you end up on the bench by not playing defense. Especially when your coach is Frank Vogel.

Wanting to be better at something, however, doesn’t make it so. Particularly on defense. You have to actually commit to playing harder and smarter on that side of the ball to truly make meaningful strides. And, early on this year, Kuz is showing that commitment and reaping the benefits of those extra efforts.

Where this is showing up the most is in Kuz’s blocked shot numbers. Through 7 games, Kuz has 8 total blocked shots this year, good for 1.1 per night. That’s a huge leap from previous seasons where he averaged 0.4 blocks per game in each of his first 3 years in the league. I know it’s early in the year and it’s fair to be skeptical that he can keep things up at this rate. But, when you look at the types of blocks he’s getting, I’m more bullish than I thought I’d be before looking at the tape. Here’s a sampling:

Most of these plays are simply about engagement and effort. Be it showing the right awareness and dropping down as a weakside help defender, hustling in transition, or simply staying attached to his primary assignment, Kuz isn’t doing anything that is extraordinary here. He’s just playing hard and making the plays that are born from activity and commitment.

Beyond the emphasis on extra effort, though, a couple of other things stand out to me here — and they work hand in hand.

First, as more of a perimeter defender now, the spots on the floor Kuz operates from has changed. No longer a PF who would be a pure backline defender, his rotations often come from the extended wing and from the blindside of offensive players who are diving to the rim. Second, Kuz is just bigger than you think. At a legit 6’9″, he’s able to cover ground and get up to challenge shots that many other normal sized wings wouldn’t be able to.

When you combine the sneakiness of both his height and the positions he’s in to challenge some of these shots, there’s an unexpectedness that allows him to pick up blocks at a fairly consistent rate. Especially when he’s playing as hard and showing the type of awareness that he is in help situations.

When Dwight Howard left in free agency for the 76ers and JaVale McGee was traded to the Cavs, the Lakers lost two of the league’s better shot blocking big men. Those two combined to block 2.5 shots per game and were both ranked in the top 20 of shots swatted away nightly. The Lakers were expected, then, to decline in this area even though they retained one of the NBA’s best shot blockers in Anthony Davis.

The Lakers have indeed fallen in the blocked shot rankings this season, but the decline has not been as precipitous as I expected. Surprisingly, though, it’s not because AD has been even more stellar than he was last season. Davis, who ranked 3rd in the NBA last year with 2.7 blocks a game is actually underpeforming there to begin this year, averaging only 0.8 blocks a night.

Instead, one of the main reasons the Lakers are still in the top 10 in blocks per game and are only down 0.9 blocks per night from last season¹ is because of Kuz and the growth he’s showing as a rim protector, even if it’s not coming in the ways you’d expect from a guy who started out his career as a PF.

Now, maybe Kuz’s block numbers don’t remain this high the rest of the year. It’s hard to block a shot a game from the wing. That said, there are ingredients here that lead to me to believe that they can. And if they do, the Lakers can remain one of the better shotblocking teams in the league, even if it’s not in the way we were used to last season.

The post Kyle Kuzma, Shot Blocker? appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers begin their season on Tuesday against the Clippers. They’ll get their rings and raise another banner before tip off and then start their long quest towards trying to do it all over again. And, as it stands today, they’re the overwhelming favorites to do just that. What a time it is to be a fan of this team.

I, for one, am as optimistic as I’ve been in a decade about a Lakers team. They have two of the top 5 players in the world, have updgraded their depth and supporting players, and come back to this new season with both an appetite to win and that confidence that only comes from winning it all. I don’t know if they’ll repeat this year, you can never really know such things. But, they’re as well positioned as any defending champ could be.

Of course, with as much turnover as this team had during the offseason, there will be some growing pains. The ethos of how they want to play may not change much at all, but the shifts on the margins and how they go about things on the edges will almost certainly be different.

They’re a bit smaller than they were last year. Marc Gasol is not the same caliber athlete as JaVale and Dwight and Montrezl Harrell is much more of a small-ball 5 than anyone the team used as a primary big man last season. They lost some inches at shooting guard too with Danny Green leaving and ultimately being replaced by KCP and Wes Matthews. These changes fundamentally shift some of the things you can do on both sides of the ball and it will take some adjusting in adapting to some of the ways these players’ weaknesses show up on a game to game or even possession to possession basis.

Gone will be the crazy lob attempts to and rim runs from the non-AD big men. The shot-blocking will not be the same. Those weakside rotations from a player of Green’s size won’t quite be there. Nor will the sandwhich rebounds and transition defense + rim protection prowess he brought as a backcourt player. It’d be silly to think the Lakers won’t miss some or all of these things — they are skills that have value and were part of the larger identity the team formed and deployed on their way to the title.

It would be just as silly, however, to not understand all the ways the new skills this team has at its disposal can also be deployed to allow this team to rampage opponents.

Gasol’s passing and expert level positional and rotational defense will be huge on the back line. Schröder’s speed will amplify the team’s transition attack and will offer diversity in the halfcourt. As will his pick and roll prowess and ability to shoot off the dribble in the midrange, while also being good enough as a spot up guy to offer real scoring diversity.

Harrell’s relentless motor will be a boon in transition and on the offensive glass while his attack-style game in the P&R and out of the mid-post can terrorize second units. And Matthews is a dogged wing defender who holds up well in isolation and whose plus shooting makes him the type of plug and play role player every title team wants.

And those are just the new guys.

The holdovers are, of course, championship proven. I don’t need to tell you about what LeBron brings, but it’s worth noting that he is showing no signs of slowing down either from a skills standpoint or from a want-to-win one. When the playoffs came, he was as determined as ever to win a championship and proved to be just as unstoppable as ever, getting to the rim at will, hitting the 3 ball at a rate good enough to make the sagging defense pay, and making the types of plays for teammates that allowed them to be the best versions of themselves.

However, as he enters year 18, I do expect him to pace himself a bit more — particularly with the short turnaround and a condensed season. While that may or may not mean him taking entire games off, seeing his minutes go down and watching him work his way into the type of condition he was in last season for the entire year is almost a certainty. Of course, he’s earned this right and I support him doing whatever he needs to in order to be ready for the playoffs. Knowing Bron, though, I also expect him to turn it on in any given game, if not to make a point, then to give his team the type of burst that can push them ahead and/or win the game outright.

One of the reasons Bron can — if he chooses — use an extended runway in ramping up to peak performance, is because of Anthony Davis. Like with Bron, I don’t need to extoll AD’s excellence. The once-in-a-generation label placed upon him entering the draft looks very much true after a rampage through the Bubble playoffs that saw him shoot jumpers like Kevin Durant while still beasting the paint like a throwback to the golden age of dominant bigs. Add in his all world defense from every angle and every possible spot on the floor and you have someone who is capable, if given the usage and minutes, of winning both the league MVP and the DPOY awards.

Davis is that good and entering into his age 27 season, he’s smack in the middle of his prime years where superstars typically show their readiness to take another leap that propels them to the top of the league. Who knows if AD will actually do that this year — the conditions and context of this season present real hurdles to that. But Davis is currently in that part of his career where he can push through all of that in order to be anything he wants. And from what he showed in limited preseason minutes, he looks ready to try to push the limits of whatever his supposed ceiling is.

When you look at the rest of the team, there’s just more talented and useful depth that has already proven they can play to a championship level. Be it KCP and his balls-to-the-wall effort defensively mixed with plus level 3-point shooting, Alex Caruso’s sublime high IQ and elite intangibles on both ends, Kyle Kuzma’s continued growth defensively and still potent scoring ability, Talen Horton-Tucker’s intriguing mix of on-ball skill and off-ball effectiveness as a rising talent, or Markieff Morris’ ability to stretch the floor while bringing toughness and physicality defensively, the Lakers have a slew of options to flank their two superstars and their new additions.

Of course, this team still has to get on the floor and prove it. Every season there is a team that carries a certain amount of hype as some sort of sure thing that flames out in ways unexpected. The Lakers will need to work together and row all in the same direction, not only from a chemistry standpoint but from a fit and connectivity one via how their skills fit on the court.

This is where Frank Vogel comes in and if last year taught me anything, it’s that his calm and collaborative nature as a communicator and his strong preparation as a teacher and tactician can be relied upon to figure all of it out. Make no mistake, Vogels’ job is harder this year than last — as hard as that is to believe. This team navigated hardship and tragedies, and as much as I credit LeBron for his leadership as a player, I also credit Vogel for setting the right tone as the head coach.

This season, though, Vogel will need to navigate the shortened offseason and training camp on the preparation side, beat back any complacency that comes from winning last season, integrate several new rotation players, manage a rotation that goes 11 deep, and do it all while establishing and maintaining buy-in. When you add the threat of COVID, the empty arenas, and whatever other organic challenges that come up very single season for every NBA team, I don’t envy Vogel at all. Don’t get me wrong, some of these are what we’d call good problems than any coach would love to have, but some of them are just problems and how he responds to them will matter a great deal.

Again, though, I trust him to do the job. Just as I trust these players. When you put it all together, offensively this team projects to be a terror in transition who attacks the rim in the halfcourt and creates the types of open jumpers that the players on this roster can hit at a high level. Defensively they have the ability to pressure the ball, snuff out dribble penetration with smart and timely rotations, and then close back out to the perimeter to contest shots with quickness and rangy athletes all over the floor. Top 5 finishes on both sides of the ball are not out of the question if they compete nightly to a level consistent with their overall talent level.

This team is favored to repeat for a reason. They look to be just that good. Now, all they have to do is go out there and do it. I get there should always be doubts a team plays to the best version of themselves consistently. But if this team comes close, watch the hell out.

The post 2020-21 Lakers Season Preview appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

In this episode of the Laker Film Room Podcast, me, Pete, and Mike take a tour of the Western Conference to examine the landscape heading into the off-season.

We started out by analyzing which teams are likely to be better or worse next season and why, then we transition to which teams are in the best position to challenge the Lakers for the top of the conference. There was some lively discussion about the Rockets potential to flame out next year and a lot of discussion about what the Warriors look like as their best players return from injury.

We wanted to take a look at this stuff now in order to be able to reexamine later — both after the draft and free agency, but also during the season to see how things relate back to these initial thoughts. This is a part of us starting to look around the entire league during one pod a week, so we hope you all enjoy it.

You can listen to the full episode below.

If you enjoy the Laker Film Room podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes. Additionally, if you want to support the work we do here at Forum Blue & Gold, please consider donating via Paypal, Venmo, or supporting us monthly via Patreon. 

The post Laker Film Room Podcast: Western Conference Foes appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.