Lakers' struggles: Is it just complacency or more?

[Nitro]

After tonight's loss, the Lakers will drop to 21-10 after starting the season. IMO, they're most impressive win was against the Bulls (without Boozer) at home. They've lost in Denver, in Utah, in Chicago, in San Antonio, and at home against Phoenix and Miami. Now, they've had some key injuries (Bynum specifically), and certainly aren't playing with a ton of heart, so the issue may be non-existent as the season progresses. However, I've seen a few alarming things that will prevent them from winning another championship...

 

-Kobe is taking way too many shots. Kobe continues to decline athletically, and his fingers/hand isn't going to get much better, so leading the entire league in FGA per 36min (21.1 heading into tonight, the only player in the league with over 20) with as much supporting talent he has is unacceptable. I completely understand that he has two starters shooting sub-40% this season (which I will get to shortly), but besides those two players Kobe is shooting the worst percentage on the team among players taking over 5+ shots per game. I think Kobe will be fine, but he has to understand that the team runs most effectively when his teammates are more involved. In the 21 wins this season, Kobe is averaging 17.8 FGA's per game, and shooting 46% from the field. In the 9 recorded losses, he's taking 23.3FGA's per game (will go up after tonight's loss) and shooting 42.4% shooting (will go down after tonight). Basically, he's got to take a little step back, focus more on getting everyone else going, and try to be more efficient with the shot attempts he does get.

 

-The PG play this season has been unbelievably bad. 39% shooting for Fisher, 37% shooting for Blake, both with under 2.5APG, and neither have been effective defensively. They are hitting their 3's, but sub-40% shooting from the starting AND backup PG is unacceptable, especially when neither player is doing much else. This is a huge problem. Should the Lakers try and see if Blake will improve, or should they make a trade? Personally, I would let it play out and see if there is some improvement as Blake gets more comfortable in the triangle, but if there isn't they need to make a move IMO.

 

-Artest has been awful. He's still a very good defensive player, but he is no longer a dominant player on that end of the floor, and his offense has been even worse than last season. He's at that age where he will only continue to decline, so if I were the Lakers trading Artest would be a move I'd make immediately. He is an offensive liability, and his defense simply doesn't make up for what they lose on that side of the ball.

 

-The fact that the Lakers have been this complacent is a concern in and of itself. I understand they are the defending champs, and had a similar run last season, and did it to a degree in the 2009 post-season, but you can only play with fire so many times before getting burnt. The Celtics have only gotten better from last season, the Mavs and Spurs are vastly improved, and the Heat are starting to look scary. I think the level of competition is stronger than it has been in years, and if the Lakers show any kind of this arrogance or complacency in the post-season, they WILL NOT win a 3rd title. IMO a change or two has to be made to kick their asses into gear and hopefully give them some energy.

 

 

Thoughts?

[reno]

21-10 is still a damn good record. I still see the lakers as a very hard team to beat in a 7 game series come playoff time with phil jackson as head coach.

[Nestle Snipes]

I don't want to take anything away from two very good teams the Heat and Spurs but the Lakers almost look bored right now and it's like they are waiting on the playoffs to start to turn it on.

[Erick Blasco]

Their ball movement isn't up to snuff and Artest has no clue about the triangle. Combine that with Kobe declining and Gasol not playing as well as he did last year and you have problems. Gasol doesn't get a chance to get into a rhythm if Kobe is taking that many shots, and so many of Kobe's shots are mid-range fadeaways or jumpers off perimeter isos.

 

Ultimately though, the Lakers can correct their mistakes. I'm more concerned with how they play in March and April. If they don't pick up their play by then, they'll be vulnerable in the playoffs, even against middle-tiered teams.

[Multi-Billionaire]

I don't understand why Kobe, at his age and point in his career, still does "take too many shots". This is a 20-24 year old stuff.

 

Gasol might be struggling but taking shots away from him will not help him get better.

 

Without ball movement, players will lose their rhythm, and I'm sure that's the case with Kobe's teammates.

 

 

And on top of that, that he's clearly past his prime, still very good nonetheless, but with an injured finger, he should let the ball flow and not force the issue. It's almost embarrassing for a 33 year old man to do 20-24 year old stuff like taking too many shots. If he's really intelligent, he surely knows he cannot beat teams or stop his team's struggles by himself?

[Make It Naaaashty]

They'll pick it up during the playoffs, regular season is too boring for them.

[Real Deal]

I agree with everything said in the initial post (won't dig into the rest yet), but you guys have to realize that Bryant isn't taking shots away from Pau. He's trying to make up for it.

 

Read this line before you begin to call me out for sticking up for him: I'm not sticking up for him fully. I think he's chucking. I think he's taking too many shots.

 

But, he's not taking them away from Gasol. It's Pau that is shying away from the low post. He's trying to be passive, trying to get to the high post too much. I don't know if Phil is telling him to do this OR if he's doing it because he's hurt (hammy?), but it's an issue.

 

It's not complacency, it's ignorance. The Lakers will lose in the playoffs, first round or Finals, if they have to lose HCA to every team they play in May/June.

[Newman]

IMO the recent slump is still not sufficient for anyone of us to write the Lakers off as a Championship contender but it should serve as a warning bell as to how other teams have improved to a point where they can rout the Lakers on a bad day for the latter. Every player of the team has to improve or at least be more focused in order for the Lakers to get back on the winning road.

[The Regime]

Kobe needs to start playing efficient basketball, until then the Lakers are going to continue to struggle. 23 shots to get 23 points just isn't going to cut it, I feel far more comfortable when he's taking under 20 shots (which is the winning formula as Nitro indicated in his post). This doesn't all fall on Kobe though, at times he's just forced to take a high volume of shots because the rest of the team simply isn't getting the job done.

 

I don't know what happened with Pau Gasol. Through the first half of the season the dude was playing at a MVP level, but the second half has just been treadful. His scoring and rebounding hasn't been up to par this whole month. On top of all this his defense has been lackidasical, and that "Gasoft" label has resurfaced.

 

As for Artest you guys know my position. The Lakers need to seriously consider other options.

[Real Deal]

I agree with everything said in the initial post (won't dig into the rest yet), but you guys have to realize that Bryant isn't taking shots away from Pau. He's trying to make up for it.

 

Read this line before you begin to call me out for sticking up for him: I'm not sticking up for him fully. I think he's chucking. I think he's taking too many shots.

 

But, he's not taking them away from Gasol. It's Pau that is shying away from the low post. He's trying to be passive, trying to get to the high post too much. I don't know if Phil is telling him to do this OR if he's doing it because he's hurt (hammy?), but it's an issue.

 

It's not complacency, it's ignorance. The Lakers will lose in the playoffs, first round or Finals, if they have to lose HCA to every team they play in May/June.

To add to this, when Bryant is taking less than 20 shots and the Lakers are winning games, the less amount of shots go up PARTIALLY BECAUSE they are winning. It's sort of fool's gold. Also, it says a little about the other guys hitting their shots and showing they can contribute.

 

When we are down by 10 late in a game, for instance, and the others aren't getting the job done, Kobe tries to catch fire. Five or six shots bumps the total up from 15 to 21. We lose, and it's something to talk about.

 

Otherwise, when we are winning comfortably, Bryant will try to facilitate, or he'll get an extended amount of rest.

 

Wins, 16 shots or less...

 

vs. GSW (27 min)

@ LAC (31 min)

@ WAS (23 min)

vs. MEM (26 min)

@ TOR (34 min)

@ PHI (36 min)

vs. POR (25 min)

 

Again, I'm not saying he's not at fault because he has shot poorly this season (especially in those losses), but I would like to include the entire story before we start to crucify him. Let's not forget...the aggressive Kobe (the one that ran off 11 of 12 games of 30+ points) shot 19 or more shots in every single one of those games (19 in two of those 12, actually), and it was the biggest reason why the Lakers actually found their way into the Finals, after draining his knee.

 

With Bryant still playing like he's hurt, he has to stop shooting so much, BUT that requires Gasol to play more aggressive, to actually play like a post forward, and for guys like Ron, Fisher and Blake to start hitting their open shots. Otherwise, Kobe will fire away until he retires.

[Poe]

I feel the Lakers need to make a change, and two changes are certain to me:

 

1) Andrew Bynum needs to start

2) Artest is playing much too poorly to start for this team, and the same thing with Derek Fisher.

 

 

 

The problem though is that Artest is not very useful as a bench player, since his only value is at the defensive end. It's fine when he's starting next to good scorers like Kobe, Pau, and Odom, but much less so next to Blake, Brown, Caracter, or Walton.

 

Instead of simply switching the roles of Barnes and Ron Artest, I suggest trading Artest, and in the process, changing the make up of the starting line.

 

 

 

Perhaps they should trade Ron (among other things like draft picks) for a big man with a similar contract, like Tyrus Thomas, or Anderson Varejao, or Drew Gooden, etc and change the starting line up to:

 

Steve Blake

Kobe Bryant

Lamar Odom

Pau Gasol

Andrew Bynum

 

With Fisher, Brown, Barnes, and someone like Anderson Varejao backing them up.

 

 

The reason I suggest starting Odom at the 3 is because I feel Odom has become too good to come off the bench. Not only has he improved the ability to shoot threes, his true shooting percentage is at a career high 62%, which is far better than he has shot the past two years, and is the highest TS% on the team this year. His PER is also the third best on the team at 19.0.

 

Putting him at the three would also allow the Lakers to overwhelm the opposition with their size including a 7'0 PF and a 6'11 SF. It wouldn't hurt spacing since starting Odom would actually improve the three point shooting, and though Odom might not be as good of a defender as Artest (by reputation), he can still use his length to bother wing players at the very least.

 

 

 

Alternatively, the Lakers could go back to bringing Odom off the bench, and instead trade Artest for an upgrade at point guard, perhaps including Steve Blake and/or Shannon Brown in the deal. Perhaps for a point guard on a bottom seeded team like Mo Williams, or maybe just a shooting guard LA can stick at the point in the triangle like Ben Gordon.

 

Some people might think LA has no hope of getting a player of the same caliber as Mo Williams or Ben Gordon without removing something too valuable, but remember the way they got Pau Gasol...

 

 

So anyway, an end result of...

 

Mo Williams

Kobe Bryant

Matt Barnes

Pau Gasol

Andrew Bynum

 

With Fisher and Odom, and whoever else remains off the bench.

 

 

 

I think either of my suggested moves would result in a much improved team.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Poe

[The Regime]

A few things about the possible trades that you suggested. As far as trading for Varejao I don't see how that ends up helping us. Lamar is shooting the ball much better from distance and is playing with a lot more confidence but at the end of the day I would much rather have him attacking the basket, and that's really hard to do when you have two seven footers clogging the paint. There just isn't enough shooting to spread the floor with lineup that you suggested.

 

As far as the second trade is concerned I'm not really interested in Mo Williams for a couple reasons. First off there is no way that Phil Jackson benches Fish, that just isn't going to happen. There is no doubt that we could utilize Mo Williams' scoring abilities but I would much rather not trade our only athletic wing (Shannon Brown). Also I'm not really comfortable trading two important rotation guys for a guy like Mo who has a tendency to disappear in the postseason.

 

At this point our best bet is to trade Artest and not mess with the other pieces. Maybe package Artest and future picks for a defensive minded/reliable shooter.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Confidence

[kingfish]

A few things about the possible trades that you suggested. As far as trading for Varejao I don't see how that ends up helping us. Lamar is shooting the ball much better from distance and is playing with a lot more confidence but at the end of the day I would much rather have him attacking the basket, and that's really hard to do when you have two seven footers clogging the paint. There just isn't enough shooting to spread the floor with lineup that you suggested.

 

As far as the second trade is concerned I'm not really interested in Mo Williams for a couple reasons. First off there is no way that Phil Jackson benches Fish, that just isn't going to happen. There is no doubt that we could utilize Mo Williams' scoring abilities but I would much rather not trade our only athletic wing (Shannon Brown). Also I'm not really comfortable trading two important rotation guys for a guy like Mo who has a tendency to disappear in the postseason.

 

At this point our best bet is to trade Artest and not mess with the other pieces. Maybe package Artest and future picks for a defensive minded/reliable shooter.

Its funny cause thats what Artest is supposed to be .

[Poe]

Sacrifices may need to be made in order to do what's necessary to bring this team back to a championship level. Brown has proven to be a quality player, which makes him a good trading chip. I'm not saying the Lakers should look to trade him specifically, but he may inevitably be involved in order for the Lakers to get the player they need..... that is, if the Lakers are actually looking to trade Artest or upgrade over Fisher.

 

 

I see what you are saying about Odom at the 3. Perhaps it would be better to find a shooter based player instead. Plus, moving Odom to the 3 would require a bit of an adjustment to Odom's game, and he's already found his comfort zone at the 4 in the Laker triangle, and it's probably best not to take that away from him.

 

 

I still believe Fisher needs an upgrade, and Phil Jackson possibly disagreeing with it isn't a reason for me to believe it's the best decision for Fisher to remain at the starting position. Back in his day, Fisher was valued for his shooting, defense, and leadership. Now almost every PG matchup has been considerably against Fisher to the point where Kobe may actually have to guard his man, his true shooting has gone too far down to just 49%, and now his leadership role is pretty much all that's left. But Fisher can still bring that leadership presence off the bench.

 

Trading Artest for Mo not only upgrades the much-lacking PG position, but it also frees up playing time for Matt Barnes, who's TS% is at a very high 59%, while Artest has gone down to a horrific 46.6%. The triangle is only the best offense in basketball when the players know how to run it, and just by the shooting numbers you can tell which one out of these two small forwards actually know it and thus benefit from it. Plus Barnes isn't exactly much of a downgrade from Artest defensively anyway.

 

Brown might have to be thrown in in such a trade because I doubt the Cavs would be willing to take on Artest's contract without getting some youth along with it, as well as picks and whatnot. It wouldn't be an easy choice to part with Brown the way he's played, but a good PG is more valuable for LA than a good back up SG behind Kobe. Plus, as far as I know, Mo is the type of player that would greatly benefit from the triangle with his shooting ability, and he'd be a defensive upgrade to Fisher... well... anyone would I guess.

 

 

It wouldn't have to be Mo specifically BTW, but I do feel it would have to someone that is a clear upgrade over Fisher, and not just a guy who can simply fill in like Steve Blake. It needs to be an elite level shooter or defender. A defender like Hinrich or a shooter like Ben Gordon.

[Erick Blasco]

Charley Rosen gives his take on the Lakers' struggles.

 

For the game Kobe took 27 shots and shared the ball only fifteen times. With only one assist to his credit, most of his passes gained no advantage for L.A. Bryant's off-key imitation of a one-man-band was a major reason why both Pau Gasol (3 of 8 from the field) and Lamar Odom (3 of 9) were prevented from achieving any kind of offensive rhythm.

 

Of course, much credit must be given to San Antonio's swarming, quick-handed, passing-lane poaching defense that jammed up the Lakers' spacing. Still, the Lakers totaled more turnovers (16) than assists (15). Compare this to the Spurs' 20 assists (on their 37 buckets) as opposed to a mere nine turnovers.

 

On defense, Kobe frequently wandered toward the ball, thereby enabling some savvy passwork by the Spurs to routinely find his man wide open on a wing.

 

But Kobe wasn't the only culprit.

 

The Lakers' transition defense was lazy, permitting the Spurs too many easy shots on the run. The visitors' baseline rotations were either late or non-existent, which is why Tony Parker was able to get to the rim at his pleasure. In particular, Andrew Bynum continued his habitual defensive shortcomings by making all-out commitments to show himself on every ball-penetration to the extent that he was unable to recover in time to prevent drop-off passes into San Antonio's bigs.

 

Along this same line, the Lakers constantly overreacted whenever one of the hometown heroes drove the ball into the lane. Consequently, just about every kick-out pass located an unattended shooter.

 

The under-sized but powerful DeJuan Blair (17 points, 15 rebounds) attacked the basket as though he was eight-feet tall and Gasol and Odom were made of straw.

 

Moreover, Bynum is a disaster at the stripe (2 of 8). Ron Artest was MIA -- most likely still basking in the glow of his first NBA championship.

 

The only positive that L.A. can glean from this game was the play of their bench in the second quarter. Shannon Brown, Steve Blake, Bynum and Matt Barnes, along with Odom, executed the triangle to near perfection and managed to erase a 10-point deficit. Unfortunately for the defending champs, the Spurs' defense dominated the Lakers' second unit after the intermission.

 

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/12/29/charley-rosens-close-look-whats-wrong-with-the-lakers/

[The Artesticle]

Having Bynum back healthy is a huge step towards the right direction, as it showed tonight. His presence alone makes us so much better defensively. But obviously there are issues that we still have to address.