Lakers have some big concerns after 5 games

Editor’s note: This is the Thursday October 28 variation of the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from newsman Kyle Goon. To person the newsletter successful your inbox, sign up here.

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Lakers’ epoch of patience has officially ended.

While their 123-115 nonaccomplishment to the woeful, antecedently 0-3 Thunder is bringing down plentifulness of extracurricular unit connected the would-be contenders, it was Anthony Davis himself who stopped calling for the patience that the Lakers have trotted retired since the commencement of grooming camp. It’s intolerable to chalk up a 26-point blown pb up to a fewer normal, aboriginal play kinks.

“This isn’t an accommodation crippled wherever I consciousness similar it’s, ‘Oh, we’re inactive learning each other,’ Davis said. “Nah. Not this game.”

Even accounting for LeBron James’ lack connected Wednesday, the Lakers’ illness successful Oklahoma City was jarring, and they were upset astir it. Coach Frank Vogel had the aforesaid terse investigation of the last 3 game-tying attempts that helium did of Russell Westbrook’s 10 turnovers: “I gotta look astatine the tape.” It won’t beryllium pleasant, arsenic the Lakers mislaid composure successful aggregate aspects of the game.

It is inactive early, conscionable 5 games into a agelong campaign, but Davis laid retired the adjacent 10 games for the Lakers arsenic important ones with astonishing frankness: “This is, not conscionable this game, but the adjacent mates games wherever we consciousness similar we tin get a bushed against teams that are the bottommost fractional of the league.” Indeed, the Lakers’ adjacent agelong is arsenic casual arsenic it gets with 9 of 10 astatine location and a slew of younger teams (although the Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Hornets person looked rather peppy).

There are already immoderate large reddish flags to enactment on, and present are immoderate of the much superior ones:

THE AWKWARD FIT OF STARS

The Big Three person played lone 3 games together, truthful determination needs to beryllium somewhat much runway to gully much definitive conclusions, but it hasn’t been an encouraging start. The Lakers person been outscored by 13 points successful 61 minutes with their prima trio connected the floor. Context is required since 2 of those games were against the Warriors and the Suns, but those are the kinds of teams the Lakers volition request to bushed if they privation to go the rubric contender they foresee.

The bigger occupation for the Lakers truthful acold is determination hasn’t seemed to beryllium a dynamite operation of immoderate 2 stars. The evident proposition to amended the team’s spacing has beento stagger James’ and Westbrook’s minutes to let each subordinate to tally the discourtesy and not clutter each other’s driving lanes. But James and Davis (who person been 1 of the league’s champion two-man teams successful the past 2 seasons) person a nett standing of minus-7.1 successful their possessions without Westbrook connected the floor, according to stat tract Cleaning the Glass. It’s not simply a substance of Westbrook’s performance, but shortcomings of the lineups astir the Big Three.

For reference: The Lakers person a nett standing of plus-3.8, which isn’t peculiarly substantial, successful James’ minutes without Westbrook. Westbrook playing without James has accrued a minus-11.5 rating, which is bad, but possibly overly skewed by Wednesday night’s collapse. It doesn’t assistance that helium has a league-leading 30 turnovers done 5 games. Davis has a minus-3.7 nett standing successful his minutes, which is astir equivalent with the Lakers’ wide minus-3.4 nett standing successful 5 games.

A tangential point: The Lakers person decried the mode they decorativeness quarters. One communal thread for overmuch of those stretches is that Westbrook is included successful those quarter-closing lineups. The Lakers can’t seat their caller commercialized acquisition successful important moments; the messaging to Westbrook would beryllium crippling. The Lakers simply request him to get better, person to the subordinate helium was Tuesday successful San Antonio erstwhile helium made important baskets and plays down the stretch.

DEFENSE COMING ON SLOW

Frank Vogel’s calling paper is defense: In his 10 erstwhile seasons, he’s boasted a top-10 defence successful seven, and led the league successful antiaircraft standing 3 times including past season. After a preseason nonaccomplishment to the Warriors, Vogel suggested that the backcuts Golden State got would beryllium remedied once the Lakers’ unit got much acquainted with his system: “Our strategy is rock-solid successful presumption of not giving that up, but it’s against a batch of players’ instincts.”

So however to explicate the Lakers’ start, which has seen them tumble to 25th successful antiaircraft standing (111.4 points per 100 possessions)? Is it each personnel? Is Vogel’s strategy inflexible? There mightiness beryllium a small spot of Column A and Column B involved.

The Lakers hewed to however Vogel wants to tally the defense, getting bigs Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan arsenic rim protectors. But erstwhile 1 thinks astir the Lakers defensethe erstwhile 2 seasons, the occurrence was arsenic overmuch tied to the tenacity of players similar Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso, who could combat done and implicit screens, support successful beforehand of top-flight scorers and were astatine slightest attentive capable to get contests. Players similar Danny Green and Kyle Kuzma were besides invaluable for their attentiveness to that end.

Roster changes and injuries person near the Lakers with little savory antiaircraft options, specified arsenic Rajon Rondo and Malik Monk. Westbrook is simply a antiaircraft wildcard, sometimes making dynamic plays specified arsenic his steals connected Tuesday night, but different times getting picked on. Off-ball question is getting lost. Pick-and-rolls are being exploited to let bigs to decorativeness implicit guards (read: Jakob Poeltl’s vocation night).

The effect has been a ton of unfastened shots for opponents: The Lakers person near shooters “wide open” (with the nearest defender 6 feet oregon much distant successful NBA tracking data) connected a whopping 28.3% of shots, which is the second-highest complaint successful the league (last season, it was 22.1%). Especially connected 3-pointers, that has truly hurt: Opponents are shooting 46.7% from 3 connected those looks.

“I’m not disquieted astir the offense,” Davis said. “We’ve been a squad that’s been successful the mediate of the battalion oregon beneath each twelvemonth connected the antiaircraft end, and we person to get amended astatine that first.”

The Lakers expect assistance to get erstwhile Kendrick Nunn, Talen Horton-Tucker and Trevor Ariza get healthy. But the sieve-like prime of the defence has to amended successful the meantime with the unit they already person available. That mightiness unit Vogel and his unit to see different antiaircraft stopgaps.

SIZE HASN’T BEEN AN ADVANTAGE

The Lakers person 3 players whose champion humanities strengths connected discourtesy are astatine the rim, and successful portion due to the fact that of their antiaircraft scheme, they’ve chosen to commencement with DeAndre Jordan and Davis successful the lineup. This requires the Lakers to cod definite advantages to win: keeping teams retired of the paint, rebounding, finishing astatine the rim themselves. So far, these person not been important advantages – and sometimes enactment the Lakers successful immense holes.

The Lakers are giving opponents the astir changeable attempts wrong 5 feet successful the NBA (37.2 per game), and adjacent though they’re holding them to a respectable 58.1% from that distance, it inactive results successful them being dormant past with 55.6 successful opposing points successful the overgarment per game. It’s not the benignant of rim deterrence you would expect from Jordan, Davis and Dwight Howard, who are 3 of the champion shot-blockers of the past decade.

Part of the occupation is the rebounding deficiency. Overall, the Lakers are a below-average rebounding squad (48.2%, No. 22), but they conflict the astir connected antiaircraft boards. Cleaning The Glass ranks them arsenic the No. 27 antiaircraft rebounding team, allowing opponents to 27.3% of imaginable violative boards, which is simply a immense crushed the Lakers are allowing 13.8 second-chance points per crippled (No. 23 successful the league). This is somewhat skewed by the Memphis crippled erstwhile the Grizzlies scored 32 second-chance points, but it’s an country the Lakers indispensable predominate erstwhile they spell big.

However, connected offense, these advantages don’t truly translate, either. The Lakers are bottommost fractional successful second-chance points (10.2), and are mediate of the roadworthy successful points successful the overgarment (47.6%). While they’re inactive No. 7 successful the league astatine rim attempts, according to CTG, the percent has dropped disconnected from 39.8 percent of their shots astatine the rim successful the rubric year, to 36 percent present contempt adding much scorers who are expected to beryllium unsafe astatine the rim.

In erstwhile seasons, the Lakers had an casual fix: play small. Davis astatine halfway was a almighty unit with James astatine powerfulness guardant and 3 guards to power the perimeter. Butbetween the injuries and offseason losses, those lineups haven’t performed good either: Those groups person a minus-7.2 nett rating, with an eye-popping 118 antiaircraft standing which would beryllium catastrophic. That indispensable beryllium taken with the atom of brackish that James hasn’t played successful 2 games, but arsenic noted above, the James-Davis combo hasn’t packed the aforesaid punch yet this season.

*****

There’s not a one-game hole to these issues. Many of the Lakers request to play better. But patience is already wearing bladed aboriginal successful the play – astir starkly with the players themselves.

– Kyle Goon

Editor’s note: Thanks for speechmaking the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from newsman Kyle Goon. To person the newsletter successful your inbox, sign up here.