SUNS -at- LAKERS – 12-9-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:10 pm    Post subject: SUNS -at- LAKERS – 12-9-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Losing Fast… The Lakers are freefalling without their two starting guards. Luke has shuffled the lineups, searching for a combination that would hold water, but our defense was leaking all night long once again.

The Suns scored a season-high 62 points at the half against the Lakers feathery soft D.

Behind the second unit in the late third and early fourth, they rallied. Lou Williams led the charge again with a series of threes, while the Laker bigs finally came to life on the defensive end. (It probably also helped that Jordan Clarkson was sitting during this stretch…he was awful).

But you can’t fall behind by nearly 20 again and try to dig your way out while undermanned. The Lakers chipped away to make it close, but ran out of time, losing 119-115.

“We let other teams dictate the pace. They come out and throw the first punch and at that point we’re just backpedaling trying to catch up,” Nance said.

The Lakers are not only losing these games fast (five straight now), they are losing ground in the standings fast. They need their injured guards back on the floor.


Randle -- -- You could see the difference in his D when the he plays with that sense of desperation. The team even feeds off it. He may not realize that, but they do and he needs to lead by example to get that response. He was lethargic and confused for the first two-thirds of the game, then amped it up late in the third as we were making our run. You could see him arguing with Clarkson who was a disaster. “There were players were getting on each other a little bit tonight, which I like, because it wasn’t in a negative way. It was to hold each other accountable on what mistakes we were making,” Luke said. Randle said this was the most vocal they have been. So there was a stretch of good, intense ball from Randle. But it was sandwiched by too many poor plays. I used the word “wild” all too often in the descriptions of both Randle and Clarkson’s play. The turnovers (6 tonight for Julius) and the wild shot attempts really hurt the cause. Some moments of leadership out there, even dictating the offense to find a hot hand. Luke made him think about what to do when they were overplaying Lou, so some teaching, as well. He hurt his hip landing on the floor after steal/foul attempt late. "We're not shooting the ball well and I think it's affecting us on the defensive end," he said, mentioning they need to start getting things going on the D end first. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-11 shooting (0-2 from three, 6-7 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 5 assists, 6 turnovers, 1 steal and 5 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He traveled, not putting the dribble down before pushing out the rebound. He crossed over, attacked to his left with speed, elevated nicely and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He missed a three. Bad pass-off to Mozgov in transition in traffic, turnover, score the other way. He attacked and was swatted out of bounds. He was blocked on a drive in transition. He took the feed in traffic, hung and banked it in. He tried to thread a needled to a cutter, turnover. Way short on a wide open three. Wild iso when he got it back and he was blocked out of bounds. He had 5 points on 2-7 shooting, 9 boards and 3 turnovers in the half. Second Half: Mozgov sealed the help D and Randle attacked the rim in early offense for the dunk. He posted up and muscled around his man for FTs, he made one. Wild finish attempt in the paint and he didn’t hit iron but Nance dunked it in. Good job selling some confusion by pointing to the weakside as we ran the elevator play strong side to set up Lou for three. He hit Lou for a three next time down. He switched onto Booker, poked the ball loose from him, chased it down and was fouled on the layup attempt, he made both FTs. He dribbled a ball off his foot for a score the other way. He found Lou for another three off the DHO. He tied up a man to save a hoop, then tapped the jumpball way too hard out of bounds. He was fouled on a drive in transition when Lou spotted him, he made both FTs. He gave up an And-1 on some flat-footed help D. He tried to iso and dribbled it out of bounds, killer turnover. He couldn’t finish again on a layup over help D next time down. Sloppy screen and he was called for it, another key turnover. He saw and open lane, stepped on the gas and jammed with both hands.

Clarkson -- -- Hoop IQ. Man, Clarkson needs it badly sometimes. I thought Luke should have sat him much more in this one than he did. Unfortunately, we don’t have much choice, but still. Clarkson was a -19 when we were rallying in the fourth and brought him back in. He was hard to overcome…on both ends. We played so much better without him. Come on, JC, you’re better than this. His defense was all kinds of bad to start the game. No communication, no challenges, bad angles and poor focus in transition. The first half in this game is the kind of half that tries the patience of a coach. Mental mistakes on both ends that were pissing off the staff and teammates. He’s young and not yet to the stage in his career where he’ll make those steady veteran decisions with consistency. But still, it’s like he’s taken a step backward in the decision making this season. Way too wild on offense and way too many mistakes on D. No Young and no Russell makes it tough to sit him when he’s having these issues, but that should have happened tonight. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-17 shooting (0-5 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 4 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He scored a layup out on the break with Ingram. He got too cute with a finish and missed the easy layup. He worked off the Mozgov screen and swished the 18-footer. A lot of switching with no communication and then he gave up an And-1 foul on a layup, just a poor defensive sequence all around. He missed a wing three off the dribble handoff. He worked off the Mozgov screen and hit the And-1 pull-up at the FT line, he made the FT. No challenge and he gave up a three (Luke was irked about that one). He let Bledsoe get a head of steam and a straight line to the rim and it forced a Mozgov foul. Good look at a three off the handoff and he missed it. He missed a pull-up, got it back and bricked the drive. He attacked and found Randle in the lane for a score. With Randle wide open next to him, he charged over a defender to erase a sure layup or dunk. He attacked the paint and got past a defender to score a layup. He got caught in the air and came down with it again, turnover. He gave up a layup on one end, then missed a three at the buzzer. He had 9 points on 4-10 shooting. Second Half: He set up Mozgov for the score off the weave. He missed an elbow jumper. Wild finish in transition, brick. Wild reverse layup that didn’t hit anything. Poor angle and he gave up an And-1 layup. He bricked a wing three on the other end. He attacked and dished to Robinson for a layup. He pushed it out in transition, slipped and turned the ball over. He was hit on a pull-up jumper for FTs, he made one (had three attempts). He tried to create and threw it away for a dunk the other way. He got an offensive board and hit the floater. He missed a big step-back three in the corner with a minute left, uggh. He nearly traveled, attacked from the corner and scored as they gave the concession layup with 4 seconds left.

Ingram -- -- He struggles with the consistency in his shot right now. Late in the game, it looked like he turned it up a notch on both ends when the pressure was on. We rely on him to do so much that you would never lean on for a rookie: running the offense, being a stopper on D and making decisions with the game on the line. Great to see him put in those situations. It will only help the development. Luke pulled him from the game for going under a screen to Knight and giving up a three. It was a teaching moment and that’s why you let your young guys play minutes, so they can improve and learn from mistakes. Defensively, he could have used a little more help from his bigs tonight when he went over those picks that came for him. With his size and the mobility of some of our bigs they probably should have been switching a little more with BI, but it wasn’t a major issue compared to everything else going on. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-8 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists and 1 foul in 31 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He attacked the rim hard on the first possession and drew FTs (love that he tried to throw that down, that’s how you earn the FTs), he missed both, however. He pushed out the break and fed Clarkson for the layup. Nice challenge on Booker to force an airball. He missed a wing three on an inbounds. Not close on a pull-up wing jumper. He set up Robinson for FTs off the two-man game. He attacked baseline and was denied at the rim. He iso’d, got into trouble too deep and had no chance on the finish under the backboard. Second Half: He blew past his man and finished the layup around the help D. He missed an open wing jumper. He missed an open sideline three. He swished a wing pull-up jumper. He drew a moving screen call on Chandler to get a stop. He was fouled on an interior feed by Randle on the other end, he made both to cut it to 3 with 1:31. He swished a huge three with 17 seconds left to cut it to 2. He grabbed a Lou missed three to give us another chance late in the game.

Mozgov -- -- With Chandler trying to plug the paint, that allowed Mozgov to effectively set screens for midrange shooters. We scored at a decent clip doing that. I might have liked seeing him back in the game late with Lou to help free him up or roll to the hoop for finishes and suck the D with him. We just aren’t playing a lot with playmakers right now. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-10 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -17. The Action: He missed a baseline turnaround. Soft finish attempt in the paint and he was easily blocked. He attacked in early offense and was fouled, he made the FTs. He grabbed a loose ball and hit the jumphook. He cleaned up the Clarkson trash. He jammed off the drive and dish from Lou. How did he not get a foul call on a dunk attempt, clearly raked on the arm on the finish? He had 8 points on 3-6 shooting. Second Half: He scored a layup off the two-man game with Clarkson off the weave (he wanted the foul). He missed a wing jumper. Nice seal on the help D to open a clear lane for Randle. He was blocked in the paint, got it back and fed Deng for a score. He missed the open baseline jumper. He was called for a moving screen.

Deng -- -- I liked this one from him. It was one of those rare, serviceable games from Deng. He didn’t score, but he did do a lot of little things that helped the cause, including leading the team with 11 boards. “Loul was great out there tonight talking,” Luke said. You could hear it on TV. And there were cleaner switches and decisions as a result around Deng. We need more of that as a team, not just one guy, but at least he took it upon himself to help fix a problem from the last game. Nearly every player mentioned communication after the last game. It was ridiculous. “Defense takes all five guys or it takes one really loud voice, but we don’t have one really loud so we’re going to need all five guys to be locked in,” Luke said. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 11 boards, 1 turnover, 1 steal and no fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He sank a pull-up 18-footer from the wing, working off the Mozgov screen. He missed a 19-footer from the other wing. He posted up the smaller man and hit the short turnaround. He got backdoored for a layup. He iso’d and clanked. Second Half: He chucked and missed a wing three. He attacked off the interior feed from Mozgov and scored the pumping layup. He attacked and threw it away.

Williams -- -- Per ESPN, the most points (137) in a 4-game span for any bench player since 1970 (when they started keeping the stat). Props to Lou for trying to fill the void of losing DLO and Nick. Unfortunately, the team D is missing those guys too much, as well. Lou hit a series of threes in the third quarter to reel the Suns in. To start the fourth quarter he had a 4-point trip down court (drawing FTs, missing one, getting the ball back and hitting a three). The Lakers D got amped up in the process and that’s why we had a run. He led the team with a +12. We’ve got to have him on the court to even compete right now. I wonder if any of the youngsters on this team will practice the Lou Williams foul drawing technique. You reach, he traps your hand with his non-dribbling arm, pulls the ball over to shoot and is at the line. You stand there wondering what just happened. He had another strong 9-11 from the line, manufacturing points there. The Stats: He scored 35 points on 10-19 shooting (6-12 from three, 9-11 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He missed a wing three in early offense. He sank a sideline three. Quick attack in transition and he scored a layup through a crowd. He drew a reach foul and three freethrows, he made all three. His kickout was picked off. He missed a wing three. He scored a layup off the slow cut play with Huertas. He iso’d on a big and hit the baseline pull-up. He was picked on the dribble, turnover. He poked a ball loose in the post to get a stop. He missed a floater at the FT line. He attacked and dished to Mozgov for the dunk. He missed a wing three. He led the Lakers with 12 points on 4-8 shooting. Second Half: Not close on a floater. He pumped a man in air, waited and drew contact on the three for FTs, he made all three. He drained a three off the elevator sequence out of a timeout. He swished a wing three next time down from the same spot. He sank another three off the handoff from Randle. He missed a tough runner. He attacked baseline and drew FTs on the floater, he made one FT, we got his miss, found him and he backed it out for a three. He hit a quick pull-up in the lane in early offense. He attacked the paint and drew FTs, he made one. He hit Randle in transition for FTs. He sank a drifting three in early offense. He made a tech FT after fouling Booker out on the defensive end. He missed a wing three. He missed a deep three out of a timeout. He missed another at the buzzer.

Nance -- -- Luke brought up a three that Dudley made in the fourth quarter where Nance let him walk into after bringing the ball up. That seemed to be the symbolic failure of the game, but Nance helped spark the team to life earlier in the third. He was one of the guys to start amping up the D and making things happen on that end and had a big steal for an And-1 score. He misses his buddy Tarik out there. You don't see the big-to-big passing like those two have with any other combo right now. The Stats: He scored points on 4-8 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He missed a flat FT jumper. He sank the one-hander off the dish from Lou. Weak challenge on Bender’s drive to give up the layup. He worked the two-man game with Huertas and was fouled on the finish at the rim, he made one FT. He couldn’t finish at the rim. Second Half: He missed an open sideline jumper. He jumped a passing lane and took it the distance for an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He dunked in a Randle brick. After giving up an open three, he made a baseline jumper on the other end. He missed a corner three.

Huertas -- -- The Suns tried to make Marcelo a scorer, so he obliged and knocked down 9 points in the first half on 4-5 shooting on his way to a season-high 12 points. I would have liked to have given him a few more of Clarkson’s minutes in this one. Just better decision making, more efficient shooting and even if his D was sub par, it was better than JC’s. “Sometimes it was just too easy,” Huertas said of the Lakers lack of D. “We got to grind. We’ve got to play the same way we played in the second half tonight.” The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-7 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 18:30. He was a +7. The Action: He sank the short pull-up working the two-man game. He hit Lou on the slow cut play for a layup. He sank the running one-footer at the elbow. He attacked off the high screen, pretended like he was about to pull up and went around the help D for a layup. Quick-fire three when his man went under the screen and he drilled it. He set up Nance for FTs on the pocket pass. He missed another quick take from three. Second Half: He was called for a travel on a pumpfake on a three, unforced turnover. He sank a big three with the shotclock winding down and a busted set.

Robinson -- -- He had the Tarik Black spot of the rotation. He came up with a key offensive board on a missed Lou FT to start the fourth that helped with momentum. On the ugly side, he banked in a freethrow tonight. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-1 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He attacked off the two-man game with Ingram and drew FTs (banking in the first and making the second properly). Second Half: Great job pulling down a missed FT by Lou, finding him and Lou hit a three for a 4-point trip down court. He sagged way too deep on a screen-roll sequence and gave up an open three with no help. He battled for a missed three and drew FTs in a crowd, he made one. He drew an off-ball foul on a big to get a stop. He powered in a layup off the drive and dish from Clarkson.

Walton -- -- Luke shuffled the starters again, searching for any combination to right the ship with the starters while D’Angelo and Nick are out. Tonight, he went with Clarkson and Ingram, his fourth different lineup in four games, sending Huertas back to the reserve role… Down 4, he brought in Lou for Ingram midway through the quarter… Clarkson’s D in this quarter was awful… Nance and Ingram in for Deng and Mozgov… Huertas in for Clarkson, Robinson in for Randle… Transition D way too soft so Luke called a timeout… Huertas scoring well as the Suns made him a shooter… Deng back in at PF out of that… Huertas out as the starters with Lou instead of Ingram came in, down 1 midway through the quarter… The Suns sinking open threes and getting easy transition looks… The Lakers trailed 62-52 at the half. They shot 2-11 from three… Quick timeout by Luke in the third quarter, disgusted by the Lakers defensive work… Chalk a turnover to Luke with the timeout and the Lakers not getting the ball across the midcourt line in time… The Lakers fell back by 15… He sat Ingram and Mozgov for Lou and Nance down 16 midway through the quarter… They fell back by 18, bickering with each other on D and confused and ineffective on offense… Huertas in for Clarkson… Nance giving the Lakers a little life... Elevator play for Lou out of a timeout and he sank a three, then another from the same spot next time down to cut it to 9… Randle out, Lakers down 6. Great stretch by him and Luke milked it… The Lakers trailed 89-80 heading into the fourth… Robinson, Nance, Ingram, Williams, Huertas to start… The Lakers drew three fouls on the first possession of the quarter and had a 4-point trip down court to cut it to 5 points. That forced a Suns timeout… Suns out of fouls with 10:12 in the quarter… Clarkson, who was a -19 at this point in the game, was brought back in for Ingram at SF. Clarkson gave up a big And-1 layup moments later… Down 8, he went to Ingram and Deng for Robinson and Huertas… Randle back in for Nance midway through the quarter, down 10… They cut it to 5, then 4. Timeout with 16 seconds left… Just ran out of time...
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:15 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB

First! <-(Not quite as much fun after a loss like this one though...)
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:20 pm    Post subject:

Sad face grade for Luke tonight. How did you feel about his in-game coaching tonight? I didn't pay a ton of attention tonight, but I don't know why he didn't play Nance down the stretch towards the end of the game when he started the comeback. Also subbing Clarkson in felt like a disaster at the end of the game, and it was a disaster.

Also thanks DB. Agree with your assessment about Randle big time tonight. He had a wild game leaning closer to "bad" but he also had some big moments too. And I liked seeing his leadership in the second half. This game could be a good lesson for him.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:28 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:40 pm    Post subject:

Sad that we're wasting some pretty great performances by Williams lately.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:41 pm    Post subject:

justsomelakerfan wrote:
Sad face grade for Luke tonight. How did you feel about his in-game coaching tonight? I didn't pay a ton of attention tonight, but I don't know why he didn't play Nance down the stretch towards the end of the game when he started the comeback. Also subbing Clarkson in felt like a disaster at the end of the game, and it was a disaster.

Also thanks DB. Agree with your assessment about Randle big time tonight. He had a wild game leaning closer to "bad" but he also had some big moments too. And I liked seeing his leadership in the second half. This game could be a good lesson for him.


Yeah, I didn't want JC returning in this one. Also thought a turnover went to Luke out of a timeout with that backcourt clock issue. It was a learning game for Luke, too.

On the good side, he had a sweet elevator play for Lou out of a timeout, and Lou hit a three and followed that with another. That was a big sequence. Some moments with teaching Ingram...and had the guys communicating better.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:56 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB!

It was still fun to be at the game although it will be funER when we start winning again.
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 12:39 am    Post subject:

Season is over.
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:05 am    Post subject:

Lesson 1:
For those that wanted the young players play to learn through their mistakes, they got what they wanted - a spanking and errors-filled production

Lesson 2:
Maybe just getting a "serviceable" performance from their highest-paid player (Deng) might be the best one can expect and only when desperate injury-plague times have occurred

Lesson 3:
JC is a very talented complimentary player best utilized coming off the bench where his responsibilities are limited and well-defined

Lesson 4:
Randle is learning that being accountable and productive all the time is the requirement of being an actual leader

Lesson 5
This roster has not fully trusted Luke's system while still displaying numerous bad habits - especially from JC and Randle

Lesson 6
This roster is learning the NBA ways upon playing their 13th game in 22 days as part of a rugged stretch while not having back-to-back days off since mid-November, and won't have consecutive days off again until next weekend


Last edited by A Mad Chinaman on Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:54 am    Post subject:

Even with the starting guards, they are giving up too many points.

You can argue pace of play, whatever...but from the eyeball test and results, the defense is extremely soft.

When they had Nick Young and DLO, they were outscoring some teams but that doesn't alleviate the issue.

Luke's mandate going forward will be to figure out some way to improve the team on that end of the floor or it is going to be hard to get where we want to go.
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 11:21 am    Post subject:

LakerLanny wrote:
Even with the starting guards, they are giving up too many points.

You can argue pace of play, whatever...but from the eyeball test and results, the defense is extremely soft.

When they had Nick Young and DLO, they were outscoring some teams but that doesn't alleviate the issue.

Luke's mandate going forward will be to figure out some way to improve the team on that end of the floor or it is going to be hard to get where we want to go.


Biggest thing that needs to be resolved is rather the defensive issues is coaching / personnel / or players not buying in.

We have reliable defenders on this team but yet we are still giving up points.

Look at the list of players who play defense or have defensive attributes:

Ingram / Mozgov / Young(current version / Deng / Black / Nance /

So why is defense a problem? If we have players who can play defense but can't hold teams from outscoring us then I gotta say that the system isn't working.

Maybe DB knows the answer.
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 3:09 pm    Post subject:

Inspector Gadget wrote:
LakerLanny wrote:
Even with the starting guards, they are giving up too many points.

You can argue pace of play, whatever...but from the eyeball test and results, the defense is extremely soft.

When they had Nick Young and DLO, they were outscoring some teams but that doesn't alleviate the issue.

Luke's mandate going forward will be to figure out some way to improve the team on that end of the floor or it is going to be hard to get where we want to go.
Biggest thing that needs to be resolved is rather the defensive issues is coaching / personnel / or players not buying in.

We have reliable defenders on this team but yet we are still giving up points.

Look at the list of players who play defense or have defensive attributes:

Ingram / Mozgov / Young(current version / Deng / Black / Nance /

So why is defense a problem? If we have players who can play defense but can't hold teams from outscoring us then I gotta say that the system isn't working.

Maybe DB knows the answer.
DB has already shared some reasons

Two players that you didn't mention as dependable defenders (JC and Randle) are not bringing the necessary energy and basketball IQ to their play on defense

Black and Young are injured and Nance is banged up

Ingram is a rookie

Mosgov is not a traditional or elite rim protector but efficiently takes up space and effects shots

Deng - one has to look hard to see if he is on the court or on the bench
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 5:14 pm    Post subject:

A Mad Chinaman wrote:
Inspector Gadget wrote:
LakerLanny wrote:
Even with the starting guards, they are giving up too many points.

You can argue pace of play, whatever...but from the eyeball test and results, the defense is extremely soft.

When they had Nick Young and DLO, they were outscoring some teams but that doesn't alleviate the issue.

Luke's mandate going forward will be to figure out some way to improve the team on that end of the floor or it is going to be hard to get where we want to go.
Biggest thing that needs to be resolved is rather the defensive issues is coaching / personnel / or players not buying in.

We have reliable defenders on this team but yet we are still giving up points.

Look at the list of players who play defense or have defensive attributes:

Ingram / Mozgov / Young(current version / Deng / Black / Nance /

So why is defense a problem? If we have players who can play defense but can't hold teams from outscoring us then I gotta say that the system isn't working.

Maybe DB knows the answer.
DB has already shared some reasons

Two players that you didn't mention as dependable defenders (JC and Randle) are not bringing the necessary energy and basketball IQ to their play on defense

Black and Young are injured and Nance is banged up

Ingram is a rookie

Mosgov is not a traditional or elite rim protector but efficiently takes up space and effects shots

Deng - one has to look hard to see if he is on the court or on the bench


Well I was thinking more in line of what we have on our team when we are healthy.

We have players who have defensive instincts the fact that the overall team is struggling with it points to lack of identity which was our weakness the last 3-4 years.
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 1:49 am    Post subject:

LakerLanny wrote:
Even with the starting guards, they are giving up too many points.

You can argue pace of play, whatever...but from the eyeball test and results, the defense is extremely soft.

When they had Nick Young and DLO, they were outscoring some teams but that doesn't alleviate the issue.

Luke's mandate going forward will be to figure out some way to improve the team on that end of the floor or it is going to be hard to get where we want to go.

Could*. Before, pace mattered.

Now, pace-adjusted or not, their defense is flatly terrible. Getting Russell & Young back will help, but still. The defensive issues in the first half at least(decided I could make better use of a Friday night so I left at halftime) weren't just personnel issues
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