PELICANS -at- LAKERS - 4-1-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 9:49 pm    Post subject: PELICANS -at- LAKERS - 4-1-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Underachievers... AD and Bron back in the starting lineup. Too little too late tonight?

The stats shown prior to the game portray one of the worst teams in the NBA since the All Star break. Throw AD back in the mix and where are they?

Vogel started Howard, Davis, LeBron, Bradley and Westbrook in this near must-win scenario.

This game was not so much about the Pelicans as it was about staying even with the Spurs, who were on their way to blowing out their opponent before this one started. The Lakers fate is not in their hands at the moment and they needed to hold serve.

The Lakers played even in the first quarter. Vogel sat both LeBron and AD with 2 minutes left in the quarter. The Lakers would go scoreless to end the quarter and trail 30-25.

They’d tie things up by halftime, then eek out a little lead in the third behind 21 points from LeBron in those 12 minutes before a poor close to that quarter by the team.

Neck and neck down the stretch, but in the last 5 minutes it became a freethrow shooting contest. This doesn’t favor the Lakers and both Davis and Johnson had trips to the line where they missed both their FTs during one stretch.

An Avery Bradley three with 15 seconds left cut the lead to 1. After fouling, the Lakers went to a LeBron iso with the clock expiring (something very common in this game after timeouts). He missed. The Lakers lost 114-111.

Looking like some April fools, the underachieving talent on this team is watching the Lakers playoff hopes slip away.


LeBron -- -- Well, good game in terms of going after the scoring title, but not great everywhere else. A bit of a sloppy start with the passing and fumbling the ball away (he’d have 6 turnovers with his 4 assists). He ended the half, however, with 15 points on 6-9 shooting with just 1 assist on 4 turnovers. He turned it up in the third quarter, running all 12 minutes and scoring 21 points on 6-10 shooting. He sank a couple of threes (took a couple poor quality deep threes and missed). He attacked the rim with consistency, getting downhill and muscling defenders. Two flagrants taken against him this game. On that second one, the Lakers took the lead in the third quarter. He rested to start the fourth, but really came back without much punch to his game to close as he faded the rest of the game. His defense most of the game was pretty awful. Hard to tell how much of this is injury, but he was not closing out. Late in the game, he didn’t close out and gave up an open three. Next stand, BI scored on him easily with LeBron not getting much of a challenge in. Killer possessions. Out of a timeout down 4 after this, he threw a lob pass away. Vogel talked about needing to play with a playoff mindset. It wasn’t there for LeBron, whether it was the injury, fatigue or whatever, a lot of standing around. The Stats: He scored 38 points on 13-23 shooting (3-8 from three, 9-12 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers and 3 fouls. He was a -2.

Davis -- -- He hit his first shot, then missed the rest of the perimeter in the first half. He did finish around the rim, however. He attacked for a layup, he dunked off a Monk drive and dish, and he had a post-up spin for a layup out of an ATO play that got him low position. Some good reads on his passing, particularly on some high-low sequences. He finished the half on with 8 points on 8 shots and 4 assists. Some nice drives in the second half for scores. One killer trip to the line with 4:17 left, he’d miss his first, they Pelicans called a timeout (very smart) and he’d miss the second out of that). Good to have him back. Some strong numbers, but we are going to need more on an individual effort basis as we’re sucking fumes as a team right now. His presence kept us in this, but we need it to put us over the top. I’m not a fan of throwing him lobs right now. I worry about the legs getting tangled up. I’m sure most Laker fans are having PTSD on these types of plays. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 8-17 shooting (!-2 from three, 6-9 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +4.

Westbrook -- -- I could close my eyes and guess what Russ was doing to start this second quarter. A couple of missed pull-up elbow jumpers, a missed layup on a drive, and an intentional foul in transition -- the most Westbrooky of Westbrook things going on. He finished the first half going 1-6 from the floor for 2 points. Then have 12 points on 15 shots at the end of the night. He’d pick up his fourth foul early in the third and have to sit most of the quarter. To start the fourth, he swished a couple of wing threes that gave the Lakers a 6-point lead and forced a timeout. He was fired up. These were big minutes as LeBron was sitting to start the quarter. Asked about the crowd energy fading late in the game, it sounded like he said, “I don’t pay attention to this crowd, to be honest.” This? Did I hear that right? The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-15 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -12.

Bradley -- -- Huge three with 15.8 seconds left when the team was on the ropes down 4, cutting it to 1. The stars looked like they were ready to fold it up. LeBron kicked out to him and he cut it to 1 with the corner three. Took on the CJ assignment. He gave up 14 of the Pelicans 20 points to CJ in the first 7 minutes. He had given up 11 when he doubled off him to help elsewhere when it wasn’t needed, giving up an open three there to CJ. Bradley has, perhaps, the most annoying double teams on the team. I don’t know what the data is on this, but feels like more often than not, we end up giving up a hoop somewhere off those. CJ finished with 32 points. Torched us. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting (2-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a -3.

Howard -- -- I’m guessing we’re starting him to ease AD into the physicality of the game. Even so, Russ, AD aren’t spreading the floor. Bradley, who’s hit and miss, is also out there. Tough to play to our strengths with LeBron with that and it will likely push AD out to the perimeter. It’s not ideal and gets you into issues on both ends of the floor. But we went to AD to close the game and that’s where it really matters, getting that mobility on D. The team is doing a better job finding him when drawing the D. He got a score on a high-low feed and a layup on a drive and high entry from LeBron. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -6.

Monk -- -- Some of the passing in this game killed them. He did connect on several good ones, but late in the game it was a problem. A couple of them down the stretch in particular. He had a lob to Westbrook on the break that wasn’t quite there. You need to make the easier pass. He also had a bad one on a two-man sequence with LeBron. In tight games, I want LeBron as the ball handler as we run inverted screen actions. So two of his three turnovers in that fourth on those passes. Some good ones earlier, finding AD for a couple of dunks, Bradley cutting for a score. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-11 shooting (2-5 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +6.

Johnson -- -- This game bogged down into some foul calls and freethrows midway through the fourth. Stanley made two then missed two on his attempts. Then fouled BI to give up two FTs. We’ll lose a foul contests. No idea why Stanley wasn’t fouling with 10 seconds left. The ball then ended up in CJ’s hands and we finally got the foul. But we wasted 5 seconds on an inbounds play. Close game and we did not win the foul shooting contest (22-31 from L.A. vs. 25-29). The Stats: He scored 4 points on 0-2 shooting from three (4-6 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 2 steals and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -2.

Augustin -- -- He went 1-4 from three. Again, if he’s not hitting, he’s not doing anything else. Stat line tonight showed that again. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting, had 1 turnover and 1 foul in 16 minutes. No other stats. He was a +2.

Gabriel -- -- The foul-prone play continued. First one was on an offensive board, second was on D after a quick step by his his man. So 2 fouls in his 4 minutes. He was aggressive on the offensive glass with 4, including a putback for a score. Just got to keep it cleaner. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting to go with 4 offensive boards, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 4 minutes. He was a -2.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: You get back your stars. This one is also a bit on you. Yes, we don’t have continuity with the injuries. But this team is so offensively awful at times with continual iso ball, playing to weaknesses, etc. I don’t know how many times we had the shotclock winding down and had to chuck up a difficult iso shot to beat the buzzer -- on ATO plays. Sequences where you show your coaching skills and manufacture points with your set plays. They were awful, awful, awful. No surprise it came down to another iso chuck to try to tie the game and they didn’t get it. Crap play calling in this game.

Key Substitution: No Reaves in this game. He’s been looking tired, for sure. No THT, either in this one. Melo was out sick.

Key Stats: Well, on a positive note, 23 points, 12 boards, 6 assists from AD. Good to have him back. But this team struggles to be a team.

Coach’s Challenge: With 1:57 left, down 2, Frank used his review. AD defended the post. The big stuck out his arm into AD’s outstretched arm and got the call on jumphook. You don’t want to go down 4 here, so he went for it. Unsuccessful challenge.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 9:54 pm    Post subject:

A coaching change at ASB and this team would be in the play in. They mailed it in when no change was made
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:03 pm    Post subject:

Just read some more confirmation on that Russ quote I posted above.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:07 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Looking like you may end up with a longer rest than we all hoped soon.

There was a time that if you were to say LBJ and AD would combine for 60+ points and 20 rebounds, its basically a W, especially against non top tier teams. Here? Yet another L

What's stunning to me is this team will not end up even with as good a regular season record during LBJ's first season with the team, pre-AD. They went 37-45. They already have 46 losses. Now this squad may not even reach the record of the team the season just before LBJ, 35-47.

The entire organization will need alot of self-reflection this off-season, and a far better plan than more of the same. Going back to trying to bring in high IQ, 2 way players would be a start.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:13 pm    Post subject:

DrDent wrote:
Thanks DB. Looking like you may end up with a longer rest than we all hoped soon.

There was a time that if you were to say LBJ and AD would combine for 60+ points and 20 rebounds, its basically a W, especially against non top tier teams. Here? Yet another L

What's stunning to me is this team will not end up even with as good a regular season record during LBJ's first season with the team, pre-AD. They went 37-45. They already have 46 losses. Now this squad may not even reach the record of the team the season just before LBJ, 35-47.

The entire organization will need alot of self-reflection this off-season, and a far better plan than more of the same. Going back to trying to bring in high IQ, 2 way players would be a start.

I believe lebron played more games this season compare to that one, this roster is helpless. No 2 way players (AD has been hurt),
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:16 pm    Post subject:

We cannot go forward with Klutch+Westbrook on the team next season. We need to break this up and get some assets for the future. I'm a huge fan of sending LeBron to Miami. It might be beneficial to both sides.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:36 pm    Post subject:

socalsp3 wrote:
A coaching change at ASB and this team would be in the play in. They mailed it in when no change was made


I highly doubt a coaching change would fix this roster.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:48 pm    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
Just read some more confirmation on that Russ quote I posted above.


Unbelievable. April fools! ...right? He must have forgot that part of it.

Thanks again DB for an excellent writeup.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 11:20 pm    Post subject:

TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
Just read some more confirmation on that Russ quote I posted above.


Unbelievable. April fools! ...right? He must have forgot that part of it.

Thanks again DB for an excellent writeup.


I wouldn't be surprised if he's just blaming all of Laker fans for what that random ignorant troll behind a keyboard said to his family a little while back.. Dude is ignorant as hell and lives in his own entire little world. I def. didn't know it was this bad when I watched him from afar in the past. It also makes sense why he switches teams so often.. His personality has to rub many people the wrong way throughout an entire Season especially when you're not winning.

Nothing but love to you though DB, you deserve a trophy just for sticking with these writeups all year.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2022 11:29 pm    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
Just read some more confirmation on that Russ quote I posted above.


Westbrook is a true definition of a wack job, I think he even knows that he’s out of here once the season comes to a end.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:27 am    Post subject:

TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
socalsp3 wrote:
A coaching change at ASB and this team would be in the play in. They mailed it in when no change was made


I highly doubt a coaching change would fix this roster.
with AD we were treading water. It's clear as day that our offense is non existent. In the playoffs you can rely on a good defense to get you wins....but to get there you need a solid offensive philosophy that makes all players on the court a threat. We play the LeBron star system offense...and it allows the defense to rest because it's so predictable. A better coach will have this same exact roster over .500
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:17 am    Post subject:

Westbrook trade destroyed our coaching schemes and effectiveness. There are maybe a handful of coaches could have made the right adjustments to make it at least a competitive situation. Vogel certainly wasn't one of them. He still reverts to the same game plans that won him a ring.

Although I did like the starting lineup DB. I thought Howard and Bradley did a great job on S/R defense and thought we used AD/Bron well. It's the Westbrook split with AD or Westbrook with Bron lineups that we don't have any sort of 2 star impact with, and yeah we can put some of that on the coaches.

But I'll give you examples on how this is W in normal situations, and because of the way this thing has played out this year we found a way to lose.

1) AD misses 2 FTs. He misses 2 wide open Js. We were up 3 and he misses 2 FTs to make it a 5 point game. How big is that? How often do we see AD tired like that in the 4th? I guess you can fault Vogel for the minutes but come on, AD wanted to play a lot. Didn't want to come out. I appreciate AD's effort but in the end the body is what it is. He closed horribly, when typically AD is a strong 4th Q closer. He makes his FTs at least.

2) Lebron being passive in the 4th Q. Lebron hasn't had the right balance all season. He's been in pure scoring mode, instead of PG mode. Frank schemed this team (and they won a title) with Bron as the PG. All we see these days is Lebron trying to shoot every shot he likes. He's playing off the ball. We should run Lebron off the ball, IF the PG who facilitates Lebron is a high IQ/elite playmaker. No more Rondo from 2 years ago. Now we have Westbrook. High IQ/Elite playmaking and Westbrook should never be mentioned togeter.

3) Lack of realiabilty from role guys. Augustin had about 6 open 3s, misses them. Stanley keeps refraining from shooting 3s. Monk shoots 3s great, but when Monk has the ball, we all get nervous what he's going to do. We went from relying on safe quality 3nD guys like Caruso, KCP, Danny Green next to AD/Bron to these idiots.

Sorry to call Monk/Stanley idiots, but really their IQ is so painfully bad, it shows out there. They should be bench players coming in for a few minutes, Unfortunatley because the roster was built so badly and Westbrook has been such a bad fit, we have end up having to rely on Monk as the 3rd star because he's the best fit on offense.

Just add insult to all of this, KCP goes off for 35 yesterday. Was checking the box scores.

Anyway, I understand the narrative from Rob Pelink and the FO (and probably Klutch) to save their behind will be to put this on Frank, but the team was 1-5 without Frank this season as well. This is a poorly put together team with a lot of injuries and things going wrong. And Frank has handled it pretty bad. But I still see Frank like I see AD. In the right circumstances he is elite. When AD is healthy, he is elite. When we give Frank an actual group of players that are NBA level and can defend, he does wonders. If Howard and Bradley were 5 years younger, we probably make the playoffs this year even with the injuries and bad Westbrook fit.

Overall, what a (bleep) season eh, guys? Still, in life we need to take the good with the bad from people we support. AD and Bron (and Vogel) gave us a title. Whether this ends after this season, I will always appreciate that. Never thought after the KFT and the crapshow losing that became tradition and tanking mentality that we would win a title so fast. So even though I am super bummed we're going out of the playoffs and this way this season, I appreciate the 2019-20 run big time, and think even last year's team had AD been able to stay healthy would have made a strong playoff run.

And yeah, the season's a wrap. Kudos to all those who keep watching this. It's been challenging.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:25 am    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:

And yeah, the season's a wrap. Kudos to all those who keep watching this. It's been challenging.

Yeah, this is the toughest season to watch, ever. Thanks for the reviews fellas
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:25 am    Post subject:

Game 1 of the season Lebron and AD combined for 67 on 28-49 shooting, yet we lost by 7 to the Warriors.

A forewarning no doubt...
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:36 am    Post subject:

Oh and the best portion of the game with both our schemes, overall level. To me it was in that 3rd Q. WB picked up his 4th foul, We had Dwight/AD/Bron/Monk/Bradley out there. Even though we lacked a PG it was a solid overall 2-way effort. Seems AD just ran out of gas.

Wonder what the season would have been had we found a better fit with our trade assets to play that Bradley/Howard/Monk level roles. We certainly had the assets to upgrade.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 6:51 am    Post subject:

Ugh. Words cannot describe how much I hate this season.
Everything is wrong with this team, from top to bottom.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 9:18 am    Post subject:

TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
Just read some more confirmation on that Russ quote I posted above.


Unbelievable. April fools! ...right? He must have forgot that part of it.

Thanks again DB for an excellent writeup.


I believe it, I remember coaching and I never heard what the fans were saying or cheering. I was focused on the game. Compared to Lebron who was playing to the crowd and throwing up hopeless 40 foot shots.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 10:02 am    Post subject:

Lebron / AD / Pelinka / FO (take your pick) rolled the dice with Westbrook and came up with snake eyes. They signed Nunn who has not played all year with their only MLE money. Everything else is vets on minimum money who gave minimum effort (in most cases....yes I am looking at your Ariza, Bazemore and Ellington). Other vets just do not have it any more (Jordan). Other vets were asked to play more minutes than they should at this point in their career (Melo).

I think the big takeaway from this season is that talent must be brought in that fits the system and the stars on the team. Anyone who has watched LBJ for the last decade and a half knows you must surround him with 3 & D guys. Rim protectors and wing defenders.

The other take away is that AD always has been and always will be his generations Tracey McGrady. Supremely talented but unable to stay healthy over a full season. 75 games back in 17-18 but never 82 games. Made they playoffs three times and one of them was during the COVID lockout where he had a couple of months to get healthy before the playoffs started. Won a title during the lockdown in Orlando.

It is what it is.

Thanks DB for gutting out this season. You are a better man than I. I watched all of Kobe's last season along with the first season without Kobe. I could not take this year. The lack of effort and lack of fundamental basketball IQ was too gut turning.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 11:02 am    Post subject:

cant find the post on twitter but someone posted how many points he needed prior to the game to take the lead. Nearly hit it on head. I think it was 36
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 11:57 am    Post subject:

Inspector Gadget wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
Just read some more confirmation on that Russ quote I posted above.


Westbrook is a true definition of a wack job, I think he even knows that he’s out of here once the season comes to a end.


Not exactly the homecoming he dreamed of, what a disaster.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:26 pm    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:
Westbrook trade destroyed our coaching schemes and effectiveness. There are maybe a handful of coaches could have made the right adjustments to make it at least a competitive situation. Vogel certainly wasn't one of them. He still reverts to the same game plans that won him a ring.

Although I did like the starting lineup DB. I thought Howard and Bradley did a great job on S/R defense and thought we used AD/Bron well. It's the Westbrook split with AD or Westbrook with Bron lineups that we don't have any sort of 2 star impact with, and yeah we can put some of that on the coaches.

But I'll give you examples on how this is W in normal situations, and because of the way this thing has played out this year we found a way to lose.

1) AD misses 2 FTs. He misses 2 wide open Js. We were up 3 and he misses 2 FTs to make it a 5 point game. How big is that? How often do we see AD tired like that in the 4th? I guess you can fault Vogel for the minutes but come on, AD wanted to play a lot. Didn't want to come out. I appreciate AD's effort but in the end the body is what it is. He closed horribly, when typically AD is a strong 4th Q closer. He makes his FTs at least.

2) Lebron being passive in the 4th Q. Lebron hasn't had the right balance all season. He's been in pure scoring mode, instead of PG mode. Frank schemed this team (and they won a title) with Bron as the PG. All we see these days is Lebron trying to shoot every shot he likes. He's playing off the ball. We should run Lebron off the ball, IF the PG who facilitates Lebron is a high IQ/elite playmaker. No more Rondo from 2 years ago. Now we have Westbrook. High IQ/Elite playmaking and Westbrook should never be mentioned togeter.

3) Lack of realiabilty from role guys. Augustin had about 6 open 3s, misses them. Stanley keeps refraining from shooting 3s. Monk shoots 3s great, but when Monk has the ball, we all get nervous what he's going to do. We went from relying on safe quality 3nD guys like Caruso, KCP, Danny Green next to AD/Bron to these idiots.

Sorry to call Monk/Stanley idiots, but really their IQ is so painfully bad, it shows out there. They should be bench players coming in for a few minutes, Unfortunatley because the roster was built so badly and Westbrook has been such a bad fit, we have end up having to rely on Monk as the 3rd star because he's the best fit on offense.

Just add insult to all of this, KCP goes off for 35 yesterday. Was checking the box scores.

Anyway, I understand the narrative from Rob Pelink and the FO (and probably Klutch) to save their behind will be to put this on Frank, but the team was 1-5 without Frank this season as well. This is a poorly put together team with a lot of injuries and things going wrong. And Frank has handled it pretty bad. But I still see Frank like I see AD. In the right circumstances he is elite. When AD is healthy, he is elite. When we give Frank an actual group of players that are NBA level and can defend, he does wonders. If Howard and Bradley were 5 years younger, we probably make the playoffs this year even with the injuries and bad Westbrook fit.

Overall, what a (bleep) season eh, guys? Still, in life we need to take the good with the bad from people we support. AD and Bron (and Vogel) gave us a title. Whether this ends after this season, I will always appreciate that. Never thought after the KFT and the crapshow losing that became tradition and tanking mentality that we would win a title so fast. So even though I am super bummed we're going out of the playoffs and this way this season, I appreciate the 2019-20 run big time, and think even last year's team had AD been able to stay healthy would have made a strong playoff run.

And yeah, the season's a wrap. Kudos to all those who keep watching this. It's been challenging.
On Point, As Usual!

ANY Head Coach needs to have the right players for his system, or the cache/reputation/influence (Pop, Phil Jackson, etc.) to have the FO to bring in the right players. Outside of Pop, there are no Head Coaches (even Spoelstra and Carlisle) have that the needed influence to make this happen.

As already posterd, Jeanie/Rob/Magic/Kurt/Linda/LBJ/AD rolled the dice that the sheer firepower/starpower would be magical - just like what the Nets were hoping.

Highlighting today's current situation that has been posted

LBJ/AD ran out of gas in the fourth quarter, because they had to do some heavy lifting throughout the game

AD is a great player, but his "Availability" has been very questionable - plus some bad luck.

Le WestBrick Experience - makes 2 3pt shots, then shoots an airball!

KCP did score 35 points, but his offense was unreliable (younger version of an Avery Bradley). His defense was his calling card, but how effective would he be when LBJ/Johnson/Melo is playing the 5 on D

Kuzma is improving his game (great for him) while being away from the limelight/glare/expectation/scrutiny of LaLa Land while not being (at best) the third option on offense. When he was the first option, last year he wasn't ready. If he was with the Lakers this year, could he have been playing the 5 in the small ball lineup???

If the LeWestBrick Trade didn't happen, who would be playing the 5 - knowing that AD and (probably) Dwight would be back. When AD got hurt, who would back up Dwight?

Next year's roster needs to be filled with players that will allow LBJ/AD to not HAVE to play 35-40 MPG

This year seems to be like Kobe's last season, great for the record books but no playoff games.

Hopefully the Laker's AARP crew that will be fishing on the "Banana Boat" very soon will include Ariza, Bazemore, Ellington, Melo and (maybe) Dwight.
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JamezAmp
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Joined: 25 Jun 2005
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2022 1:53 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB, wolfpac and anyone else who summarized these games during this horrendous season. Always appreciated.
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