Lakers Lack Consistency

After watching all seven games one thing is clear with this team, it's inconsistent. The lack of experience is killing this team and making it harder for them to make the offense work. The only two players with experience are Kobe (9 seasons) Bryant and Aaron McKie (11 seasons). Everyone else has played less than 7 seasons in the league. Also the Lakers have a lot of player with limited college experience. The Lakers are loaded with a lot of one on one players, but none of these players are grasping the idea of 'team' play. The core fundamentals of team basketball are non-existent with the Lakers. The spacing is terrible, the ball movement is not crisp, and there is no rhythm with the players. Just the basic skills of a chest pass, bounce pass, and finishing a layup are lacking on the Lakers roster. All these little mistakes are causing inconsistent play and the only thing that will help this team is more time.

More time is needed for Kareem to coach Chris Mihm, Andrew Bynum, and Kwame Brown how to play as big men. The proper footwork, the proper leverage to use, how to seal out a player, and a few go to moves in the post. None of these players have ever had this type of big man coaching. On top of learning how to play big, they also have to learn to play within the Triangle offense. These are two elements of the game that take a lot of time, hard work, and patience before it becomes habit. We'll see flashes here and there this season, but don't expect any overnight miracles. It's going to be a work in process for at least the next two seasons before these players finally start clicking.

These same things can also be applied to the Guards on this team. Smush Parker has never been a decision maker on the court and you can see how difficult it is for him to decide to pass or shoot the ball. He's great at finishing on the break and playing uptempo, but he's lost in the halfcourt sets. His effort on defense is the only thing keeping him on the court right now. However, once Walton comes back, and McKie is healthy, Parker's minutes are going to take the biggest hit from the starting five.

I think last night was rock bottom so far this year for the Lakers. They got blown out and didn't put up a fight in the second half. I'm sure a lot had to do with this being the final stint on a four game road trip, and also the fact the two previous games were tough losses. Last night PJax didn't even use his starters in the 4th quarter. He was sending a message to them and I'm sure he wants this losing feeling to fester in them. The return home is gut check time for a lot of these players. If PJax doesn't see any improvement in the next three games, you will start seeing a shakeup in the lineup. 10 games into the season will give PJax a enough time to really get a feel for how far along this team is. The next 6 games are at home, so unless the team losses 4 or 5 of those games, there's no need to panic. If the Lakers can end the month at 7-6 or 6-7, they'll be just fine and still in the hunt for a playoff spot in the West. Just keep in mind all 4 losses have come against quality teams.

 

The Lakers are now 4-6, and last in the Pacific division. The Lakers are playing ugly basketball right now on both ends of the floor. On offense the team still hasn't figured out the Triangle, and they haven't really shown any improvement over the last 5 games. Chris Mihm is the exception, but Odom, Kwame, and Parker continue to struggle with it. On defense the team is giving up far too, many baskets in transition, and are allowing a lot of second chance opportunities. The defensive rotations are slow, and it's resulting in easy baskets for their opponents. To make matters worse, their best defensive player in the post, Kwame Brown is out with an injury.

Now, despite how terrible the Lakers have been playing the team is still 4-6 on the season. Only two games under .500 with an eigth of the season done. There's hope for this team still, because most of their losses were winnable games. The only ugly loss was the game in Memphis, but the Lakers have been in every game despite how terrible they are playing.

The Lakers are still in position to finish the month 7-6, if they can win their next three games. They have Seattle next on Thursday, and it will mark the return of Luke Walton. Then they face the Nets, at Staples Center and should have a chance to win that game. They finish the month in San Antonio, it's probably going to result in a loss, but the Spurs have had a few let down games, so anything is possible.

Right now it's important for the team to stay focused and not implode. This is gut check time for the players, and they have to close out games better. The first area to improve is free throw shooting. They are only shooting 72.8% on the year, and if you remove Kobe Bryant's attempts the team average drops to 67.4%. Pretty terrible statistic in the post-Shaq Era. Making those extra 7 points at the free line could have put the Lakers over the top in a lot of those losses.