Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

Rob Pelinka was on the Dan Patrick Show this morning and he said something specific that has been sort of floated around by some smart Laker bloggers. He said that what the Lakers are going to try to do is turn passing into the next breakthrough in the NBA. Pelinka brought up how shooting has become the norm and has changed the way the NBA is played. Golden State changed the game with fast, efficient shooting outside and are able to go small with quick, aggressive defense and punishing three point shots that add up too quickly.

The Lakers, with Lonzo, are going to try to do the same thing with passing the ball. Golden State passes the ball at a high level and so does San Antonio, but what we're going to try to do is take that to another level entirely. We want to take the energy of the Warriors and ramp it up further with passing from all positions.

This seems like an oversimplification, but think about what made Lonzo such a unique college prospect: he had either the most or second most assists in college last season with one of the lowest usage rates of all premiere guards in the draft. He doesn't just pass the ball, he passes the ball constantly. Think about what happened with Vander Blue in this summer league. He went from never even looking for a pass, to passing the ball all the time. He had 6 assists in one of the games! We're going to try to make passing the new shooting.

Of course that doesn't mean we won't also put a premium on shooting, I think the two go hand in hand now. I just think that when you're talking about "transcendent", that's the direction we're trying to go in. We're going to try to do something different than what we've seen in decades. I find this mentality to be not just encouraging, but deeply exciting. We're talking about being the Lakers again.

 

This sounds good in theory, but I'm not sure how you improve on Golden State's passing model. They make the right basketball play 90% of the time. How much more can a team pass than them? How many times can you choose to make a better than the Warriors make? Not trying to be a downer as I am encouraged by Pelinka and Magic's commitment to ball movement, but I've watched a lot of GS over the past 3 years and I'm not sure how much more you can actually pass than they do.

 

I think we're seeing part of it already. Lonzo is a fantastic passer, Ingram is a good passer, and Lopez is a good passer. Randle, if he stays, is a solid passer, and I don't know that KCP is a great passer, but he's solid in pick and roll. KCP had a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio last season. I think Kuzma is a very good passer. Nance is an underrated passer. Ennis is solid.

The real intriguing part is LeBron. LeBron would be ridiculous in an open passing game. George would be good at it too, but LeBron is a tremendous passer especially for his size. I believe we're going to build the type of game that everyone wants to be a part of in our own unique way. If LeBron doesn't commit, I still think we're going to have a tremendously fun team with next-level potential. It might take a while to reach it, but I think that's the direction we're headed today which is exciting.

 

What they do is predicated off of shooting though. You have to over-adjust which opens up back-doors and cuts. It's a tremendously dangerous offense, but when they have cold shooting nights, the offense slows down. Obviously they've stacked the deck so that those shooting nights are few and far between, but that's how the lowly 2016 Lakers beat them last year.

What we're going to do is keep constant pressure on the defense by moving the ball ahead. Ideally you don't want anyone holding the ball for more than 5-6 seconds before passing it or shooting it. I've been touting it a lot already, but the hit-ahead pass is going to open up the offense for the Lakers even off of made baskets. Once the ball goes up, at least one player needs to be filling the same-side wing as the person receiving the inbounds pass while another flashes toward the rim. We'll get into offense 3-4 seconds into the shot clock which is rattling for defenses. Golden State does this with their small-ball lineups sometimes, but I want to do it with every lineup. Having a PF in their that's as mobile as Julius is going to free up a lot of points in transition and semi-transition. Have Lopez run to the three point line early in the offense and he'll probably get an open three just out of the pressure we put on the rim moving the ball.

 

The best thing I heard out of that entire interview was one of the last things he said which was that he and Magic are very conscious about wanting to be great now and try to beat the Warriors but not sacrificing our future for success today. This will be the key thing for us to never lose sight of.

 

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