Mike Muscula Discussion

I’ve thought the same thing but I think it fits the state of the franchise. Nobody knows what’s going on, what should happen, or where anything should go.

 

Ok I'm going to debunk this wide open shooting b******* right now.

The Lakers are dead last in the league at shooting wide open 3s, at 35.5%. NBA.com defines that as no defender within 6+ feet. However, let's look at WHO is shooting those shots on our team.

Bullock: 39% on 3.6 attempts
KCP: 38.6% on 2.4 attempts
Ingram: 38.1% on 0.8 attempts (non factor)
James: 38.0% on 2.5 attempts
Rondo: 37.4% on 2.1 attempts
Stephenson: 36.4% on 1.4 attempts (lol)

All these guys, other than maybe Stephenson (who we know shoots better in rhythm rather than as a spot up) are actually not THAT bad.

The ones dragging us down:
Hart, Kuzma, Wagner, Ball, Muscala, Beasely - all 34% or below.

The defense is fine letting those guys brick wide open shots all game long. They're shooting more combined wide open attempts per game than our top 5 guys in percentages. I wonder why.

Why is Lonzo Ball shooting almost as many wide open 3s as Reggie Bullock?? Why is Lonzo Ball shooting more wide open 3s per game than Robert Covington, one of the top 3 point shooters in the league at 6.7 3PA per game?

Good defenses will leave our worst guys open to shoot 3s. It's that simple.

Regarding your second points about who to replace him with...

At least 50% of the coaches in the NBA. Pretty much anyone the Kings are looking to hire right now, other than Walton. Read my previous post. Lue has some great plays that don't require 3-4 strong 3 point shooters. That's one great example.

 

Do 50% of coaches in the NBA want this job right now? I’ve been pretty clear, name realistic, specific options. We’ve been doing this for a full season and I haven’t seen one. I’ve wanted Luke fired on numerous occasions this year, but I have zero trust in the FO to pick the proper replacement. I believe there are a lot of people out there that could do the job better than Luke, but I have no faith in ownership to find that person.

In regard to the roster, most of your argument was to ask why certain players shot so bad and disregard the numbers since the players “are actually not THAT bad.” 82 games to to not be THAT bad, but they were. I haven’t even mentioned injuries.

Other teams leaving our worst shooter open? We didn’t have any consistently good shooters. They could leave almost anyone open with the same result. You just seem to push focusing on Luke for a majority of the blame, when really he’s just one piece of trash in a large dumpster fire. With all of his flaws, firing him could do more harm than good if they make the wrong choice.

 

Seriously the shooters narrative is just all types of bad. Is it a problem? Yeah. Is it the problem? No.

First of all, I don't think it's wise to have your entire offense based off of one guy. But if folks want to keep clamoring about Bron needing shooters...

Bron's Cavs team last year wasn't that good at shooting (2nd to last in the playoffs).

Remember when the Cavs beat the dubs? They weren't a good shooting team.

I understand that the trend is shooting. But what's with folks wanting to play follow the leader? You can't outshoot the dubs, so figure out another way.

Well apparently, our own coach didn't believe in outshooting them either. So kudos to Luke for attempting to go another route.

Offense is just more than 3 pointers, so Luke's offense can have an impact on other aspects of the game, right? Luke's 3 year stint...

Year1: 23rd in ortg
Year2: 23rd in ortg
Year3: 24th in ortg

And mind you, I supported Luke and the coaching staff till all the bush league leaks started happening.

 

What are you talking about? Did you read my post?

Our top 5 players ARE good shooters on wide open 3s. Bullock was at almost 40%.

They couldn't leave our top shooters open, and the numbers prove they didn't nearly to the extent that they did guys like Muscala, Ball, etc.

Yes, obviously if we go out and pick some random coach, that's not a good idea. But we could just take Lue, have him run the EXACT elbow series the Cavs ran, and be MUCH better off. I already named him as a "specific option" in the post you quoted.

You can't say we should keep Luke because the FO won't pick a good coach, when we don't even know who's leading the new FO. That's a ridiculous statement, and one that shows you're more comfortable with mediocrity than getting the pieces together to win a championship.

 

Deuces

 

yes. let's forget this unfortunate mini-chapter of lakers history.