WMC 24-25: Dumb Finishing

eh, again, i'd prefer dennis over gabe and said so at the time, but...toronto just traded for a better pg because they're 8 games under .500, and dennis is a net-minus there by many metrics and actually was here last season, too (by basically all metrics).

people's memories of dennis differ both from mine and from objective data. he's a solid backup pg who if he's your starter, you're looking to upgrade. has been his whole career.

we need someone better than all three of dlo/gabe/dennis. murray fits the bill here, i think, but can we get him?

also, if you have lebron/AD/reaves, i don't think you *should* need a pg much better than dlo or gabe, tbh.

bonus wmc: if you're pining for a player we let go for nothing, how about malik beasley, who's shooting 47% from three and playing 30mpg as a net positive for a winning team right now.

at some point, you have to realize the problems are internal, and it's not about who we bring in but about what's happening when they're here. i mean, i wasn't crazy about signing wood, but we've somehow made him look WORSE. how do we do this with every single player?

look inward. stop sucking. our team is far less than the sum of its parts.

 

I have gone from hopeful, to confused, to disappointed, and now honestly just becoming a little indifferent.

It's the worst place to be as a fan. I don't care when the games start, don't move my schedule around to watch games, am not surprised or disappointed when we lose. It's just meh.

Lakers need to take some action and quit playing like crap. Interesting they could get up for an in season tournament, but can't seem to care enough to play .500 ball otherwise. I can't stand a "flip the switch" mentality. Inevitably, when you think the switch "gear" is there, it won't be, and you'll get swept out of the playoffs by the Clippers. Let that one sink in. That would suck.

 

honestly, the flipped switch in the IST is probably the only reason i haven't tuned all the way out. for a few games, i'm like...this is sort of what i was expecting!

 

Well, let me elaborate a bit on that. With Dennis, we’d simply benefit from having a guy who’s not hurt and had developed chemistry with the team and coaches. He’s not some miracle answer to all of our woes but I do think he would help us.

Bad luck with Vincent but still a whiff unfortunately.


I honestly feel like at this point I’ve critcized the inner workings of the franchise so much over the years that I’m not even sure how much I have to add there.

Guys have been forgetting how to shoot once they get here for years. Still no shooting coach.

Thats just one of many things I could rant about.

Faces change but similar issues.

When one guy fails it’s on them. When everyone seems to fail, there’s systemic issues in place. At least that’s something a really great boss passed down to me years ago and it’s largely held to be true in my personal experiences.

So you get no arguments from me on internal problems with the organization and I think it’s beyond just the guys with the clip boards.


I don’t think Ham will be fired. At least not yet.

I do think a trade is inevitable. I do like the thought of Murray and honestly can be talked into Lavine and Caruso at the right price even with Lavine’s injury issues.

Feels like we set up our contracts to put us in a position to get some kind of deal done so credit to the front office for that. Whether the added player will do any better here than our other attempts to improve the roster remains to be seen.

 

This post IST letdown actually interests me a bit. I wonder if we will see this moving forward from other teams. AD was vocal that they treated the championship game as a game 7 and the difference in effort since then is clear. Teams got to find that gear again and quickly.

 

yes, this.

it would be a bad look, but unless we go to the conference finals again, he'll be gone before june, imo. problem is everyone knows it, so it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

i think this is a self-fulfilling prophecy, too. i know i'll get killed for it, but a slightly longer deal at lower money for dlo might have helped with some of this. his contract was written to be traded.

 

Do they think that's Handy's job?
Strange with all the shooting difficulty they've had they haven't signed a shooting coach

Overall the problems are the guard spot:
That being said I thought Christie would be way ahead of where he is and he just isn't: not a consistent enough shooter or defender. Not a critique of his career just he's not cutting it.
Add in Gabe basically MIA and DLo regressing this guard rotation is just bad. Bottom line that is the biggest problem this team has.

And when you have 3 top slots filled which is the hardest thing to do in the NBA (AD/LEbron/Reaves is a top-notch core), then it isn't about the overall quality of a player but the fit that matters and that is where not having Dennis blows. He played a lot of minutes, allowed Reaves and Lebron to be playmakers not PG, played good POA of defense, and a few games a year he actually won you. RIght now the Lakers have nothing like that so the value of Dennis to the Lakers is much higher then how he ranks on the best PG's in the league chart.

Anyways Lakers needs to fix this: the guards blow. Wings and Bigs are not a huge issue IMO overall

 

Thought Ham would be better. Thought he was an upgrade last year, and I thought he did a good job in the PO's for the most part until Mike Malone and Jokic took him and the Lakers to school.

Otherwise? He's been a bottom 5 coach this year.

 

It’s been a real disappointing season so far, like Sirron I’ve been a bit apathetic in watching. Every time I tune in, it’s like the team just isn’t playing with any sort of real effort (outside of the IST).

This seems to be a trend the last few years, we don’t really get going until we are forced too. Lots of that blame needs to be put at the feet of Lebron and AD - they’re the leaders of the team.

 

we've definitely taken on their personalities. after they won the 2020 ring, neither really has much urgency in the tank, imo. and i get it. AD has actually stepped it up a bit as the season has gone on, but both were in coast mode to start the year, and lebron has stayed there.

i think it's funny lebron hates dlo so much. the attitude isn't much different. the stance that "you're not good enough to not care" is poor leadership and won't be met well by highly paid teammates.

 

I'm just not sure what you guys realistically expect from a 39 year old Bron in December and January. He's doing things 4x the level of anyone else to play at this stage in their career. I think the unspoken thing in recent years is help me get there and I got you.

For whatever reason they don't follow/match AD's level of play or energy. He's been on a tear and it hasn't worn off on the team. Personality wise, he's not *that* guy. So if the team needed that so it doesn't have to be only Bron then that's on Rob. They tried to get the guy in Russ, only he was cooked and his play was a train wreck.

Also, Ham's selling point was he's this great player's coach and leader of men. Looked like it last year but this year the players aren't hearing it or having it. If he's already losing the locker room and buy in, why are you here? Cause it sure as s*** ain't x's & o's.

 

So bummed watching other games. The C Bags starting lineup is a marvel of modern basketball... your trust in playoff Tatum notwithstanding. Clippers are pretty lethal after that rough start with an out of shape Harden.

To think we'd still have true two way players like KCP if not for THAT trade. LeBron and AD thought they were getting Magic Johnson LMAO

 

I don't think is an effort issue as much as an injury and team makeup problem. Teams effort is much better then last year but you can see the whole team including Lebron/AD deflate after they make a run only for the other team to stop it. Even in the Philly blowout they were actually about to make a real game out of it till a bunch of guys made dumb plays.

If you take a look at the roster if you said before the season Max would not be ready to be a solid rotation player, Gabe would be hurt: you would have almost assuredly said oh no a lot is doing to depend on Dlo and you rightfully would have said that wouldn't be good due to his career long inconsistency issues on offense tied to his lack of defense. Guess what that has occurred. You can't win in the NBA consistently if you only have one good guard even it is very a good one.

Look at Memphis they only had Bane for months and they sucked and Bane is a good player and they have talent at other spots

 

i'm on team "effort and execution". we have as much talent top-to-bottom as any non-C Bags, non-clippers team, imo.

getting your a** beat every first quarter, no matter the opponent, is about preparation and matching energy. we seem to do neither.

there's not a magic trade to fix us this year like there was last year. we already pulled off the personnel moves. if you don't like dlo's engagement, work on that. don't randomly bench him, never even try our proven lineups once the injuries subsided, play lebron at pg, etc.

 

if they could swing a Murray and Capella trade it would go a long way to cure what ails them.A PG who plays defense and puts pressure on defenses and a legitimate 2nd rim protector rebounder.

 

KCP is a good player, but he is hardly going to change the current predicament. In all honesty, how much of an upgrade would he be to Prince? Definitely a little but not enough to give us an extra 3-4 wins.

It’s interesting that we just have this lethargy in first quarters, I don’t know what else you can attribute that to than effort. And Ham has tried all kinds of rotations, DLO, Reaves, Reddish, Jared and Rui have all come in and out of the starting lineup.

 

Yeah EVERYTHING except what worked great after the deadline and won two series in the playoffs …. and “might” have won a chip if DLO had shot normally against Denver. Certainly wouldn’t have been a sweep. IOW …. a real good starting lineup! That he won’t try now.

 

It is strange that he won't go back to it: Prince/Dlo/AR doesn't work as both Prince and Dlo don't rebound and aren't good defendres.

You have playoff games that show with Vando/Dlo/AR that there is synergy there at least until a good team adjust for Vando on offense (that still take works and game planning which there is far less time to do for a single matchup in the regular season vs the post-season

I strongly favor Cam over Vando in the starting lineup but they should go back to what worked either way. They haven't given it shot again