Biggest Surprises and Disappointments for Los Angeles Lakers
It's been a topsy-turvy season for the Los Angeles Lakers, filled with both triumphs and tragedies.
Successes like beating a league-best Golden State Warriors squad have been offset by failures like giving up 140 points in a beatdown at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks.
Players new and old alike have been under the microscope, as has a new, yet familiar, head coach. These trends are worth monitoring to see if they continue and how the Lakers eventually adapt.
Kobe Bryant is at the heart of it all, as is to be expected, and it is with him we kick off our list of the biggest surprises and disappointments of the Lakers' season to date.
Surprise No. 1: Kobe Bryant
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Let's be honest. Nobody knew what to expect from Bryant heading into the season.
Aside from a very brief six-game stretch last year—where he was clearly still out of sorts—he hadn't played a competitive basketball game in over 18 months.
He was coming off of two debilitating injuries at an advanced age that had ended the careers of younger players.
But of course, we're talking about Kobe Bryant here.
From a physical standpoint, he has far surpassed any reasonable person's expectations. Bryant is playing over 35 minutes a game and carrying a heavy load for the Lakers. His coach had to force him to sit out games this week for his own well being—that's how tenacious a competitor the Mamba remains.
He can still create enough space to get shots off over defenders and remains L.A.'s best offensive creator.
And every now and then he can still dazzle the crowd with a whiff of his old athleticism.
Disappointment No. 1: Kobe Bryant
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On the flip side, Bryant's determination to still be The Man and perform at an All-NBA level is becoming a hindrance to the team's success.
While it's a marvel that he can still get his own shot, it's a problem when those shots keep missing.
And Bryant is on a historic pace with his bricks.
At his current clip, he would become the first player in more than 50 years to hoist up 20 shots per game and convert less than 38 percent of them, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
His detrimental effect is further highlighted by nights like Tuesday's shocking victory over the Golden State Warriors.
It seemed like a weight had been lifted from the entire team in Bryant's absence. The Lakers hadn't played with that kind of energy and enthusiasm all year. The ball was whipping from side to side, and no one was afraid to be aggressive.
The Lakers shot nearly 52 percent from the floor and posted a 118.7 offensive rating against the team that leads the league in both field-goal percentage defense and defensive rating.
Thus far, L.A. has been better on both sides of the ball with Kobe on the sidelines. Overall, the team is more than 21 points per 100 possessions better with Bryant sitting out as opposed to being on the court.
That's a staggering figure, and it really speaks to the issues Bryant has faced this season.
Surprise No. 2: The Bench
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Los Angeles' saving grace all season long has been the play of their bench.
Led by the boisterous Nick Young, the second unit always seems to pull the Lakers out of the hole the starters have dug.
Since Byron Scott made the move to bring Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer off the pine as well, the bench has only gotten stronger.
The five-man all-bench lineup of Young, Lin, Boozer, Wayne Ellington and Robert Sacre is killing it on both sides of the ball. According to NBA.com, they have outscored opponents by 17.3 points per 100 possessions in 72 minutes together, and Boozer in particular has seemed to thrive in his new role.
Even before Scott made the switch, L.A.'s reserves were playing well. The old bench mob was still beating their counterparts by 7.7 points per 100 possessions.
Scott may want to maximize the playing time of his second unit by getting them into games earlier and provide a jolt to an offense that stays stagnant at the beginning of halves.
Disappointment No. 2: The Starters
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Once again, the other side of the coin is far less shiny.
The Lakers' starting lineup has been consistently pummeled by their opposition.
The group that began the season got toasted by 15 points every 100 possessions, per NBA.com.
Since Byron Scott has moved some pieces around, things have gotten a little better—but not much.
The defense isn't quite so awful, but the marginal gains there have been are almost offset by an offense that is even less threatening. As a result, L.A.'s current starters are still losing by 12.3 points per 100 possessions.
Perhaps a large portion of these problems goes back to Kobe Bryant and his negative contributions. The numbers say that whenever Bryant is in the game, the Lakers perform poorly, but they perk up as soon as he steps off the floor.
The real truth is somewhere in the middle. As good as the Lakers looked in sniping the Warriors earlier in the week, the team struggled sans Bryant on Christmas. Without the element of surprise on their side, the Lakers looked punchless offensively.
It's up to Scott to find the happy medium. Pulling the plug on the starters earlier when things are going bad and mixing lineup combinations to find the optimal group needs can help the Lakers out.
Surprise No. 3: Low Key Offseason Additions
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The transactions that stole the headlines this summer were the acquisitions of household names Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer.
But the real gems of the offseason were the quieter pickups.
While Lin and Boozer have been publicly criticized for their play and have both lost their starting jobs, guys like Ed Davis, Ronnie Price and Wayne Ellington have stepped up.
These fresh faces have breathed life into the team.
Davis has been the team's only functional rim protector, while also being a terrific finisher on offense en route to a 64 percent field-goal percentage.
Price is a nuisance on defense, and the ball pressure he provides has flustered opposing point guards into careless turnovers when dribbling the ball up the court. His offense is gaining traction as the year goes on as well.
Ellington is a dead-eye marksman who is a threat to shoot whenever he catches the ball. The Lakers have made some hay running Ellington around screens for quick catch-and-fire opportunities, and he has shown the ability to put on the deck and get into the lane himself.
It's no coincidence that these three pleasant surprises were all in the starting lineup for L.A.'s biggest win of the year over the team with the NBA's best record.
Disappointment No. 3: The Defense
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Byron Scott's hire was supposed to signal a shift in the Lakers' identity.
After Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun system crashed and burned, Scott was to bring in a disciplined, defensive-minded approach.
So far, it hasn't the worked.
The Lakers are worse on defense now than at any point under D'Antoni, ranking dead last in the league in points allowed per possession.
Analytics have hammered home the point that every offense hunts for layups, three-pointers or free-throws on every trip. A defense's task is to take those options away and force opponents into low-efficiency looks.
Apparently L.A. never got that memo. The Lakers allow the third-most field goals within the restricted area, the second-most three-pointers made and third-most foul-shot attempts in the NBA.
Giving up the absolute juiciest opportunities to offenses has buried the Lakers under a heap of enemy points.
Scott has to find a way to get through to his team and get them to better execute the defensive game plan, because he is not living up to the job right now.
