LA Lakers: 10 Things The Lakers Need to Fix Before the All-Star Break
After the Los Angeles Lakers were manhandled by the Orlando Magic on Sunday, it's pretty clear that something isn't quite right with Phil Jackson's squad.
These Lakers don't look like the ones who've won back-to-back NBA titles, or the ones who started the season 8-0.
No, these Lakers look like just another team in the crowded Western Conference.
But that better change if the Lakers want to have a chance at a three-peat. And it better change fast.
Here are 10 things that the Lakers need to fix before the All-Star Break.
10. Get Younger
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The average age of the 14 players listed on the Lakers roster is roughly 29.5 years old.
And here are the ages of some of the team's key players:
Matt Barnes, Steve Blake and Pau Gasol: 30
Lamar Odom and Ron Artest: 31
Kobe Bryant: 32
Derek Fisher: 36
Though age hasn't hurt the Boston Celtics or the Lakers themselves the last few years, there will certainly be a time when it does.
Why not try to swing a trade for a younger player who can come off the bench?
9. Turnovers
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On the season, the Lakers average slightly less turnovers (13.3 per game) than they force (13.8).
But let's take a detailed look at a rough six-game stretch the team had from Dec. 21 to Jan. 2.
The number on the left is number of turnovers by the Lakers, while the number of the right is the number of turnovers by their opponent (stats from hoopdata.com).
Milwaukee: 16 to 16
Miami: 12 to 9
At San Antonio: 16 to 9
At New Orleans: 20 to 14
Philadelphia: 14 to 11
Memphis: 20 to 9
See a trend here? The Lakers can't afford to lose the turnover battle like that, or they won't last too long in the playoffs.
8. Consistency
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Since the Lakers' seven-game winning streak ended on Jan. 14, the team has had a tough time keeping up their winning ways.
Los Angeles went just 4-5 in their next nine games—never winning more than two in a row—and won four straight before losing to Orlando on Sunday.
Sure, the four-game winning streak looks nice, but not when you take into account the fact that the Lakers are just 8-6 since Jan. 16.
Though some teams wouldn't mind that record, this is the Lakers we're talking about here.
They need to be more consistent than they've been over the last month or so.
7. Winning at Home
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Winning at home? That sure sounds weird.
But the Lakers are just 1-3 in the team's last four home games, including a loss to lowly Sacramento, and with the one win coming in overtime against Houston.
Obviously, this isn't a season long trend—as the Lakers are 19-8 at home—but it is a disturbing one that's gone on for the last few weeks.
Maybe playing at the Staples Center isn't as big of a help as we thought.
6. Frontcourt Depth
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When you think of the Lakers frontcourt, just three names come to mind: Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.
It's that simple. These guys take up the vast majority of the minutes at forward and center.
No other LA big man plays more than 8.4 minutes per game (Theo Ratliff), scores more than 2.9 points per game (Devin Ebanks) or grabs more than 1.8 rebounds per game (Joe Smith).
That's partly because of how well the "big three" play, but it's also partly because Phil Jackson doesn't have much faith in those backups I mentioned.
If the Lakers want to win in the playoffs—especially against the Celtics—they have to add another effective power forward or center.
5. Kobe Shooting Too Much
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Check out Kobe Bryant's Game Log, and you'll see that when he shoots too much, the Lakers generally don't win.
On the season, Bryant averages 19.4 field attempts per game. But in the Lakers' 17 losses, Bryant's number of shot attempts jumps up nearly 3.5 shots to 22.7 per game.
The fact is, it's not a good idea for Bryant to be shooting that much.
The stats tell us so.
4. Ron Artest
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There's no other way to put this: Ron Artest has been awful this entire season.
He is averaging career lows in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. He is also averaging the fourth-worst field goal percentage and second-lowest free throw percentage of his career.
Artest hasn't had more than five rebounds since Jan. 7, more than three assists since Jan. 17, and hasn't scored 20 points in a game all season.
The effects of his poor offensive play might be minimized if he took his defense up a notch, but—as his career lows in steals and blocks indicate—even his production on that end of the court has suffered.
Artest needs to get back on track. Soon.
3. Beating the Big Boys
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The Lakers may be 38-17, but don't let that record fool you.
Los Angeles is a combined 1-6 against the Eastern Conference's top three teams (Miami, Orlando and Boston) and the Western Conference's top two squads (San Antonio and Dallas).
If you want to throw Chicago in there as well, then the Lakers are 2-7 against the NBA's upper echelon.
How about taking care of the NBA's top-tier teams every once in a while, LA?
2. The Bench
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Against Orlando on Sunday, Los Angeles didn't get much of anything from its reserve players outside of Lamar Odom (15 points and eight rebounds).
The rest of the Lakers bench scored just six points (and grabbed six rebounds), and all six of those points came from Shannon Brown.
It was the 18th straight game that forward Matt Barnes missed, as he recovers from torn meniscus cartilage in his right knee.
Perhaps the return of Barnes could upgrade the Lakers' bench scoring, but something is definitely missing from that unit, which played just three players—Odom, Brown and Steve Blake—in the team' last loss (Feb. 3 against San Antonio).
1. Scoring
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When it comes to scoring, the Lakers are a lot closer to the top of the league in that category than they are the bottom, ranking ninth in points per game at 102.6.
But when Los Angeles loses, you'll notice one thing: They don't score.
They've only scored more than 100 points in a loss one time since Nov. 16, and in fact, they have scored 96 points or fewer in 13 of their 17 losses.
The Lakers average just 92.2 points per game when they lose, a whopping 10 points fewer than their total season average.
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