Troubling Signs from Los Angeles Lakers' Early 2014-15 Season
The first week-plus of the regular season came and went for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Five games and five losses.
Granted, there were two back-to-backs, and each appearance was against a solid playoff contender—the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns (x2), Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors.
That doesn’t make a difference when it comes to the standings. The Lakers ended their week in sole possession of last place in the Western Conference.
So far, it’s the franchise’s worst start to a season since 1957.
That by itself is a troubling sign. But it’s only a start.
Injuries
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The most obvious sign of trouble has come in the way of injuries.
First, Nick “Swaggy P” Young tore his right-thumb ligament in training camp, requiring surgery. He is expected to be back sometime in early December. Prepare for a lot more losses before Young returns—he was the team’s sixth man and leading scorer last season.
Next came the loss of Steve Nash. There was some hope that the 40-year-old point guard was finally healthy and ready to go—until chronic back problems cropped up again, along with the news that his season was finished before it even started.
L.A.’s No. 7 draft pick, Julius Randle, seemed to offer the polar opposite of Nash—a youthful, powerful player and the future of the franchise at age 19. Unfortunately, the power forward broke his leg in his NBA debut and is out for the season.
Will this injury curse ever subside? Last season, the team missed 319 games due to injury. So far, the Lakers are on pace to possibly surpass that number.
Over-Reliance on Kobe Bryant
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The good news is that Kobe Bryant is back. After missing all but six games last season due to injury, the team’s cornerstone is leading the team in scoring at 27.6 points in an economical 34.4 minutes per game.
On the other hand, his teammates are wholly dependent on him. When your second-leading scorer is Jordan Hill, there’s a problem.
That’s not denigrating L.A.'s starting center, but it’s a striking example of how weak the team’s overall offense is right now—through the first four game, Bryant lead the league in usage rate at 37.3 percent.
Bryant is putting the best possible face on the team's rough start, telling Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports: "It's a very long season. You just have to stay the course. Keep on looking to improve, keep on looking to get better and things will eventually break.”
The over-reliance on the Lakers' longtime leader is a familiar story. The difference this season is the lack of fellow stars or a consistently strong supporting cast.
One thing that’s clear is that the Lakers won’t start winning games until Bryant’s teammates—apart from Hill—start stepping up.
Lack of Small Forward Consistency
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The Lakers have a real problem with their small forwards. Wesley Johnson and Xavier Henry aren’t playing very well, and Young isn’t due back for another month as he rehabs from thumb surgery.
At age 27, Johnson was given one more chance to deliver the goods this season, especially on the defensive end. So far, it’s not working, with a lackluster 3.2 rebounds, 0.6 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. Stats aside, Johnson is playing without confidence or conviction.
Meanwhile, Henry is working himself back into shape after missing all of training camp with back spasms and soreness in his surgically repaired right knee. Through three games, the 6'6" swingman is averaging 1.7 points and 0.3 boards—his lowest numbers yet since being drafted in 2010.
Los Angeles needs Young’s firepower and passion—desperately.
One stopgap possibility might be 6’9” small forward Quincy Miller who was recently waived by the Denver Nuggets.
Shams Charania of RealGM.com recently tweeted, “Quincy Miller has several inquiries since becoming a free agent, with the Los Angeles Lakers as leading suitors, league sources tell RealGM.”
But would Miller really be that much of an improvement? His two years in Denver were less-than-spectacular, with 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game over a total of 59 games.
Lack of Defense
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When Byron Scott took over as the Lakers’ new head coach this summer, he went to great lengths to preach defense.
In fact, during his introductory press conference, per Lakers.com, Scott issued a stern warning: “If you’re not out there and playing defense the way I think you’re capable of playing or the way we should be playing defense, then I’m going to have to find other guys who will.”
But who else is he going to get at this point?
The team was dead last in the league in terms of defense, allowing 118 points from opponents through its first four games and with a defensive rating of 122.5, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
As Mark Medina for the Los Angeles Daily News recently observed, Carlos Boozer has become the “poster child” for the team’s defensive woes, with his head coach stating:
"He knows he can play better and I expect him to play better. To me, it starts on the defensive end. He has to do a better job against pick and roll defense and has to do a better job on guys who are trying to post him off the dribble.
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It’s not just Boozer, though. The team has been especially lax in transition, as well as when attempting to close out against three-point shooters.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for the lack of overall defense.
Lack of 3-Point Shooting
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The Lakers’ lack of three-point shooting is starting to get absurd.
There is something of a precedent, however, and it comes from the top. During the preseason, Scott expressed a preference for attacking the basket and keeping three-point attempts at a minimum, saying (via Eric Pincus for the Los Angeles Times): “If we shoot between 10 and 15, I think that's a good mixture of getting to that basket and shooting threes.”
So far in the regular season, the Lakers are staying on track, attempting 14.6 shots per game from beyond the arc, and converting just 32.9 percent of the time.
Meanwhile, their first four-game opponents heaved more than twice as many—29.3 per game—connecting at a rate of 43.6 percent.
Nobody expects a return to Mike D’Antoni’s habit of giving virtually every player on the roster the green light to bomb away from long-range. That would be a mistake. But there has to be a happy medium.
Making 4-5 three-pointers per game won’t lead to success in the modern NBA.
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