Los Angeles Lakers: 6 Adjustments the Team Needs to Make

Down 0-2 to start the season, there is slight reason for concern in Lakerland. The Los Angeles Lakers have not been playing their best basketball, and it's showing up in the loss column.

Sure, help is on the way in the form of Andrew Bynum, who will finish out his four-game suspension and return for the Lakers Saturday versus the Denver Nuggets.

But changes need to be made now.

Here are six adjustments the Lakers must make to get back on track.

6. Floor Awareness on Transition Defense

The Lakers had a very poor effort on defense in transition last night, allowing the Sacramento Kings to easily get out on the break and on for easy layups.

Part of the problem is the concentration of Lakers crashing the boards. Three Lakers go to the glass, the ball bounces to their opponent and all it takes is one pass for the Lakers to be caught a man down on the open floor.

The Lakers need to continue to attack the glass, but not put themselves in precarious positions on the floor susceptible to the counterattack.

5. Work Darius Morris into the Rotation

Darius Morris has gotten the dreaded DNP: Coach's Decision the first two games to start the season.

Meanwhile, fellow rookie Andrew Goudelock has played extended minutes off the bench. Understanding the Lakers are using Goudelock as the backup SG to Kobe Bryant, it's still a shock that Darius Morris has not seen the court this season.

His performance in the preseason was spectacular, showing command with the ball, creating his own shot and playing good defense at the point.

Get D-Mo on the floor with the second unit and work a timeshare with Fish and Steve Blake in the first unit.

D-Mo is the Lakers' point guard of the future, yes. But the team can't wait until then to utilize his many talents. Use him.

4. Play Through the Whistle

The referees were "letting them play" last night in Sacramento, particularly towards the end of the game. 

Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace and Kobe Bryant all went for shot attempts in the lane, looking for fouls that never came. Kings rebound, possession lost.

On the defensive end, the Lakers were boxing out the Kings on the glass, expecting a whistle to come for the physical play, but allowed their man to slip around and get loose balls. Kings rebound, possession lost.

The Lakers can't expect the referees to help them in any way during the game. With the Chris Paul trade veto, the league sent a clear message: We don't want the Lakers steamrolling teams any more.

The Lakers have themselves to thank for this, and can only rely on themselves going forward.

3. Give Devin Ebanks a Larger Role in Offense

Mike Brown's offense has been built to give his frontcourt one-on-one matchups and his superstar, Kobe Bryant, open looks and isolations.

The looks are spread out across the floor and designed to give Kobe the ball in his "sweet spots."

Should Kobe be the only player to work out of these sweet spots? Why not run this element of the offense for Devin Ebanks?

He's shot the lights out at the SF position, going 14-for-18 through two preseason games and two regular season games towards a whopping 77 percent field goal percentage.

Until proven otherwise, he's the Lakers' most efficient scorer.

Ebanks needs a larger role in the offense. 

2. Learn and Apply Defensive Rotations

The Lakers looked very strong on their defensive rotations and closeouts on Christmas Day versus the Chicago Bulls.

Last night? Not so much.

The team struggled to find purposeful rotations off the pick-and-roll and dribble penetration versus the Kings, leading to wide open looks for Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton and John Salmons throughout the night.

There will definitely be a learning curve in adjusting to Mike Brown's systematic rotations. With more practice time and game footage to learn the principles, the Lakers should progressively clean up this part of their game.

But defense must be their ultimate priority. For a grind-it-out team like the Lakers to find success, it begins and ends with defense.

1. Focus on the Frontcourt

By way of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, the Lakers have trotted out the most feared frontcourt in the NBA the past three years.

With Lamar Odom gone, the Lakers have filled the void with a combination of Troy Murphy and Josh McRoberts. Maybe not as feared, but just as dangerous.

Yet the bigs are not getting as many looks on the block as they should be.

As I alluded to yesterday, with Andrew Bynum out, the Lakers need to feed Pau Gasol the ball on the block.

Gasol put in a nice stat line last night, scoring 15 points on 7-for-12 from the floor, but 12 shot attempts is not enough for a player of Pau's caliber. Whether it's the fault of his team for not getting him the ball more or Pau's own fault, adjustments need to be made.

The big dogs need to eat. Feed them the rock.