Incoming LAKERS

So in last post we saw how Lakers have some players who left the team, for better or for worse. We will now look into how team has  restacked its ranks with this year’s free agency market.

Roy Hibbert: Lakers had 1 huge crater in their team, a defensive big. Roy Hibbert is the meteor size presence which can fit into that hole perfectly. Free agency started this year like Best Buy sales before Christmas offering iPhones at 1$ apiece. 17+ players were dealt with within first 15 hours of free agency. Lakers faced 2 embarrassing meetings with Lamarcus Aldridge where it was leaked out that Aldridge was eager to come but was not happy with the basketball side of their presentation to him. Greg Monroe promised a meeting but decided to join Bucks before meeting Lakers. Other prestigious players also left the playing field before Lakers planned to switch to plan B or C. Roy Hibbert was a non-factor in most of recent Pacers games. Pacers were notorious for being slow team and high on defensive but low on offensive side. Legendary Larry Bird, the team president already announced that Hibbert will be dealt or be given less playing time as team will try to move on to faster paced more offense oriented philosophy. Lakers came with an offer like a knight in a shining armor and Kundli matching was perfect and the basketball gods blessed the marriage. What I mean to say is that Hibbert got a chance to show his importance to the world before he hits free agency in 2016, Lakers can get one of the top 2-3 defensive bigs in the game and we can now focus on getting other players without having to know Lakers may suck more in future. Here’s a look of a concept called Verticality which was present in NBA rulebooks, but made famous only by Hibbert: 

Lou Williams: So, Lakers aren’t worried about defense. They have Kobe: Top 3 scorers of all time, Clarksson: mini westbrook, Young: Kobe beta gamma delta version, Randle: an offensive beast in college. Lakers thought, what the hell, let’s get the reigning 6^th man of year Lou Williams. When you have good defense, it doesn’t help to get more firepower, coz offense is best defense, right? Needless to say another masterstroke of Lakers’ front office.

Brandon Bass: Lakers had Boozer last year who can grab some rebounds, hit mid-range shots and be healthy and fill in as a veteran for some quick minutes from bench. Boozer’s defense was as atrocious as Mukesh Rishi’s acting in Gunda. Brandon bass provides exact same thing only except he is just below average defender for his position and height.

MWP: Metta World Peace is awesomeness. After spending 1.5 years outside NBA he spent some time playing in China to become Panda’s friend [not verb, it was his name, no shit] Now he came back to Lakers. He wasn’t offered a job right away. He had to come in top shape, rub shoulders with other hopefuls, earn that last spot and be in the team. The former defensive player of the year was again necessary to either be the defensive stopper or to guide young guns on defensive knowledge. MWP spent most time with Randle and these two bulls had their fun poking, pushing ramming etc. into each other playing one on one as practice. Randle seems to have grown tremendously from this exposure to such defensive talent. Hopefully MWP has more to offer to Lakers apart from the lovely interviews he gives to remind us all that basketball is a game, it’s supposed to be fun.

Marcelo Huertas: remember we had Nash? The best offensive genius of 2000-2010 decade? We took him in free agency and his age finally showed up to rob us of some wonderful years we may have had with him? Am sorry for my day dreaming, but I can’t help to dream again with what-ifs. Lakers got Marcelo Huertas, the offensive legend outside NBA, often called as Brazilian Nash. He is 32 yrs. old and part of some teams which have kicked and punched about their capacity thanks to the impossible passes this man can make. He left a hefty contract in spain to try his talents in best of the best in NBA. Lakers took the opportunity and gave him the spot. Here’s a look at his assist collection:

Lakers Free Agency Outgoing

So in previous post we discussed about Lakers Draft process and the new young generation of Lakers. Let’s take time to see how the roster has changed from last year concerning the veterans.

Let’s analyze the subtractions from previous year’s squad and how will it weaken the team this year.

Steve Nash: Steve Nash is modern day legend of a basketball player. 6 of the Top 10 offensive teams of all time had Steve Nash as the starting point guard. A player who is 3^rd all-time in Assists and who has multiple 40-50-90 [40% 3pt shooting, 50% field goals, 90% free-throw shooting] season is just irreplaceable. However let’s face it, he was not useful for even 1 game for Lakers this past season. However his training sessions with Jordan Clarksson made Jordan a better point guard in later part of season. At age 41 Steve was useful only as a mentor. So play wise Lakers have lost nothing. Good thing we haven’t missed out on his grey matter. Steve stays in California region and has shown strong reluctance to move to any other area concerning mainly for his children schools and the weather. He has also explicitly said that he can’t forget what Lakers organization has done for him and how much is he indebted to them for the support during his later years while being injured. He has already had few sessions with Jordan clarksson and the new incoming d’angelo Russell. He has also volunteered to help Lakers in other departments if there is need. If Nash is able to impart wisdom of passing and shooting to the future backcourt i.e. point guard and shooting guard of Lakers, then it’s actually a gain to have Nash retired and focus more on teaching than playing, getting injured and spending time in rehab.

Carlos Boozer: Boozer is like a cd player which runs perfectly fine but can’t be used only because we now live in world of smart phones and iPods. Boozer can be an above average scorer as 2^nd option coming from bench, can grab rebounds. But his per minute efficiency is very low. With respect to defense I got only 1 thing to say that even if I play against him, me being seasonal player and he being an NBA great, I will look like Rajnikant in front of  his defense. His age at 33 looks even less promising. He has been fairly healthy till now but it isn’t a wise decision to invest playing time and money on an aging player who can’t play 1 aspect of game. He is better suited to a championship aspiring team which needs battle tested veteran for experience during playoff time.

Jeremy Lin: Personally speaking I liked Jeremy Lin. He has good off-ball game and he can be a spot up shooter complimenting Kobe Bryant and Jordan Clarksson. He has good on ball game where he can drive in and get buckets [remember last year he was the best finisher within 3ft range of basket, just behind lebron james] He is a monster in pick and roll offensive scheme. However we got d’angello Russell in draft and it wouldn’t be fair to either lin or d’lo for getting less playing time. D’lo needs all the experience by playing to develop his game as fast as he can to be a pillar for future. Lin needs to become a great player right now to salvage his image and career. Either ways, it’s a loss for Lakers but its somehow mitigated by drafting D’lo. I wish him all the best for future.

Ronnie Price: Ronnie was one of the favorites of Byron Scott because he put effort in defense. That’s all the positive I got for him. He was on wring side of 30, short height, poor offensive game, good effort but bad effectiveness on defense. He was not fit for another season in Laker land.

Xavier henry: Last year was supposed to be a breaking out year for Xavier but he suffered Achilles torn ligament and he missed the remaining season. Lakers cut him from squad to make way for others who can play. Lakers however allowed him to continue rehabbing and practice in Lakers facility. However Xavier has 4 yrs short career till now and he spent almost 55-60 % of that time in injuries. Not a trait someone would like either in a youngster or a veteran. He was cut and we have a roster spot for a healthy player.

Jordan Hill: Jordan Hill was famous for his energizer Bunny image and his relentless work on rebounding and interior scoring. His offensive rebounding was top notch and he had developed a good shooting range too. He showed promise in ins fitness after he quit his drinking problem and worked harder in summer time. He was slated to be the team’s starting center. He showed promise in his offense and his rebounding/stamina. However he was simply outplayed by other starting bigs in the league. His reliance on his outside shooting meant it impacted his rebounding and interior scoring and hence shooting percentages and hence offensive efficiency of the team. He was given a comparatively huge contract of 9mn$/yr only to see if he works hard enough to earn it. Also it was given to be used as a trade bait for other teams to dangle during trading window. Lakers at the end of season expected more from Jordan than what he offered. He could have improved his game further in this offseason but it was simply too much money to give. Lakers had team option on Jordan hill’s contract and they didn’t claim it before deadline. Lakers however were willing to take him back at bargain price but he was snatched by other team before Lakers could make a move. So another all the best to him for his future endeavors.

Wayne Ellington: He was a veteran presence in the locker room along with the ability to play good minutes. Wayne had capability to knock down open 3pt shots and he was a very good spot up shooter. He was average in defense but had familiarity to Byron Scott’s offense/defense and hence valuable. However he wasn’t a great piece to build for future and was more like a spot gap solution at shooting guard position. He signed with other team in Free Agency. Hope he has a good career ahead.

Wesley Johnson: This is one player I can say “All the best for future” only to sound like a gentleman, but I seriously am angry and frustrated for his performances. Wesley is like your old Maruti 1000, it works good in  some very specific conditions and it will make you feel like a genius in Car world, but these days are so far apart and rare that remaining time you decide if to sell it for 100 bucks or just dismantle and sell spare parts. We had already talked about Wesley’s inconsistencies in previous year in a different post. He was given a stable Small Forward position in the team where his focus was to only defend the best player of opposite team and knock down some open 3s as spot up shooter. Being a top 5 pick in draft, this should seem like a cake walk especially considering he is often called the athletic freak. But Wesley took the word inconsistency to a whole new level and he simply was too much expensive for Lakers to invest on even at the league minimum salary. Enough said.

Ed Davis: Ed Davis came in as a low price player [1.1mn$] But again he was the steal of last year’s free agency. He is known as a defensive guy who has very good offence within 10ft distance of the ring. He has very limited play in midrange and long range game but he does enough dirty work of setting up screens and moving off ball that he covers his poor shooting with it. He was one of the most consistent and might be only defensive player in Lakers squad last year. However it became pretty much obvious that he can be a very good bench player unless he develops some bulk to tackle starting centers and power forwards. Lakers wanted to have him back in this year squad at an affordable rate. Ed Davis wanted to come back to Lakers, however he got more lucrative offer from Portland team and Lakers were still unsure if their Plan A/B/C would be successful , so he had to sign with a different team. I wish Ed luck to find more money and playing time in his career.

Having said this lets also look at the players which we are inheriting from previous year’s squad.

Kobe Bryant: The living legend. Read about him in my previous post. I will only tell about the stuffs which he did previous year. Kobe Bryant was both awful and awesome in this last year. Let’s start with awful part. Kobe Bryant, the 2^nd most awesome shooting guard of all time was so lost in shooting department that his field Goal % last yr was 37%. It’s not all, there were games where he had close to 50% field goals too. Whys is that bad, you ask? Coz that means that there were games where the shooting percentages were somewhere in range of 11-15%. That’s out rightly downtrodden. Kobe received a lot of flak for his shooting percentages and more so for his love for mid-range shooting which is scoffed at in today’s NBA . Kobe was also criticized for his isolation plays and selfish ball chucking since he stepped foot on the basketball court but this year it was actually a thing which hurt the team very very much. Now the awesome part. Kobe was coming of 2 career threatening injuries, ACL rupture and Knee Fracture. Not to mention he is 37yrs of age and has 3^rd highest playing time ever at 55700+ mins of playtime over his 20yr career. This means that if he would have quit, people will still be singing praises of his longevity and ironman fitness and his diamond studded career. Kobe being Kobe was adamant to leave on his own terms. He became fit for the training camp. He played with Nick Young and Wesley Johnson in the offseason to impart tem valuable knowledge in footwork, shooting angles, defensive positioning one on one defense and others. He took Julius Randle under his wing and gave him 1^st hand experience of the work ethic which needs to be put to become an all-time great. Now about his awesomeness in actual on court production. He played almost 39 minutes per game last season. How much is that? It’s the number which Tim Duncan hasn’t played since 2009. That’s 6 yrs ago. Also not to mention he was fairly effective in his time playing. He produced 20points per game, 5assists per game and 5 rebounds per game for a sizeable part of the season. Since 2000, Kobe is the only guard to achieve this 6 times, and first time in history with usage rate 30%+ and with age more than 35. To give you a perspective, it’s like asking a 59 yr old salesman to meet some all-time high sales targets while working 12+ hrs a day and yet Kobe delivers it 6 times in last 10 years. That’s phenomenal. Kobe also surpassed Michael Jordan in the most point scored list and now sits at number 3. He also became the only player in NBA history to have more than 6000 assists and more than 30000 points. There were games in which he had triple double ie 10+ points, 10+ assists and 10+ rebounds and there were games in which he had 15+ assists. All the time while being the most used player of the team and being a leader in points per game for the not only for his team but also NBA. This didn’t continue for long as he was injured again with tissue damage in shoulder and he had to sit out for the rest of the season. Another interesting piece of information, Kobe was again selected for the All Star break celebrations but he didn’t play and asked fans to vote for other players as they deserve chance too.

Nick Young: Swaggy P was a shadow of Kobe Bryant this past year. This should have been a good news for everyone except for the fact that Kobe was having one of the worst seasons in his career and Nick was still barely a shadow of that. His shooting percentages were even worse than Kobe and he was injured for most part of season. He played minimal defense and his clashes with coach wasn’t good either. Overall it’s a blessing for him to get another season to prove to Lakers that he still can play for the team. He was discussed throughout the league for trade possibilities. Chances are he might be a trade bait in December-February window. If he has a good season, good, else he will surely be out for next season from Lakers roster.

Ryan Kelly: Ryan Kelly was a very good player under Mike D Antony era. He surprised everyone with his offensive versatility  and mobility to other teams. He had a rough year with injuries. When he finally was healthy, he was played out of position and he struggled very much to adjust. He is now one of the candidates to be traded or to be waived by the team. He has little margin of error this year or his NBA career is over.

Robert Sacre: Let’s be honest. Sacre is known in NBA more for his cheerleading and celebrations than his skills. Expectations with him were very low and he delivered on them. So he didn’t do much to move the needle either in his favor or against. However Sacre showed a lot of improvement from mid-range shooting and defense. If he continues to work more these aspects he can really find a place in this league as a substitution center for the good teams. 

Lakers Draft Analysis 2015

Last Year we looked at how the roster was formed for Los Angeles LAKERS and I had many articles in the pipeline. They didn’t see daylight as my enthu went south, pretty much at the same rate as LAKERS’ season performance.

However I am committed this year to bring even more dedicated effort to my writings and analysis. Planned to get it rolling along with twitter feeds and bring more sense to my airy creativity. Also I would try to scout many more teams and give my perspective on how can they make moves for better future. Without further ado, let’s start with LAKERS this season.

Draft History:

LAKERS ended last season being the 4^th worst team. Yeah, you heard that right. I am rooting for one of the most successful franchise which suffered an all-time worst franchise record and it was still not worst in the league. Even crazy stat is that this year the 2^nd worst team was New York Knicks which has General Manager none other than the legendary PHIL JACKSON, one of the most successful coaches in NBA history and the man behind championship years of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Coming back to topic, LAKERS had 4^th worst record which meant that they  had 27% chances to move into top  3 draft pick selection, almost 31% chance to drop out of top 5. Why is this info necessary? Coz if they fall out of top 5, the draft will go to Philadelphia 76ers. Talk about a risk for a losing organization which is cash strapped and in transformation phase with little power over future to dictate forming super-teams.

After 3 years of misery finally, the basketball gods smiled on LAKERS luck and we jumped 2 places to get 2^nd overall pick in this year’s NBA draft.  LAKERS-nation went mad and crazy and this year’s draft class had franchise changing talent at top 4-5 which meant we do control some part of future in our hands and move ahead with it.

We drafted Julius Randle last year with 7^th pick and he could see only some seconds of action before breaking his tibia bone and being out for the whole season. He had a screw in his foot in his college year which was ok but needed to be removed eventually over a period of time. So LAKERS took opportunity and did 2 operations on Julius randle’s leg and he was pretty much done playwise and health wise last season. However important thing to note, he has all the skill set necessary to be the Power Forward for the future.  For my friends who don’t know much about basketball, its position number 4 and usually donned by the other big guy from centre position.

We then drafted Jordan Clarkson at 46^th pick by buying his rights from Washington Wizards and boy-o-boy did we get away with a robbery. Clarkson became the top shooting guard of the last year’s rookie class and was nominated for the All NBA rookie 1st team. Saying he is shooting guard of future would be a stretch as we have been spoiled by Kobe Bryant and not even Dwayne Wade or Carmelo can convince us that they can replace Kobe. However it’s awesome to see Clarkson play high quality basketball and is being touted as mini Westbrook. Honestly looking at his drive and speed and aggression I won’t deny that either.

Considering we had holes to fill all around the roster and prepare for the future we wanted young guys who can play really well. Over the course of last season we lost games but what I liked most was we got some good pieces for future. We got Tarik Black from Houston Rockets. Tarik can immediately replace Jordan Hill as an energy guy off bench. He is one guy who can get as many rebounds in a game as he can score points in as many minutes he play. You get what i mean to say.

We got Jabari Brown and recruited him to D-League and he was the highest scorer per game in the time he was there. We brought him back and he became lightning in the bottle for bench scoring.

However they are not long term starting options or the core future of the team if we want to continue winning championships in future. Its just like having Roger Binny or Axar Patel to give is quick 15-20 runs when others are building their innings. Again, catching my whim???

Draft This Year:

So here we are, we have shooting guard, power forward who can be high level starters next year in league. We have one guard and other pf/c for bench. So by my calculations we need point guard, small forward and a centre for our future.

This year’s draft was full of guys who can change course of a franchise for years to come. Sadly none of them were small forward. In PF/Centre there was a huge battle between Karl Anthony Towns and Jahill Okafor. In point guard it was DÁngelo Russel and Emanuelle Mudiay. Let me give you brief outlook on these guys as they would be household names in future.

Karl Anthony Towns [KAT]: Karl Anthony Towns Jr. is like ultra-dynamic modern day big. To give you comparison of his game let me say that if he realizes his potential he would be next Kevin Garnett. AWESOME!!! He was in conversation for top 2-3 pick all year but by the end of the year it became pretty evident he would go 1^st overall to Minnesota Timberwlves. WHAT? Kevin Garnett mentoring future Kevin Garnett under the coach who raised and developed Kevin Garnett….Thats freaking Garnettception.  If Timberwolves messed up and passed on him, they would be blamed for eternity for the stupidity and pretty much any of the other 29 team who would be picking 2^nd would snatch KAT. That 2^nd pick was LAKERS and Timberwolves didn’t out-think themselves and KAT went to Minnesota.

Jahill Okafor:  This guy is your throwback to the 90s centre who can demolish a team with his back to the basket post-up game. Player comparison would Tim Duncan.  If you are tired of seeing battles between Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett for being best power forward of their generation, I have a bad news for you. It will continue in the form of Okafor vs KAT. Jahill okafor has the most advanced post-up moves and he can toy around with NBA centres. Yes, he was that talented in college. He has upper and lower body strength to maintain against the NBA level physicality and the height and skills to be elite. The only knock on his game is that he is considered as a poor defender. However I would like to give him some grace marks in this critique. He was very less aggressive on defensive end as his team wanted him to not get in foul trouble. He avged 1.6 fouls per 40 minutes in college career. A Very-Very low number. Also he seems to have good numbers when taken look at advanced statistics. Opponents shot 30% lower than average when being guarded by Jahill okafor at centre. Not to mention he has 7’5’’ wingspan. That means he has ability to alter shots with small jumps and defensive positions and use his length to defend at high level.

 Emannuele Mudiay: This guy didn’t go to college. He had such supreme confidence that he took off to china to play among grown up men. He displayed enough talent and numbers that scouts said he is 2^nd coming of John wall and as aggressive as Westbrook - Another lethal combo. Bad news he suffered leg injury mid-season and had to pull out from the tournament which became a red flag for teams which wanted to draft him. Also he doesn’t have a good outside shooting range.

D’Angelo Russell:  Pop quiz. Who were front runners in 2015 MVP race? Thats right..Stephen curry and James Harden. What would you do if I say there is a prospect who is projected to be as skilful in handles, passes and shooting as Curry and has leadership quality and iso-play like harden. Thats exactly what I said too. SHUT UP AND JUST DRAFT THIS KID. D’Angelo Russell is a wonder kid of this draft class. He has sweet stroke, great handles and leadership qualities. Would it be enough to give you basketball orgasm if I say that scouts and coaches said he has passing ability as awesome as Magic Johnson? Ok. Next candidate please.

Coming back to LAKERS. LAKERS had huge interests in Jahill Okafor. LAKERS is known for its dominant  history of extremely Elite Big players at centre position starting with Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Shaquille O’ Neil, Pau  Gasol. So Jahill Okafor fits the bill perfectly for being the next big legend. Russell on the other hand was acing the draft workouts too. They were torn between the two of the most polished and awesome prospects in recent years.

But we also have another history of Lakers to tell you. LAKERS have a history of drafting the guards and trading for bigs. Right from Jerry west to Magic Johnson to James Worthy to Elgin Baylor to Kobe Bryant were drafted by LAKERS while the ones I mentioned were traded in subsequent years. This years’ free agency had notable names in power forward or centre position like Kevin love, Lamarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, and rumours about Demarcus cousins being available by trade. LAKERS took a bold step and drafted Russel.

Last year we took Jeremy Lin’s dinosaur contract of 15mn$ a year from Houston which we accepted due to deal sweetner of 27^th pick from Houston. We also had our own 34^th pick in 2^nd round of draft. Another pop-quiz. Guesstimate the amount of homework LAKERS did for these 2 late round picks?. Try. Guess some? They auditioned 66 people for these 2 picks!!!! Then they recalled 18 of them again 1 night before draft to zero in on few. WOW!! And I thought I had the most sincere dudes in my class.

LAKERS took Larry Nance Jr at 27^th Pick. Another power forward who is son of NBA player Larry Nance and was defensive player of year for the Wyoming.

At 34^th LAKERS took Anthony Brown, a small forward who specializes in 3 and D. Whats this? Will explain in future post.

Wait, the post is not ever yet. LAKERS also took Robert Upshaw who was undrafted. And it’s too early to say but scouts and general managers already calling him a steal of the draft by LAKERS.

So here we are. After facing one of the worst seasons of history of franchise [not hyperbole, it actually was] LAKERS have jumped back from the dead. They have a solid foundation for future. In future posts I will discuss more on the free agency part of LAKERS plan. But it gives me great comfort that LAKERS have D’Angelo Russel, Jordan Clarkson, Jabari Brown, Anthony Brown, Larry Nance jr, Julius Randle, Tarik Black and Robert Upshaw as future of the franchise.

More about in-depth analysis of LAKERS picks in coming posts. Also will discuss on some of the jargons I use and how I define players. If I have enough time on hand I will also discuss various strategies used by teams offensively and defensively. Till then Adios Amigos.