2017 strategy ideas thread

[bladefd]

We are losing winnable games like tonight. We were playing so well first 3 quarters and then we get a dumb Lopez turnover followed by a terrible off the dribble 3 by Lonzo followed by another garbage turnover elsewhere (was it also Lopez again? Can't remember) and another bad Lonzo shot. Then we go 4 minutes without a point by anyone. Ingram comes in a bit too late imo into 4th quarter. Couple more turnovers, which prompted Luke to bench all our starters. Our bench brings us back but a bit too late to matter.

These turnovers are killing us. Horrendous. We need to stop passing so much directly into traffic. That is just dangerous, reckless and absolutely unnecessary. Elite teams like the Warriors don't do this. The potential benefits of dangerous passes are simply not worth the risks. The Lopez turnover attempt to Nance (or was it Randle?) was so damn bad in 4th quarter, killing the momentum we had.

Lonzo needs to stop with the heat checks late in games. This has to stop unless if it's an open shot. Don't force the issue and continue to play the facilitator role. I think Lakers truly need to work with Ball and tweak the jumper. It looks scary enough to take us out of rhythm and gives opponents extra possessions to capitalize on.. Jumper isn't completely broken and neither is the jumping motion - just the angle of the release being across the left is an issue. I don't know how to fix it but a shooting coach should have some good ideas.

Clarkson is streaky shooter. I don't think he is our long term backup 2. Josh Hart seems to provide same stuff as Clarkson based on what I saw today. We need a 3pt shooter off the bench. I think we should try to move JC for a mid first rounder. We need that badly to become a shooter.

[dd24]

I really like what Kuzma has been doing so far though. I'm not that concerned about Ball. It's not like he's taking a ton of shots. Rookie PG's are always going to have a few turnovers and make some bad decisions. I think it's good they are in these games. Ingram is still not impressive. Very disappointed there. KCP didn't get as involved as he should have I think too. He needs to step it up on nights like tonight.

[tamaraw08]

We are losing winnable games like tonight. We were playing so well first 3 quarters and then we get a dumb Lopez turnover followed by a terrible off the dribble 3 by Lonzo followed by another garbage turnover elsewhere (was it also Lopez again? Can't remember) and another bad Lonzo shot. Then we go 4 minutes without a point by anyone. Ingram comes in a bit too late imo into 4th quarter. Couple more turnovers, which prompted Luke to bench all our starters. Our bench brings us back but a bit too late to matter.

These turnovers are killing us. Horrendous. We need to stop passing so much directly into traffic. That is just dangerous, reckless and absolutely unnecessary. Elite teams like the Warriors don't do this. The potential benefits of dangerous passes are simply not worth the risks. The Lopez turnover attempt to Nance (or was it Randle?) was so damn bad in 4th quarter, killing the momentum we had.

Lonzo needs to stop with the heat checks late in games. This has to stop unless if it's an open shot. Don't force the issue and continue to play the facilitator role. I think Lakers truly need to work with Ball and tweak the jumper. It looks scary enough to take us out of rhythm and gives opponents extra possessions to capitalize on.. Jumper isn't completely broken and neither is the jumping motion - just the angle of the release being across the left is an issue. I don't know how to fix it but a shooting coach should have some good ideas.

Clarkson is streaky shooter. I don't think he is our long term backup 2. Josh Hart seems to provide same stuff as Clarkson based on what I saw today. We need a 3pt shooter off the bench. I think we should try to move JC for a mid first rounder. We need that badly to become a shooter.

It just seems to me that Luke's team was last in defensive rating last year that he was so embarrassed and that he is REALLY FOCUSING on defense this year. My guess is they spend so much time watching extensive film sessions and doing a ton of defensive drills, less focus on offense= more confusion on where to go and when to pass etc. They seemed to have slowed down the pace which led to lesser 3pt attempts (from 26 to now 22) the past 2 games. When this happens, the opponents' defense is set and it's harder to get open shots, less shots=less rhythm. This team is dead last in 3ptFG% at under 28%. and28th in turnovers per game at 19.2.
On the bright side, They are currently 11th in defensive rating despite playing kids like Ball, Kuzma and Ingram.
It's an uphill climb when you have a very young core. There's going to be a ton of mistakes unlike veteran teams. Look at the Clips, they lost CP3, Redick and Crawford but they are still there among the top right now bec of few turnovers, currently ranked 4th, while the Grizz with not much firepower too has the fewest at 13.8
You mentioned the need for 3pt shooting. BOTH KCP AND Lopez are really struggling right now. I was skeptical at KCP bec he's been up and down every year..

[bladefd]

Mehh, Lakers had too many chances to take the lead vs Celtics, but they didn't want this enough. I saw pretty good defense tonight against the top team so far in the league.

-Bogut playing in first half made no sense to me. Waste of turnovers and minutes that should have gone to Randle. Wish Nance was around - Bogut wouldn't have played at all if Nance was here. Nance is one of our best defenders, pretty good rebounder and good at blocking out, which is what we needed tonight
-Lakers need to play more team ball. More ball movement. Had so many opportunities to take this game but we failed..
-ingram was balling - I wish we went to him more
-Ball played solid defense. I won't comment on his shooting because we already know his deficiencies in shooting
-Randle should have played more minutes.. He was playing pretty good tonight. I think Luke dropped the ball there. Randle only played 21 minutes??.......
-way too many turnovers in 1st half. We were better in 2nd half from turnover perspective but stuck playing catch up the rest of the game.

Looked promising overall though for a team nobody expected to win over 35 games (haters have Lakers winning same number of games as last year). Not bad against the best team so far and the best defensive team this season. I didn't expect us to win this game. Lakers looking good moving forward!

[dd24]

There's one simple thing that not only puts the Lakers in a good position to win this game but the other ones lately as well. It's Lonzo's shooting. It's been terrible. He knocks down shots and it changes everything. He's a rookie so I'm not freaking out like some. He has a ton of pressure on him and his father put a gargantuan bulls-eye on him. He'll get through it. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later.

Larry Nance Jr. I don't worry about being gone too much. I think Kuzma should be the starter. I agree about Randle's minutes though. He does deserve more. He's been playing well. He's been one of the Lakers most efficient players. He keeps putting up good numbers and some games he's not even playing 20 minutes. The same goes for Clarkson. He's been scoring the ball very efficiently. He just has a lot of games he doesn't get much for minutes.

[bladefd]

Posted this on general boards but too many trolls...

I don't like the idea of having 2 completely separate lineups.. No other teams do it like that. We have Ball, KCP, Ingram, Nance, Lopez and then Clarkson, Hart, Brewer, Kuzma, Randle. Don't need to be that deep. I would look to upgrade to 9 deep over the summer from 10 deep tbh.. Don't need 2 separate lineups playing because you don't establish stability that way.

This summer, I would let Lopez walk. I would trade Clarkson for a late 1st rounder. I would keep Randle for off the bench for the right price. We badly need to hope OKC doesn't work out and can get PG13 on max deal. I would let Brewer walk along with Ennis and Bogut unless if we can get a 2nd rounder for those expiring contracts together.

I only want the following to return.. Ball, Ingram, Kuzma, Nance, Hart, KCP+Randle for the right money.. We are sadly stuck with Deng for 1 more year next year. Everyone else can go.

[dd24]

I would say maybe the Lakers are stuck with Deng. There's a possibility there's a team out there that likes Randle and would do a trade in a package for him. I've seen those rumors out there. I actually think Randle is a lot better than people give him credit for. He just gets so little playing time that he doesn't have the numbers that make people realize it. He'd nearly put up a double double if he was getting more minutes.

[bladefd]

I would say maybe the Lakers are stuck with Deng. There's a possibility there's a team out there that likes Randle and would do a trade in a package for him. I've seen those rumors out there. I actually think Randle is a lot better than people give him credit for. He just gets so little playing time that he doesn't have the numbers that make people realize it. He'd nearly put up a double double if he was getting more minutes.

I think someone will take Deng as an expiring contract in his last season, but that's not until the end of next season.

I really didn't like what I saw yesterday. Player rotations were questionable. Clarkson was out there too late into the game not doing much, Ingram was brought back out too late, Randle should have been brought out sooner - did he even play in the first half? Why do we have to play the entire bench squad together?

Why don't we have a lot of ball movement? Why do we force things? Randle especially forces plays, which end up becoming offensive fouls or turnovers too often. Usually Ingram is good in that department but not yesterday. Huge turnovers by Ingram yesterday due to forcing things. Ball had back to back bad fouls at key moments in last 3 mins of the game yesterday - horrendous costly plays.

We are too deep tbh.. I would rather have 9 better players than 10 deep. Multiple bench players shouldn't be averaging almost as many minutes as our starters -- Clarkson and Randle average under 1 min less than Lopez and Nance, Kuzma is around there too since Nance returned. 3 bench guys averaging as many minutes as 2 of our starters

[EllEffEll]

I'm over it.

I'd rather the Lakers sign Smush Parker, Sasha Vujecic, and Slava Medvedenko to play the rest of the season, than to have the Lonzo Ball debacle continue.

And, I'd be willing to let Jim Buss play GM for a month if I have to spice up the deal.

D-Lo was a far better PG than Lonzo will ever be.

He will never lead this team anywhere near a championship, and will only serve to make the Lakers continue to be a team that no one wants anything to do with.

Let's just admit that we were fooled, got caught up in the putrid hype, and made a big mistake. The sooner the Lakers move on from Lonzo Ball, the sooner they can seek to rebuild the respect and trust the team once had.

[bladefd]

I'm over it.

I'd rather the Lakers sign Smush Parker, Sasha Vujecic, and Slava Medvedenko to play the rest of the season, than to have the Lonzo Ball debacle continue.

And, I'd be willing to let Jim Buss play GM for a month if I have to spice up the deal.

D-Lo was a far better PG than Lonzo will ever be.

He will never lead this team anywhere near a championship, and will only serve to make the Lakers continue to be a team that no one wants anything to do with.

Let's just admit that we were fooled, got caught up in the putrid hype, and made a big mistake. The sooner the Lakers move on from Lonzo Ball, the sooner they can seek to rebuild the respect and trust the team once had.

Nah, that's overreaction man lol.

Lonzo does everything right except shoot and occasional boneheaded plays. The latter is just a rookie thing I am not concerned about. It's the shooting that makes me nervous. It's more than a slump in his shooting as we were all hoping.

It makes me very nervous moving forward if he can't improve his shooting. Even his freethrow shooting is abysmal, which shows the issue is not on any opponent playing good defense or slow release being easy to block or Lonzo's confidence. It's the shooting style. He shot 67% in college from FT line too.

How the heck did he shoot 41% from 3pt line and 73% from 2pt line for 55% overall but only 67% from FTs?? with that shooting style too

[dd24]

I was concerned about moving Russell a bit too. He was playing very good in Brooklyn before the injury. Looks like he could end up being an all-star caliber player as well. I'm not as down on Ball as some though. We were worried about Russell as a rookie too. Ball is rebounding and passing better right now. PG is one of the hardest spots to adjust to in the NBA. I didn't expect him to come in and light it up. Right now it seems like most of it is a mental thing too. It seems like it will work itself out. I never viewed him as the guy that would get a ton of points when they really needed them. I don't know if he will ever average 20. But if he can get 15 to 18 he's going to end up with a ton of double/double's and even triple/double's. Not to mention he gets so much negative attention because of his father.....

What I am liking right now is Ingram is scoring the ball better. His shot is still concerning, but he's finishing at the rim much better now.

[bladefd]

Here's a strategy.. Hope for OKC to fail big time with a quick 1st round exit. That gives us a perfect chance of landing Paul George! :P

[kkinchen]

https://youtu.be/z_-OH5YQamM

Let's add this guy to our backcourt. Mike James would fit well with Clarkson and the rest of our reserve guards.

[bladefd]

I like what I'm seeing so far! Even though it's against average and scrub teams. Still some dangerous streakiness to our offense and risky tendencies we must get over, but I like us getting defensive stops. Defense hides some of our offensive blunders and mistakes leading to dumb turnovers, but that's kind of positive imo. Defense is what we lacked last season, and we fixed that at the detriment of our offense. I'm okay with that. We are a better team this year mainly due to our defense being better.

Everything positive can be further solidified this summer and our weaknesses can be bolster. I don't know how our chances of landing PG13 look as the season progresses, but we just have to be patient to see how OKC perform in playoffs. Cousins' injury was a huge blow - it will cost him some money, and I don't see the Lakers going after him as hard as healthy Cousins. It looks like Randle may be back in the Lakers long-term planning with his spectacular performance of late. Lopez is gone, KCP is hard to say at this point, I'm still hoping we can trade Clarkson after his recent play.

[dd24]

Cousins will still get a max deal. The injury isn't going to make that not happen. It's a terrible set back, but he will get paid. A lot of us have said that we don't necessarily want to see Randle go. It kind of sounds like the Lakers front office thinks the same. It could just be they are setting up the fan base for a major let down chasing the top free agents again though. If they can't sign superstars they will be forced to resign the same guys and hope for different results (which won't really happen). It could be they see things where it doesn't matter who they sign, they aren't getting past Golden State so they may as well build through the draft.