If you ask five people what’s wrong with the Lakers, you’re likely to get five different answers. That’s what happens when a team with that caliber of talent opens the season 0-2. There are simply too many things to pick at for there to only be one thing wrong.
That said, the Lakers issues aren’t just these individual problems that exist in a vacuum. They are not compartmentalized where if one thing is fixed they can check it off a list and move on to the next thing.
No, the Lakers problems are interconnected where one thing is done wrong and that leads to another issue popping up and then it just compounds from there. Worse yet, there’s a chicken and the egg nature to these problems in that it’s actually quite difficult to suss out where their issues begin and where they end.
Is it the much maligned offense?
Is it the underperforming defense?
Actually, it’s both and the problems at each end of the floor are fueling each other.
On offense, the implementation of the Princeton has had its hiccups. Steve Nash has looked more like Steve Blake, getting rid of the ball early and often in possessions and spectating off the ball for long stretches. Furthermore, players have looked confused on what their next move should be, too often thinking about where to go rather than reading and reacting to the defense.
The Lakers have also been too slow in how they’re attacking on offense. They’re not pushing the ball and they’re slow to get into their sets. This is leading to too many possessions where they have to execute well in the half court — which they’re not doing well — and that’s leading to long misses, turnovers, and generally uneven play.
These offensive woes are then generating many of their defensive problems.
When the Lakers are forced into taking a long jumper their opponent is grabbing a long rebound and attacking them in the open court to make them defend in transtion. Because the Lakers are older and not very quick to change ends, they’re getting taken advantage of more often than not. When the Lakers turn the ball over, this lack of transition D is amplified and it is almost guaranteed that their opponent is going to get a shot at the rim or the type of rhythm pull up jumper that teams thrive on.
Even when the Lakers aren’t trying to defend in transition, they’re suffering on that end of the floor. Their lack of cohesion on D is seen clearly on missed rotations to the rim, the surrendering of offensive rebounds because they’re not helping the helper, haphazard closeouts on shooters, and poor pick and roll coverage.
And these defensive woes only fuel more of the Lakers problems on offense. When teams score, the Lakers are forced to inbound the ball and it slows down their entire attack. This also allows the defense to get set and, in some cases, set up full court pressure to further keep the team from playing at a good tempo. The result is the Lakers starting possessions halfway through the 24 second clock which limits their ability get comfortable in their offense.
And right back to square one we go. It’s like a downward spiral of poor execution.
There’s no simple fix here either. The team can start by playing better defense, but that will need to be aided by crisper offensive execution, better floor balance to defend against fast breaks, and cutting down on the turnovers that allow teams to score easy baskets. They can start to refine their offense, but to do so they’ll need to start getting stops on defense so they can push the ball up the floor and get into their sets faster. They will also need to figure out how they want to run the Princeton and get more out of Steve Nash in the process.
At this point, though, the Lakers need to start to improve somewhere. Because just like there’s a domino affect in how bad plays begat bad plays, the inverse will also be true. For their sake, it better start soon.
