State of the Lakes (12/21/13)

The latest news in Laker land is that Kobe Bryant is again out of action. This time it was a fracture to his left knee (same leg as the Achilles). A timetable of 6 weeks has been given for the fracture to heal. Then he'll need to rehab and recondition himself. In reality he'll probably be back on the court in 8-10 weeks. Many are urging him to sit out the year, but that just isn't in his personality. He should take his time though.

LAL 97 - OKC 122
LAL 88 - CHA 85
LAL 100 - ATL 114
LAL 96 - MEM 92
LAL 104 - MIN 91

During Bryant's time back the Lakers went 2-3. He was adjusting to playing again, and the team was adjusting to playing with him. Additionally the team lost all of it's point guards to injury. Naturally there was a bit of an iffy period where the team was learning a new style of play. They were coming along slowly with a ton of turnovers, and their 3pt % dropped.

Now with Kobe out again the team can go back to their run and gun play style. That's not to say they'll be better without Kobe, but there will be no major adjustment period. They absolutely need him and their point guards back at full strength to make any noise this year. For now though it's fun to watch the young guys get up and down the court with reckless abandon. See highlights of last night's game for an example.

The Lakers also signed a 22 year old pg named Kendall Marshall. He has room to grow, but he's really just a low risk signing to fill in the gap till our other point guards are healthy.

Strengths: Courtvision, Floor general, size (6'4.5")
Cons: Shooting, Athleticism, Defense

Basically anything that he contributes is a plus. It shoould be fun to watch and see if Mitch Kupchak has discovered another diamond in the rough.

The Lakers will play the Warriors on the road tonight. If they can contain 2 out of 3 of Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and David Lee then they'll have a good shot at winning the game.

State of the Lakes (12/13/13)

You know what word I hate to write? Injuries. Along with "got hurt", "had to sit out", and "when he gets back". After last season, I'm just really tired of typing them and I know you're tired of reading it. -_-

We'll talk about the games played first and then get into the injuries. *sigh*

LAL 106 - SAC 100
LAL 94 - POR 106
LAL 108 - PHO 114

With Kobe back the Lakers are essentially starting their offense from square 1 again. He missed all of training camp, and there are tons of guys on the team he's never played with before. Additionally he's still getting used to just playing basketball again period for the first time in 8 months.  The good news is physically he looks well. He looked really rusty in his first game back, but the second game gave him much confidence and he's returning to the player we know and love.

On a related note, all three of the Lakers point guards are out with major injuries. Normally this would be bad, but Kobe could perform some of the duties. This time it's really bad because Kobe isn't himself yet and he'll be asked to be pg as well. It's a tough task. To make matters worse the Lakers are unable to sign a player to a 10 day contract until January. They definitely don't want to sign some bench player to just fill a hole, and then be stuck with his contract later.

They may be in fact forced to do that if things get really bad. But for now look for them to stand pat and until things get more desperate. Some of the names they're looking at are familiar: Duhon, Morris, and Barbosa. No world beaters there.

It's not looking good for the next month or so. Point guards are crucial to a team's success. That is especially true in D'Antoni's offense.  We have 0 of them. So hang tight and enjoy the ride as much as possible lol.

The Lakers play OKC on the road tonight at 5pm.

State of the Lakes (12/3/13)

Welcome to the new format! I hope you enjoy it since I won’t have time to do posts for every game anymore.  The plan is to bring you the latest Lakers news and analysis on a weekly basis.  Since it’ll only be once a week I’ll add more speculation and rumors then I usually do to keep it interesting.

Games since last update:

LAL 100 – SAC 88

LAL 111 – WAS 116

LAL 99 – BKN 94

LAL 106 – DET 102

LAL 108 – POR 114

Overall the Lakers are back to .500 basketball with a record of 9-9.   After Jordan Hill had his breakout week, Jordan Farmar and Wesley Johnson took a turn.  Swaggy P also showed up with some nice production off of the bench in the last few games.  This Lakers team has established an identity finally.  They don’t really have a rim protector so they try to pressure the ball with their athletic 2nd unit.  They’ll break whenever they can, and they generate open looks from 3 by good ball and player movement.  They are in the top 3 in the NBA in 3 point makes and attempts.  The team was definitely on an upswing, winning 5 of their last 7 games, however the immediate future is starting to look grim with the recent rash of injuries they’ve suffered.

Injuries:

Kobe – Still out; some speculation suggests this Friday for a return. Sometime closer to Christmas is probably more likely

Nash – Supposed to return to practice today to see how his body feels; some fans are hoping for his retirement to get his salary off the books. I think he may be done, but will try to give it a go all season long.

Farmar – Suffered a tear in his hamstring in Sunday’s game. Should be out at least 1 month.  It’s horrible timing as he was playing really well and the team needs him desperately.

Blake – Hyper-extended right elbow. He’s been able to play through it since last week. Hopefully these 4 days off will make it more tolerable

Pau – Mild ankle sprain. His body has been taking a beating.  The Lakers need him healthy since he does so many things on the court.

Kaman - Bad back which has caused him to miss the last several games.

Hill - Another ankle sprain victim like Gasol. He hasn't had the same energy lately in games so this is likely bothering him.

What’s next?:

The Lakers might look into signing another point guard given the injuries to the only 3 they have on the roster.  A trade is also always a possibility albeit it is less likely. 

Also, there was a lot of chatter about Kobe’s new contract that was signed last week.  People had pipe dreams of signing LeBron and Melo at the max with Kobe taking a big pay cut.  Well LeBron was never coming and Melo is not worth the max in my opinion.  Here’s what it basically means; the Lakers see Kobe as one of their max slots and they may not be eyeing the 2014 free agent class. They could very well be targeting Love in 2015 and Durant in 2016 along with several other players.  Stay patient Laker fans…