The OtherArena

[Steve Yohe]

If we get to being a serous problem to one of these contending teams....they are just going to foul Ball. As a point, he has no value if he can't shoot FT. You have to bench him late in games. You can just let him miss FTs.

They need to get that problem over before anything else. He should be shooting at least 500 a day. Forget the 3's. A major point guard has to shoot in the 80%s---Yohe

[JAG]

Win came because Grizz really, really suck, but Kuzma is fucking nails.

Lonzo tainted a great floor game with those two bricks at the end.

If Ingram comes back, they can win next four.

Jagdip

[jdw]

[jdw]

[Steve Yohe]

They have been tanking for years. Gasol is someone I thought the Lakers might go for, when James says no. I hope not. If we can't get two superstars, I wouldn't mind signing Lopez for one year & trying again for a FA the next year. The younger players seem to like him.

I don't know if they like having Thomas around or not. He's good for points at times & he shoots FT well late in games. But he yells at other player. A game or so ago, Lopez missed a hard dunk....and Thomas started yelling at him about something. Lopez didn't like it, but tried to not react much, then Lopez looked over to Ball & smiled....and ball, a guy who never reacts...rolled his eyes.

Ball isn't a finisher either. He has to make some lay ups & stop passing when he has a shot near the basket. Everyone is playing him to pass. If he misses there is a good chance he'll get fouled.....wait...he can't shoot FT!!

HE is just going to have to learn to shoot. He'll have an extra month this summer.

[guren]

Interesting Twitter thread by Peter Zayas (@LakerFilmRoom) about Lonzo in the PnR.

THREAD: Lonzo is starting to make the right reads & decisions on the PnR. He has tremendous instincts & court vision, but I think that’s different than reading & reacting. His feel for the game is sometimes confused for his understanding of it, which is still developing. 1/

Look at how smooth he was on those pull-ups tonight. You can’t simply decide to do that one day and have the footwork down. I’ve seen the pre-game/post-practice work that he puts in on exactly those shots. So what has the problem been? His decision-making. 2/

Like many young players, Lonzo has shot selection issues. It’s just on the opposite end of the spectrum. Those exact shots that he took & made tonight have been available all season, and he’s passed them up, to the detriment of the team. He was making the wrong decision. 3/

Plays like that are where “feel for the game” starts to diverge from understanding it. There are 6 or 7 ways of defending PnRs, & there are specific ways to beat all of them. A vet G will identify the coverage & know how to beat it, because of how many times they’ve seen it. 4/

Young guards make the wrong read far more often, and this is a big reason why their eFG%’s are usually terrible as rookies. It’s not a matter of talent or athleticism, it’s that they used a hammer when they should’ve been using a wrench. They decided on the wrong tool. 5/

So back to Lonzo. He’s further behind the curve than most young guards on ball screens. He ran fewer ball screens at Chino Hills & UCLA than his counterparts did in their basketball upbringing, by a significant amount, especially where he was the guy who needed to score. 6/

It’s counter-intuitive to think of Lonzo as a bad decisionmaker, but he has been on ball screens throughout the year. He’s overpenetrated or passed up the pull-up against drop coverages, made the skip pass when the weak side wing didn’t tag, etc. 7/

All of those things pointed to him anticipating the defense rather than reading it. And it makes sense that a guy w/such a great feel for the game would try to rely on his instincts. But what we saw tonight was him reading the defense, and then choosing the right tool. 8/

After enough reps, Lonzo’s instincts will kick back in & he’ll able to read pick & roll coverages faster than other guys do. He still has a lot of technical work to do, but him being able to read the defense to determine what tool he should use is just as important. /end

[JAG]

I ain’t worried about Lonzo. He’s simply too good at basketball to not figure the shooting out.

Lonzo is better than Rubio was as a rookie who was a year older and had extensive experience with the Spanish National team.

The comp is Jason Kidd and Lonzo compares favorably.

Jagdip

[corrado]

Isaiah out the rest of the season:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22943800/isaiah-thomas-surgery-los-angeles-lakers-interested-new-deal

So he'll be back only if they fail to get the big options, which seems likely.

[JAG]

Win came because the Mavs really, really suck. :)

Nice to have Ingram back. Randle has stopped passing. Ech.

Jagdip

[guren]

The Mavs were down 92-86 with 5:18 left, so to ensure there would be no damaging comeback, they played this fivesome until the end of the game:

- Kyle Collinsworth
- Jalen Jones
- Johnathan Motley
- Aaron Harrison
- Maximilian Kleber

That lineup is a Max Kleber away from being completely unknown to me, and I am a League Pass subscriber who follows the league fairly closely.

I hope Lonzo's knee is okay.

glenn

[Steve Yohe]

Tank.

[jdw]

Need to beat the Kings tonight. It's playoff teams/contenders after that, with the exception of the final game if the Clippers get eliminated.

[JAG]

What a win, what a win, what win.

Kuzma getting 30 after Luke benched Randle in the 4th was quite something.

Wish Lonzo and Ingram were getting this valuable experience, but I’ll take Kuzma, Hart and Zubac getting it done.

Jagdip

[jdw]

Nutty close to the season. Job to the Bucks and Kings at home, then beat the Spurs.

34 wins, just one away from 35. If we lost to the Spurs, 35 likely would have been out the window.

[Steve Yohe]

Cool Statue of Baylor....but I don't remember him being left handed.

Elgin did not invent the jump shot.

Yohe