2012-2013 Lakers in Review #5: Kobe Bryant's Return to Form

Much like at Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness, Hack-a-Shaq will have end of the year reviews.

Same rules apply as grades are handed out according to pre-season expectations vs. actual production. 


Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant

27.3 PPG, 6.0 APG, 5.6 RPG, 10.9 WS, .174 WS/48 on 46.3% shooting and 32.4% shooting from three point range. Grade: A+

2012-2013 in brief: Coming off of one of his most inefficient seasons of his career, Kobe Bryant was excepted to rest a lot more this year with a stacked team, and his offensive load was expected to be greatly diminished with Steve Nash on the roster. He ended up carrying the offense for most of the year, having one of his finest seasons yet, until it ended with a serious trip to the DL. 

2014 status: 1 year left on his contract, earning a massive 30.4 million. 


*********


It just seems like Father Time will never catch up to Kobe. After last season's awfully inefficient season, in which he shot his lowest shooting percentage since his rookie season, it looked like it was going to be all down hill for Kobe at this advanced stage of his career. 

And yet, here we are, talking about what an amazing season Bryant had, completely carrying the team to the playoffs despite defensive struggles from just about everybody and the offense not clicking until late in the year. 

The team started off as a train wreck, losing 4 of the first 5 games under Mike Brown, the final game at Utah producing a great moment in Death Stare history. Bryant was his normal, dominant self, averaging 27.2 PPG, 3.2 APG, 5 RPG while shooting an astronomical 55.9% from the floor. During this stretch, the Lakers averaged 97.2 PPG while allowing 98.8 points; clearly, defense was the problem and Bryant was one of the central issues, playing lazy, gambling defense and being late on rotations, sometimes not rotating at all. That's not to say this is all Bryant's fault, as everybody was playing atrocious defense during this stretch, but Bryant played a part in it. 

And Bryant continued his dominant offensive display, averaging 27.2 points per game, 5.6 assists per game and 5.3 rebounds per game for the whole month of November, yet the Lakers' record was 7-9 at the end of the month. At this point, the Lakers had a major problem with turnovers, leading the league in that category, while playing bad defense. What more could they get from Bryant? He was already doing what 99% of NBA players can't do and the Lakers were still under .500. 

And then Bryant decided to turn the notch up from 10 to 11 for December, completely destroying his defensive assignments, averaging a ridiculous 33.7 points per game, 4.6 assists per game and 5.5 rebounds per game for the whole month of December. It still wasn't working for the team, as they went 7-7 in the month, with a total record of 14-16 at the start of the New Year. This was the month Bryant became the youngest player to ever score 30,000 points. There is very little more one player could do for a team, as Bryant was carrying them, but it still wasn't enough. This month gave me deja-vu to the 2006-2007 Lakers, in which Bryant averaged 35.4 points per game (highest PPG total since Michael Jordan's 37.1 PPG in 1986-1987 season; since 1970, it's the second highest PPG total). Something had to change for the Lakers, starting with turnovers and defense. 

Kobe was very aggressive this season; we saw a lot of this.

Nothing changed in the month of January, as the Lakers started the month with a six game losing streak and were at 2-10 record with major amounts of injuries piling up before something did change. Bryant's scoring diminished a bit, averaging 24.4 points per game for the month, but he starting being a play-maker, not just a dominant scorer. During the 2-10 cold spell, Bryant averaged 4.25 assists. The Lakers then proceeded to win 3 out of 4 to end the month not on Bryant's scoring, but on his passing and playmaking abilities as he averaged a cool 16.5 points per game and an incredible 12 assists per game. The Lakers ended the month 5-11, but with hope for the rest of the season. 

February was entirely different for the Lakers as they cut down on turnovers, played better defense and played better team ball, largely due to Bryant as he averaged 7.3 assists per game for the whole month to go along with his 26.5 points per game total. The Lakers clicked well and ended the month with a 9-4 record, fulling gearing up to make a run at the playoffs. 

Bryant's amazing play didn't end in February as he closed out the final two months of the year putting up some incredible numbers to help power the Lakers to a 20-9 record after the All-Star Break, as Bryant continued putting up 7.5 assists per game to along with his 29.3 points per game down the stretch, playing 41 minutes or more per game during the final 7 games he played (4 times playing all 48 minutes). This would, of course, lead to the achilles injury that Bryant suffered against the Golden State Warriors, ending one of the best individual seasons' Lakers' fans have seen from possibly the greatest Laker of all time. 

In some positive news, Bryant is out of his cast and crutches and is walking. He is eyeing a return during the opener in October. 

#Walking. #crutchesoff
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) June 4, 2013

2012-2013 Lakers in Review #4: Darius Morris

Much like at Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness, Hack-a-Shaq will have end of the year reviews.

Same rules apply as grades are handed out according to pre-season expectations vs. actual production. 


Point Guard: Darius Morris

4.0 PPG, 1.6 APG, 1.2 RPG, 0.2 WS, .016 WS/48 on 38.8% shooting and 36.4% shooting from three point range. Grade: D+

2012-2013 in brief: A second round draft choice the year before, Morris was slated to be a prospect, learning from guards Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant. Forced into playing time by a massive amount of injuries, Morris played bad offensively, but well defensively. 

2014 status: 1 year left on his contract, earning 962K with a team option for two seasons. 


******



At first glance, it looks like Darius Morris had an awful season, shooting under 40% and only averaging 1.6 assists per game; pretty lackluster stuff for a young and promising point guard. But here is where offensive stats don't tell the full story, as Darius Morris had a lot more value on the defensive side of the ball than the offensive side. 

Having only played 48 games (and started 17 of those) it's tough to write too much about the Lakers' top point guard prospect. Despite having a pretty rough season, he was still a major improvement over last season, in which he registered a negative WS/48 (-0.045), a negative total Win Share (-0.2) and had an offensive rating (an estimate of how many points are produced per 100 possessions) of only 84. He managed to up all of those totals over the previous season, bumping his offensive rating up by 12 points to 96. There was some good improvement seen out of him, but some bad habits persisted. 

His tendency to over dribble the ball severely limited offensive possessions and ended up turning them into "Hero Ball" possessions instead of looking for a high percentage shot. Morris frequently would shoot early in the possession, leaving nobody to get the potential offensive rebound, basically costing the Lakers a turnover due to the lost possession. On fast breaks, Morris would get tunnel vision and aim to finish the play himself instead of passing it for an easier look, often resulting in a missed shot or an offensive foul on Morris. Defensively, Morris would often crowd his defensive assignment, even when he shouldn't, and get burned off the dribble (this was noticeable in Earl Clark as well. More than this later). His passing was average and could improve significantly working with Steve Nash. 

Let's hope this never happens again. 

Morris also had a few positives this season as well. His dribble penetration was vastly improved, as getting to the paint was something he did pretty frequently. He would sometimes try to get to fancy with his passes (sometimes leading to a very nice assists, other times leading to a turnover), but displayed improved vision in the paint and increased awareness of the defense around him. His three point shot improved to the point of him taking nearly 4 three point shot attempts per game, making 36% of them. His defense at the point guard position was above average, using his superior 6'4'', 190 pound frame to muscle smaller opponents out of the lane and contest shots against bigger opponents. 

In short: Morris has a lot of potential and showed improvement over last season. If he could get rid of some bad habits, he could become a solid two-guard in the mold of Monta Ellis. 

2012-2013 Lakers in Review #3: Chris Duhon is Still Terrible!

Much like at Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness, Hack-a-Shaq will have end of the year reviews.

Same rules apply as grades are handed out according to pre-season expectations vs. actual production. 


Point Guard: Chris Duhon

2.9 PPG, 2.9 APG, 1.5 RPG, 1.0 WS, .056 WS/48 on 38% shooting and 36% shooting from three point range. Grade: F

2012-2013 in brief: A throw-in player in the massive 4-team trade that sent Andrew Bynum packing and brought an injured Dwight Howard to the Lakers, Duhon was just as bad with the Lakers as he was in Orlando, receiving playing time thanks to injuries to Steve Nash and Steve Blake.  

2014 status: 1 year left on his contract, earning 3.75 million with 1.5 million guaranteed if waived by June 30th, 2013. 

******

There isn't much to say about Chris Duhon. He was awful everywhere he went save for the team that drafted him (Chicago Bulls). This year was no different, as he frequently got burned defensively and didn't bother making up for it offensively, often times making an awful decision in the process, be it a bad pass that led to a turnover or a bad shot attempt.

In his 46 games played this season, Duhon's impact was seen on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, barely getting a .056 WS/48, well below the league average of .100 WS/48. He could do very little right in his 18 minutes per game, not even Free Throws, which apparently aren't so "free" for Duhon, since he had a worse percentage (46.2%) from the "charity" stripe than notable Hack-a-Shaq victim Dwight Howard (49.2%). Let me remind you that Duhon is a point guard and not a physically dominant center with hands that are too big for his own good. A point guard, everybody. 

Why is Chris so happy? He found a legal way to steal money.

Simply stated, nothing went right for Duhon this past season, only getting playing time because of semi-serious injuries to fellow Point Guards Steve Nash and Steve Blake. Yeah, Duhon had his moments, like a string of three pointers made in a row, or a nice pass between a couple of defenders. But for every nice play Duhon made, he made two boneheaded ones to make up for it; this not counting his lackluster defensive play, which largely contributed to the Lakers' falling way behind, really early. 

But, of course, Duhon had to play as the injury bug haunted the Lakers (it has since been passed on to the Dodgers). After everyone thought Nash, Blake, Jodie Meeks and Kobe Bryant would be healthy enough to man the two guard positions for the rest of the year, all four of them ended up going down with an injury in the final stretch of the season, leaving the Lakers to try to fend off the San Antonio Spurs with Duhon, Darius Morris and...D-League MVP Andrew Goudelock, who only played one regular season game for a total of 6 minutes, accumulating nothing but one rebound. 

But at least Goudelock and Morris really stepped up in the playoffs, both of them averaging double digits in points scored per game. Somehow, Chris Duhon managed to get worse in the post season, despite playing 34 minutes per game. 


And yet, somehow, Duhon might actually still be in a Laker uniform next season, with Mitch Kupchak likely to be paranoid about injuries (rightfully so), Duhon seems to be entrenched on the bench, at least until Kobe, Meeks and the Steve's prove to be healthy. 

2012-2013 Lakers in Review #2: Blake's Road to Redemption

Much like at Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness, Hack-a-Shaq will have end of the year reviews. Same rules apply as grades are handed out according to pre-season expectations vs. actual production. 


Point Guard: Steve Blake

7.3 PPG, 3.8 APG, 2.9 RPG, 2.4 WS, .097 WS/48 on 42% shooting and 42% shooting from three point range. Grade: B+

2012-2013 in brief: Coming off one of his least productive seasons, Steve Blake was not exactly a fan favorite after missing a go-ahead basket against the Thunder in the playoffs the year before. Fell to injury soon after taking over the starting role for injured Steve Nash. Had one of his most productive seasons in his career upon return before ending the season injured. 

2014 status: 1 year left on his contract, earning 4 million. 

******

Oh Steve Blake. Why does the common Laker fan dislike you so much? I would have to guess it is because of apparent lack of production since making your way over from Portland, where you would bury the Lakers with three pointers game in and game out. Or missing a wide open go-ahead three pointer during the 2012 playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder which resulted in death threats to Blake and his wife on twitter. Laker fans seem to love to hate Blake, as misplaced and misguided as it is, though a lack of production in his two seasons with Los Angeles has put the spot light and blame firmly on him. 



But you know what? He had a great season for the Lakers, never looking out of place (except for when he was in street clothes) and shooting the lights out from three point range. It didn't matter which one of the three headed coaching monster was in the big chair, Blake produced consistently and was a key component in Los Angeles making the playoffs. 

When in the Princeton Offense with LA's first head coach of the season, Mike Brown, Blake was cool, composed and helped the team learn an unfamiliar offense, running it to near perfection as he averaged over 4 assists per game off the bench under Mike Brown. After Brown was canned, Bernie Bickerstaff was named head coach until they could sort the mess out. Blake only played two games under Bernie before going down with an abdominal injury that required surgery, leaving the Lakers with the thoroughly awful duo of Chris Duhon and Darius Morris manning the point guard position for quite some time; Blake didn't make his return until the end of January (missing most of November, all of December and most of January) and by that time, the Lakers had already dug themselves into a sizable hole. 

Upon return, Blake had to adjust to a whole new system with head coach Mike D'Antoni taking over the reigns for the Lakers. Steve did a wonderful job manning the point guard slot under D'Antoni, keeping turnovers and mistakes down to a minimum, while occasionally having a big game scattered around his normal above average games. All this, without mentioning his substantially better defense than Steve Nash, as he was frequently called upon to play heavier minutes against teams with good point guards and try to make their offensive lives miserable. It worked, with a few notable exceptions (Russell Westbrook), while not giving up much offense at all, thanks to Blake's outside stroke and Nash's non-existence within the pick and roll (and Princeton) offense. It was fairly smooth sailing for Blake and the Lakers after his return; for one thing, it meant substantially less playing time for both Duhon and Morris, a more dynamic offense for the bench unit, improving the bench substantially (some of this can be credited to Earl Clark, his review will come later), ultimately helping the Lakers to a 26-12 record since his return. 

And, of course, the unthinkable happened when Kobe Bryant went down with a serious Achilles injury, leaving the last three minutes of a pivotal game vs. the Golden State Warriors and two more important games vs. the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets up to the Kobe-less Lakers. It seemed the Lakers were destined to miss the playoffs altogether, if not for Steve Blake's heroics, coming up big to end the final three minutes vs. Golden State, surprising nearly everybody by scoring like his fallen teammate and leader in the last two games. During those final three games, Blake averaged 20.3 PPG, 5.3 APG and 5 RPG, while hounding Steph Curry, Tony Parker and Jeremy Lin into having below average games against a team they normally destroy with dribble penetration, thus ensuring the Lakers get post-season basketball. 

Ultimately, Blake had a big impact on Lakers' basketball, providing a calming presence and quality play in substitution for Steve Nash, either off the bench or starting in place of him (Blake finished with 13 starts on the year). Much like Nash, Blake shot the ball exceptionally well, placing 7th on the Lakers' highest shooting percentage from three point land for a season. In short, Steve Blake redeemed himself for his disappointing seasons with the Lakers and missing the biggest shot of his life, while earning his final season of his contract with the Lakers. 

And in typical 2013 Lakers (and Dodgers) fashion, Blake went down with a hamstring injury, dooming the Lakers for good against the Spurs, ending the surprisingly good season for Blake as it began: on the injury reserved list. 

2012-2013 Lakers in Review #1: That's (Not) A Nice Piece of Nash

We saw a lot of this from Steve Nash

Much like at Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness, Hack-a-Shaq will have end of the year reviews. Same rules apply as grades are handed out according to pre-season expectations vs actual production. 

Point Guard: Steve Nash

12.7 PPG, 6.7 APG, 2.8 RPG, 4.3 WS, .127 WS/48 on 49.7% shooting and 43% from 3 point range. Grade: D

2012-2013 in brief: Future Hall of Famer and still considered one of the best point guards in the league, Nash was acquired by the Lakers in a sign and trade deal with the Phoenix Suns. Had one of the most disappointing seasons for a Star player in recent memory.

2014 status: Still has 2 years left on his contract, earning an average of 9.5 million a year.

*****

Remember how excited we were when ESPN reported the Lakers trading draft picks for the future Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash? I certainly do; it was one of the many reasons I finally started my own basketball blog. The expectations for the Lakers immediately went from playoff team to championship contenders. I would like to say that, at some point, Nash lived up to expectations. I simply can't. The season didn't start off well for Nash and the Lakers, falling to the Dallas Mavericks in the first game of the year. Everything just went downhill from here for Nash.

But that wasn't a big deal, it's one game after all. So, Nash took the court the next night vs. rookie Damian Lillard. Not only did Nash get completely destroyed on the defensive end, to the tune of 23 points and 11 assists to a rookie in his first career game. To make matters worse, he also ended up with a non-displaced fracture in his left leg and from there, set the pace for the Lakers as nearly everybody had a stint on the DL.

That injury was originally supposed to sideline Nash for a week or so; he ended up 7 weeks watching hopelessly from the bench. And injury wasn't his only problem. Nash had declined in quickness and speed; his defense was as bad as ever, frequently giving up large amounts of points to opposing players, simply being a defensive liability that forced the Lakers to run and gun more than they needed to on the offensive end. Later in the season, it forced Kobe Bryant to take up Nash's defensive responsibilities as well. This put more strain on the older core of the team that featured a 34 year old Kobe Bryant, 32 year old Pau Gasol, 36 year old Antawn Jamison and, well, you get the point.

I honestly didn't expect anything different from him defensively, this is one of the very few star players to ever have a negative DWS rating for a whole season and is largely known as an awful defensive player, barely able to stay with his own shadow, much less the increasingly speedier point guards of the league, so, basically, Nash performed just slightly below expectations on the defensive end; he is simply atrocious defensively. I do give him credit for trying, night in and night out.

The real reason he got a D from me is because he wasn't the same Steve Nash offensively. His pick and rolls with Dwight Howard were underwhelming, at best. More of his passes were off target, he didn't make the offensive side of the ball easier for this teammates, at least not as frequently as before, while making the defensive side harder for everyone. His assist to turnover ratio was down to 2.6 this season, compared to 3.0 or higher in other seasons. He never had any sort control over the offense when Bryant was on the court (that could blamed on Bryant or Mike D'Antoni).

In short: He didn't take the ball handling load off of Bryant's back. Half way through the year, D'Antoni gave up on running Nash pick and rolls, opting instead to have Bryant do it and have Nash spot up to space the floor. Now, Nash did have tremendous value in this aspect, finishing with the second highest 3 point percentage for one season (43.8%) in Laker history, right behind Vladimir Radmanovic and ahead of Sasha Vujacic and Byron Scott and he would have led the Lakers in all time free throw percentage for one season if he would have shot enough of them at 92% for the year (part Dodger owner Magic Johnson holds the number one and two spots at 91.1% and 90.6% respectively) and Nash did just barely miss the 50-40-90 Club by 0.3%; had he made it, it would have been an unheard of 5th time making the club.

But the Lakers did not trade for a spot up shooter; they traded for one of the best point guards the Game has ever seen and instead got a player who only played 50 games and had a major decrease in assists per game and overall impact on the offensive side of the ball, all while paying him a bit more than 9 million a year.

Nash did have a strong second half, however, averaging 14.7 PPG and 5.9 APG after the All-Star break, before, once again, going down with injury against the Sacramento Kings that sidelined him for the final 8 games of the season before forcing himself to play during the start of the playoffs. Ultimately, the Lakers went 20-8 after the All-Star break, including an incredibly entertaining overtime win against the Houston Rockets on the final game of the season to earn the 7th seed in the West. During the 9 game stretch without Nash (this includes the Kings game, as he only played 1 minute before heading to the locker room), the Lakers went 8-1, showing exactly how much impact Nash ultimately had on the team, which was admittedly, little. The reasons the Lakers won and lost games last year had little to do with Steve Nash and more to do with Dwight Howard's health, Kobe Bryant's offense and team defense, which go hand in hand with Howard's health.

That said, he did not have a bad season by any stretch, scoring at a decent rate for a player on the same team as Bryant, Howard and Gasol. Nash did not have his expected season, however, which is the reason for the D rating. Nash did help the Lakers down the stretch with his shooting, helping the Lakers into the 7th seed of the Western Conference, ultimately to lose in 4 games to the San Antonio Spurs, where he played injured and aggravated an existing hip and hamstring injury, mercifully ending a disappointing season for both Nash and the team.

Laker vs. Heat Tonight is a Pivotal Game for Los Angeles

Big game tonight in the NBA as two star-studded, but very different teams take each other on for the first time this season. Los Angeles has struggled to get everyone healthy and on the court while Miami has been relatively healthy this year. Here are the keys to tonight’s game:

·         Defense.

I can’t stress this enough, the Lakers need to help each other out on the defensive end to have a chance to win tonight. Metta World Peace is a great defender, and has the strength to bang with LeBron James in the post, but he can’t stay with him on the perimeter, as James constantly drives in against bulkier opponents like World Peace. Earl Clark, on the other hand, is too much of a light weight to handle LeBron in the post. Help defense will be required, more than likely from Dwight Howard, but the other players have to rotate to help Howard. Make Miami take jump shots, and not layups and dunks.  Kobe Bryant will likely be covering Dwyane Wade in what is the most balanced matchup of the night and Bryant better be ready for the physical game Wade brings to the table. He’s not Kyrie Irving or Brandon Jennings (speedster point guards with good jumpers), Wade is a whole other beast. I expect Bryant to sag off of Wade, as he is not the best 3 point shooter (Wade knows this and his limited his outside jumpers the past couple of years. He has only taken 39 three pointers this season). Wade is fast, agile and can jump out of the building. Think of him as a 6’4’’ version of James, as he is physically gifted and has great vision and passing ability to accompany his drive heavy offensive game. If at all possible, the Lakers want to make Chris Bosh and Co. beat them, not James or Wade. It’s possible for the Lakers to play the old Kobe Defense teams used to do against them. Let James play one on one with World Peace and don’t send too much help D, while putting the clamps on the rest of James’ teammates, though I seriously doubt they go this route.

·         Rebounding.

The Heat are a notoriously bad rebounding team, they are 30^th in rebounds, and are 5^th in opponent rebounding. The Lakers need to take advantage and get second chance opportunities for themselves, while limiting the second chance opportunities for Miami. The Lakers way out size and out bulk the Heat with Howard in the middle, and complimentary pieces like the 6’10’’ Clark and Pau Gasol (who will play tonight). The Lakers are 8^th in rebounding, and 14^th in opponent rebounding. Los Angeles needs to come out crashing the boards with energy to have a shot at winning.

·         Sink their open jumpshots.

We know the offensive skills of Bryant and Howard will be the main work force for the Lakers tonight, but when Bryant, Howard and Steve Nash pass the ball, the role players need to be prepared to sink their jumpers. World Peace needs to be consistent from deep, as well as Antawn Jamison and to a lesser extent, Clark from mid-range. This extends to free throws as well; the Lakers can’t leave points on the board and expect to beat the defending champions.

·         Pound the ball down low.

Miami is a very undersized team. Their tallest player who gets regular minutes is Bosh at 6’10’’ and there’s no way he could handle Howard in the post, as Bosh only weighs 228 pounds to Howard’s 265 pounds. Miami’s starting center is Joel Anthony, who is also a bit undersized for the position (6’9’’, 245 lb). If the Lakers establish their dominance down low with Howard and Gasol, it could open up the game for shooters like Jamison and Meeks.

·         Last but not least: Limit turnovers.

Against most teams, turnovers will keep the Lakers down, but not out. Against Miami, turnovers will completely take Los Angeles out of the game. Miami is the best fastbreak team in the NBA, mostly on the speed and athleticism of Wade and James. Considering how much older and slower the Lakers are, they can’t afford to make this game a track meet. Grind out possessions and take care of the ball and L.A. has a chance.

The good news for the Lakers is Gasol is coming back tonight, but he will be coming off the bench. His size will be important for rebounding purposes and help defense. Gasol will most likely anchor the second unit when Bryant, Howard and Nash go out of the game late in the first quarter, early in the second quarter. The big story tonight is Kobe vs. LeBron, but if the Lakers let it get to that, they will lose tonight. A team game must be played in order to beat Miami. 

The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same

This has been the whole Lakers' team mentality during this run, save for Nash.

The Lakers have been seemingly cursed this season as they have lost 40 games of injury to their starters alone, but it was usually in balanced fashion, as in one perimeter player and one post player is out. Not for this stretch, as everybody over 6’10’’ not named Robert Sacre is injured right now (Pau Gasol with a concussion, Dwight Howard with a torn labrum, Steve Blake with a torn abdomen and Jordan Hill with loose fragments in his hip which will require season ending surgery). The Lakers are going with the smallest ball possible, as they have had stretches where Metta World Peace and Earl Clark/Antawn Jamison are playing center and power forward and this is a bigger problem than turnovers and bad shots combined. The positive news here is Clark’s and Hill’s Per 36 numbers are nearly identical, the only difference really being how physical Hill is compared to Clark, though Clark is far more versatile, as he can slide to the outside and defense perimeter players (like he did on Wednesday vs. the Spurs, as he took on Manu Ginobili).

Let’s get one thing straight: Defense wins championships. No team has a chance of winning it all if they allow 105+ points per game. It’s the reason why the D’Antoni-Steve Nash led Phoenix Suns never made it past the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers have some excellent man to man defenders with World Peace, Kobe Bryant and Howard but the team’s lack of defensive fundamentals is seriously disturbing; nobody on the team rotates to help the help defender, and on occasions, nobody rotates to help the initial defender. This is the cause of the uncontested shots most opposing teams have in or around the paint. The Lakers lack of trust in each other this late into the season is something to seriously be concerned about and it makes me question whether this team can ever make a deep post season run. D’Antoni may have fixed the offense, or better said, D’Antoni made it easier for Nash to fix the offense (103.2 PPG, good for 4^th in the league) as the Princeton wasn’t a system apt for Nash but D’Antoni hasn’t been preaching defense at all this season, save for the rare occasions when an opposing team makes an early run, only to have D’Antoni call a time out to get everybody organized. The Lakers defense is among the bottom of the league, as they surprisingly don’t allow more points than they score despite their 15-21 record. The Lakers allow 101.7 points per game, good for 26^th in the league, and that’s something that’s not even close to cutting it in this league. The one constant though out NBA history has been: the team that plays defense usually ends up winning it all. It doesn’t matter how offensively oriented the league has become; defense is still the most important aspect of the game.

I am hopefully Howard’s injury won’t keep him out for long, and Los Angeles can get back to having somebody back there to protect the rim, as having World Peace and Jamison back there made for a lot of easy layups and in the paint, uncontested jumpers. Howard’s presence alone is a huge difference maker (reference the last time LA played OKC), as guys generally change their shots as to try not to get swatted into the 10^th row. And while Gasol may be softer than marshmallows, he still provides some defensive value as his length is still there to help contest shots (though I still insist on trading him while he has value, especially now that Earl Clark as made a name for himself and Artest is reverting to last year’s horrid form). The Lakers are very fixable because of the talent the team has, but it won’t get done until the team itself does some serious soul searching and starts to work hard on the defensive end.

As an end note, kudos to Howard about a month ago for calling Kobe on his free safety style defense. Bryant told him not to do it again; Howard said he would do it again if Kobe didn’t rotate. It takes some serious guts to tell Kobe what to do on his own team, definitely the make of a Franchise Player.