The Lakers Have Not Been Rebounding At All

I can't say the Lakers have been a disappointment this season; between all of the injuries to their best players and Mike D'Antoni's insistence on not placing Pau Gasol in a position where he can succeed, I think the Lakers are actually doing better than their preseason expectations. In fact, through 30 games, I expected something closer to 10 wins than 15 wins. The Lakers currently sit at 13-17 and are somehow only 4 games behind the Dallas Mavericks for the 8th seed in a brutal Western Conference, and it's not hard to see why: they aren't rebounding this year. Or scoring, or playing defense, but that's for another post entirely.

D'Antoni, has insisted on playing smaller ball lineups, often times having Wesley Johnson and Shawne Williams split time at power forward, which would be fine if Williams wasn't such a bad player. And if you think I'm being harsh on Williams, an 8.6 PER says otherwise. The Lakers are currently 14th in rebounding, averaging 42.7 rebounds per game, a far cry from last season, when they were ranked 4th with 45 rebounds per game. Of course, it doesn't help that last years' rebounding leader, Dwight Howard, went to Houston; for as much hate as Howard received for his free throw shooting and limited low post moves, he was still an elite rebounder and defensive player. These numbers aren't much of a problem; being ranked 14th isn't the worst thing in the world, however the Lakers have been giving up an astronomical amount of opponent rebounds, giving up 47.7 rebounds per game, good for 29th. This becomes an even bigger problem when you take into account the Lakers defensive rebound woes; they are giving up the 2nd most offensive rebounds in the league with a whopping 12.8 per game. It's no wonder the Lakers are giving up averages of 47.5 points in the paint (28th) and 14.7 second chance points (27th). And, in case you missed it, the Lakers lost to the Jazz on Friday by giving up an offensive rebound and put back to Derrick Favors.

More often than not, teams will need to rebound to be successful; it's no coincidence the league's top teams also tend to be in the Top 10 in rebounding. There are exceptions, of course, like the 8-21 Philadelphia 76ers being 7th in rebounds, or the defending champion (and 23-7) Miami Heat being dead last in rebounds with 36.5 (!) per game. You can get away with not rebounding when you have LeBron James on your team. The Lakers do not have a player who can bail them out and will have to wait for another while until the return of Kobe Bryant to see whether or not he can still be that player. In the meantime, the Lakers absolutely need to make use of their fundamentals; you can't commit mistake after mistake and expect to win with this roster, especially when you have Bryant and Steve Blake on the shelf for 6 more weeks, Steve Nash out indefinitely and Pau Gasol dealing with an upper respiratory infection.

What can the Lakers do? For starters, play Jordan Hill more than 20 minutes a game. Hill averages 13.6 rebounds per 36 minutes and is ranked 17th in PER with an astonishing 22.06 PER. Hill currently ranks ahead of Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Tim Duncan, and John Wall in PER, just to name a few. Hill is up to a .207 WS/48, which is crossing into elite territory; for reference, Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins are largely considered the NBA's two best centers and they don't measure up to Hill's WS/48; Howard has a .183 WS/48 and Cousins has a .163 WS/48. Obviously, these two players are completely different to Hill, who has a limited offensive skill set, but does convert 58.5% of his shots and rarely takes a bad shot. Cousins and Howard can be counted on to consistently score in the low post, while Hill is a bit of a wild card, sometimes looking very good and sometimes having some cringe worthy moments. Nonetheless, Hill is an elite rebounding presence and would help the team's rebounding woes almost immediately.

D'Antoni can also consider benching Shawne Williams and going with a bigger lineup with Chris Kaman and Ryan Kelly. Kaman is averaging over 11 rebounds per 36 minutes and gives the Lakers some size they have sorely lacked. Kelly isn't all that good of a rebounder, the stretch 4 out of Duke can shoot the lights out from beyond the arch, however and stands at 6'11''. Both of them provide more value than Williams, who is only making 31% of his three point attempts, which is kind of the only reason he's supposed to be out there. The Lakers can't be fixed in one day; this roster is a mess between the injuries and D'Antoni's coaching philosophy going against his best players' abilities, but they do have the personnel to help diminish those problems and make them more competitive. I only hope D'Antoni can tweak his coaching style around his players, otherwise, this is going to be the worst season in recent Lakers' history.

Chris Kaman Scouting Report

Many Laker fans are familiar with newest Laker center Chris Kaman for his time with the Los Angeles Clippers, however he hasn't played for a Los Angeles team for the past two years, and some may have forgotten about him. Whether you know a lot of about him or not, here's my scouting report of the newest Lakers:

A part of the 2003 NBA draft class, considered one of the best draft classes of all time, rivaling the 1984 and 1996 draft classes that included Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, respectively, Kaman has built a solid career for himself. The 6th overall pick of that draft, Kaman is one of eight all star players of that draft class, averaging 18 points per game and 9 rebounds per game in his all star season. Having a career 12 points per game and 8 rebounds per game stat line, one can see right off the bat that Kaman is a solid, if unspectacular, player. Coming in at 7 feet, 268 pounds, Kaman has ideal size for a center, yet he runs the floor very well on both offensive fast breaks and defensive fast breaks. The one time All-Star center has the proper length to contest shots in the paint, and the proper weight to be effective on the low block. Possessing excellent foot work down low, Kaman has a few go-to post moves, including a good fade away jump shot, a solid array of righty and lefty jump hooks and a solid up and under move and is a capable finisher near the rim, with the ability to finish well with both hands.

Kaman has a very Al Jefferson like offensive game. Although he is a good player to have in the post, recent years have shown Kaman has a very nice jumper from 16 feet to the three point line, as he made 52% of those just last season. Though he isn't a three point shooter, Kaman does a very good job of stretching the floor with his mid range jump shot; this should help Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant in the low block as teams likely will hesitate to commit to the double teams with Kaman on the court. Kaman is also a capable pick and roll and pick and fade player, thanks to his diverse skill set.

Kaman has the potential to be one of the better centers in the league, even at 31 years old. He is very solid defensively, moving his feet well to stay in front of the opposition and using his body well to keep opponents from getting easy baskets. He isn't the most athletic center, and he can't jump anywhere near as high as the last Laker center, but he times his jumps well and uses his height and large wingspan to successfully block shots (averages 1.4 blocks per game, 1.7 per 36 minutes). He's not quite Dwight Howard in defensive presence, but is still a player teams take into account when driving to the basket. Kaman is also very good at rebounding, using his body well to box out opposing centers and power forwards, while timing his jumps well to ensure the rebound is his. During his better seasons, Kaman would average over nine rebounds per game, even averaging 12.7 per game during the 2007-2008 season.

As with every player, there are negatives to those positives. He doesn't have the highest basketball I.Q, but he generally knows when not to force the action, though Kaman isn't a good passer, frequently making mistakes with the ball, such as bad passes or holding it too long in the low block, leading to a turnover (evidenced by his career 1.3 assists per game to his 2.2 turnovers per game). He also has the tendency to get into quick and early foul trouble (he averaged over 3 fouls per game in his earlier days with the Clippers, and averages nearly 4 fouls per game per 36 minutes played). This still isn't Kaman's biggest issue, has he has been largely injury prone for the second half of his career, barely averaging 51 games played in the last 6 seasons, a number I believe should rise in a bench role behind Gasol and Jordan Hill.

Overall, Kaman is a good player to have on the roster, especially on a one year deal like the Lakers signed him to. The only question is: Can Kaman stay healthy?

Lakers News: Monday 7/8/13

The Lakers finally made some moves post-Dwightmare. Let's dive right into it, shall we?


Lakers sign center Chris Kaman: I love this signing. Kaman is quality big man that can provide solid defense and offensive output, as well as depth and give some minutes of rest to the Lakers' star big man Pau Gasol. It wasn't so long ago the 7 footer was giving the Clippers 15 points per game with 11 rebounds per game, so at the very least, Kaman will be a nice player off the bench. While certainly not the best shooter, he has a nice stroke for the center position, hitting 50.8% of his shots taken, as well as making 52% of his 16 foot jumpers. D'Antoni will likely use him in pick and fades with Steve Blake and Steve Nash to help open the paint for the rest of the team. 

Kaman will recieve the Lakers' mini Mid Level Exception (3.1 million a year) for one season, according to Ramona Shelburne (via twitter). 


Lakers use amnesty clause on Metta World Peace: It's a bit sad to see Metta leave so abruptly; he wasn't that good of a player, but always a strange personality to have on the bench. The Lakers are shaving off 7.7 million in cap space. The Lakers cannot resign Metta to a cheaper deal until the summer of 2014 (though I see no reason why they would want to). 

So, thanks Metta. Your three pointer in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals will live on in Laker history. 

The Lakers are interested in Former Clippers Elton Brand and Lamar Odom: According to Ramona Shelburne, the Lakers have been in talks with former Laker Lamar Odom and former Clipper Elton Brand. With the signing of Kaman, however, Brand is almost guaranteed to not sign with the Lakers, as they can no longer offer him more than 1.4 million per year. Odom, however, is a different matter, as he hardly played with the Clippers, so his value on the open market should be at an all time low. For now, we can only speculate whether or not Odom will want to rejoin the team or seek a contract elsewhere.