Time for some purple and gold seasoning again on this blog. Welcome in to the regular season preview post for the Lakers' 2016-17 regular season campaign. Like I do with the regular season preview post for the Raiders, I divide some potential headlines into sections, discuss the schedule, and provide my prediction. Always keep in mind, this is opinionated and I'll provide my take on all of them.
It's D'Angelo's Team
Before I type anything down, let me ask this question: how many of you are still calling D'Angelo Russell a snitch? Because I don't. I've completely moved on from that and I'm sure he and Nick Young have gotten over that stuff too. Now back on topic. For two decades, we Laker fans have grown accustomed to Kobe Bryant donning the purple and gold. It's like whenever you think of the Lakers, you think of Kobe Bryant and it just resonates easily. Now, he's gone after a brilliant farewell game last season, dropping 60 against the Utah Jazz. We now have to try and resonate the Lakers with D'Angelo Russell. In most of Luke Walton's interviews, he has implied that this team is going to revolve around D'Lo. After all, point guards are the "quarterback" of a basketball franchise, so it makes total sense to hand over the reins to Russell. We have to realize that it's going to take a lot of growing pains for D'Lo to develop into the star we expect him to be. Obviously, he was held up by Byron Scott and Kobe's goodbye tour retirement in his rookie year and now, Luke Walton is giving him the freedom in this free flow, motion offense he brought over from Golden State. Looking at his stats this preseason, the turnovers and the points-to-assists disparity stand out. Keep in mind, I only saw the October 4 game vs. the Kings and Wednesday's preseason game vs. the Warriors. Obviously, D'Lo has to clean up the turnovers and have a balance to score and facilitate. His only best all-around game this preseason was against the Kings on October 13 where he posted up 31 points, 11 assists, and committed just 2 turnovers. Unequivocally, his defense has to improve because Westbrook, Lillard, Paul, and Curry will give him all kinds of fits. What I'm saying is that D'Lo, even in his sophomore year, will go through his ups and downs. He has control of the offense and he's going to make some mistakes. He has a lot to prove to us, but speaking as a true Lakers fan, I will back D'Lo 100%. Yes, it's a little early and he'll have games where he'll drive us nuts. The same thing was said for Kobe, but hey we still had his back. Whether we accept it or not, D'Angelo Russell is now the face of the Lakers franchise and this is the season is the opportunity for D'Lo to put his stamp on the bright lights of L.A.
Brandon Ingram's Development
For the 2nd straight year with the #2 pick, the Lakers select Brandon Ingram out of Duke. Many are calling him the next Kevin Durant because of his length, wingspan, and ability to shoot. Ingram was an obvious pick for the Lakers after the 76ers took Ben Simmons. Luke Walton is going to play it safe and make Ingram off the bench. With the Lakers signing Luol Deng in free agency, I think it is a wise decision on Luke's part to have Ingram learn from a player like Deng. I've seen Ingram in the Summer League and in early preseason action and like Russell last year, there will be growing pains with Ingram. We have to understand, these kids are coming out of just their freshman year in college and it takes a couple of years till they reach that All-Star ceiling. Although in Wednesday's game against Golden State, Ingram flashed his potential and it looks like he's getting more comfortable playing with the team. And for those judging on his skinny appearance, it's about Brandon Ingram being bigger. It's about him being stronger and able to handle small forwards like Durant, LeBron, etc. Ingram's development is going to be something to look at as the season progresses. If he develops faster than expected, I wouldn't be surprised if he snatches the starting small forward position away from Deng by midseason.
What about Randle, Clarkson, and Nance? Zubac?
With this whole talk to Lakers season centering on D'Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram, it seems like everybody forgets about Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance Jr. The Lakers brought back Jordan Clarkson this offseason and locked him to a $50 million contract for four more years. It's a good move on the Lakers part to retain this young core and see how they grow. Clarkson has worked his tail off to get where he's at. It's pretty interesting that Walton is going to have Clarkson come off the bench. Perhaps to provide scoring once D'Lo subs out. Nance has proven to be a high-IQ sparkplug coming off the bench. He has to compete in the dunk contest like his dad before him. Julius Randle and Ivica Zubac are going to be two players I will be monitoring closely. I've heard Randle is developing a mid-range and 3-point game. We've been highly critical of Randle with the way he plays out of control, especially when he takes the ball coast to coast, resulting in a turnover or wild shot. But, last season was technically his rookie season and he's shown he can put up double-doubles night in and night out. The ceiling is high for Randle and I hope he gives us more patience as he continues to develop.
Ivica Zubac... When the Lakers took him in the 2nd round, I've heard that many teams were eyeing this guy from Croatia as late first-round prospect. I wasn't too hype on Zubac, but he did fill a need at center. However, when I saw him in Summer League, he flashed some potential. The kid has it all: rim protection, low post game, a midrange jump shot. I haven't looked too much into how he translated in the preseason, but I hope he flashed some impressions. He's quickly becoming a fan favorite in L.A. People are chanting "ZUUUUUUUU" and nicknaming him "Zublocka." I see a lot of Marc Gasol potential in him. Granted, he's going to compete for playing time with Mozgov starting and Tarik Black being the primary backup center. It'll be interesting to see how Luke Walton handles the situation because he has two players that could shine if given some minutes playing behind Mozgov.
The Overpaid Veterans
During this offseason, the Lakers signed some quality veterans in Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng. But, they signed Mozgov to a...wait for it...$64 million deal and they signed Deng to a...wait for it...$72 million deal. Still to this day, those kinds contracts have bamboozled the casual basketball fan who knows nothing about the business side of the sport. We have to remember a couple of things or rather one thing, the NBA's salary cap jumped due to the TV revenue. Hence, every NBA team overpaid a lot for some free agents and signed some of their own free agents to ridiculous contracts in order to keep them (ex: Grizzlies re-signing Mike Conley to a $153 million MAX contract, ridiculous). I said it back in my free agency outlook post, top-tier players would rather play for a contending team rather than a rebuilding team. The Lakers are no exception to this rule of thumb. These veterans are brought in to show the younger players the ropes. Mozgov is an NBA champion. Honestly, even though he didn't play at all this year, we forget he had decent games in the 2015 Finals. Deng is a former All-Star and a class act, which is beneficial for the team. I didn't see how Deng played this preseason, but I saw a lot of Mozgov on Wednesday's game vs. Golden State and I thought he looked good. He had a couple of good blocks, particularly on that alley-oop attempt from Durant that set up a Nick Young three. He's looking way better than Hibbert last season.
Schedule Breakdown
There is one particular highlight about this schedule this season for the Lakers: they face the Warriors three times in November. Two home games, one road game. What a way to gauge a team's growth by having them face arguably the best team in the NBA three times in a month. Overall, as expected it is going to be a difficult schedule to start for the Lakers. They open up at home against the Rockets, although the Rockets are vulnerable with Dwight Howard gone and Mike D'Antoni coaching the team. Then, they go on a 4-game road trip before returning home against Golden State. Obviously, the Western conference is a very tough conference that the Lakers play in. There's proven teams like the Warriors and Spurs. Grizzlies and Clippers are going to be tough with all their players healthy. Westbrook is due for a big season in OKC. The Timberwolves are a team on the rise with their young talent. The Lakers are going to have their hands full once more.
Conclusion
I say we're going to go all the way and win the championship. Okay, I'm going to put down the Kool Aid. Overall, I'm more concentrated on how this team develops over the season than them pushing for a possible 8th seed in the playoffs. Like I said, the West is loaded and it's going to take awhile for the Lakers to climb back to the upper echelon of teams like the glory days. I'm going to be happy if the Lakers reach around the tier of 25-30 wins this season. It would mark improvement over last year's woeful season. But, like I said, it's a matter of this young team gelling and growing together and buying into what Luke Walton is bringing into this team. No more of Byron Scott's dictatorship. No more of the purple and gold universe centering around Kobe Bryant. I know, as a Laker fan, it is going to be weird watching the Lakers without a #24 sighting on the floor this season. But, I'm really looking forward to D'Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Jordan Clarkson, and Julius Randle usher in a new era of Lakers basketball under Luke Walton. The future is here. GO LAKERS!
*Due to the new changes I made on the blog with Raider games, Laker games televised on ESPN, TNT, or ABC are also going to be open thread discussions separated into the 1st half and 2nd half posts. Every other game that's not nationally televised will be quick recapped. I'll see you guys Wednesday night vs. the Houston Rockets.*
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