Welcome in Laker Nation to the regular season preview post for the Lakers' 2017-18 regular season campaign. There's a lot of headlines for the Lakers heading into this season, but I'll pick out the more obvious headlines and provide my overall outlook on how the season should go.
Leap Year For Ingram?
Brandon Ingram is "Mr. Untouchable" according to Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka. There is no question that all eyes will be dead set on Brandon Ingram. Last year, the Lakers took a conservative approach in easing their #2 overall pick into the NBA game. Coming off the bench, he certainly had some growing pains. But, towards the end of the season, I thought I saw a good enough sample size of Ingram's potential. By the time he was in the starting lineup, I thought Ingram was more assertive with his decision-making. At times, he's shown that he can attack the basket at will and can make defensive stops with his length. The only thing he just needs improvement on is his jump shot. Of course, the big elephant in the room is that Kyle Kuzma, who's been consistent since the Lakers drafted him this year, should start over Ingram. There's a difference between one player who's only completed one year of collegiate play and another player who's had three years of college basketball. Of course, Kuzma is going to be fine tuned with his game. Kuzma is polished right now, but Ingram has the higher ceiling. The trend in the NBA draft is that most college players who only completed their freshman year tend to go top 5 or top 10 in the first round. And some already reached their ceiling early than others (ex: Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, John Wall). Let me make this analogy for the namesake of this blog, Khalil Mack of the Raiders was taken 5th overall in 2014 NFL draft. He didn't get a single sack until Week 11 against the Chargers and finished up with just 4 sacks. Bust right? 26 total sacks and a Defensive Player of the Year award two seasons later, he's among the elite defensive players. Granted, the NBA is incomparable with the NFL. But what I'm saying is, right now, it's way too early to consider Ingram a bust. I'd say by a player's 3rd year is when you really start judging him. Ingram is due for a leap year this season from his rookie year. We saw glimpses of that last season and in Summer League game when he erupted for 26 points against the Clippers before Magic shut him down after an injury scare during that game. Ingram gets to start all 82 games. Let's see what he's truly capable of.
The "Lonzo Effect"
The Lakers pulled the plug on the D'Angelo Russell experiment and in comes Lonzo Ball, taken in this year's draft at #2 overall. During the last few games of the Lakers, I was also keeping track on Lonzo Ball's performance when UCLA was in the NCAA tournament. And for a small sample size, I was sold that Lonzo was the guy that the Lakers need to draft from a pure point guard standpoint. He had a rough debut in Summer League, but he got better en route to being Summer League MVP. Lonzo's scoring will come along, but two skills were he's most consistent at is his court vision and passing ability. Lonzo is not a type of player that will drop 25-30 points a night like D'Angelo Russell. But, what Lonzo brings to the table is that he gets his teammates involved and make them better. He made Kyle Kuzma look like "a million bucks" in the Summer League. Same with Ivica Zubac and same with guys like Vander Blue, Travis Wear, etc. We haven't seen much of his effect in the preseason because the Lakers are taking precautionary measures after he tweaked an ankle against the Nuggets. But, he'll get the benefit of a doubt of playing with Nance Jr. and Randle who can both run the floor. And he'll benefit big time playing with a former All-Star big man and current "Stretch 5" in Brook Lopez. I wouldn't be surprised if Lonzo sees a lot of action this season considering the Lakers didn't bring in a quality backup Point Guard. Ennis had a solid sample size last season. Caruso flashed in Summer League. But, they're not seasoned vets that Lonzo can rely on. It's gonna be a complete 180 approach to how the Lakers bring Lonzo along to NBA speed compared to how they brought Ingram along last season in his rookie year. Can Lonzo Ball win Rookie of the Year? No question that it's a possibility.
Pondering About Julius
This is a contract year for Julius Randle, but all signs point to him being gone regardless what the Lakers do with him. The Lakers are pondering about trading him midseason because Luol Deng's $72 million contract is still on the shelf and they want to get rid of Deng for another expiring contract. Or, they just let him play out of his contract. The likeliest scenario is that is that they want to use Randle as trade bait to get rid of Deng's big contract. Let's face it, there is a big logjam at the Power Forward position with Nance and the emergence of Kyle Kuzma. So that puts Randle on the outlier. Interesting enough, Luke Walton experimented with playing Randle off the bench late in the preseason and for the most part, he did pretty good, still recording double-doubles in the points and rebounds categories. But, if you look at his game, he still proves that he plays out of control. And that's where guys like Nance and Kuzma have the edge over him. For the Lakers, it's important that Randle continues to put up double-double numbers in the points and rebounds and puts a string of good games together if the Lakers want to maximize his trade value. Trading him is the likeliest scenario to get rid of another bad contract. We don't know when that will happen, but every game this season is a make-or-break for Julius Randle in the purple and gold.
"Kuz" Control
Speaking of Kyle Kuzma in the previous section, Kuz deserves the nickname, "Mr. Consistent." What a trade Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka cooked up by trading D'Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov's $68 million contract for Brook Lopez and the 27th pick. And that 27th pick turned out to be Kyle Kuzma. Why's Kyle Kuzma "Mr. Consistent?" He's been putting up monster numbers since his Summer League debut? And he successfully translated that play to actual NBA competition. He can shoot, attack, and use his length to disrupt opposing offenses and he's versatile at either Forward position. Of course as I mentioned in Ingram's headline, that some may argue that Kuzma should start over Ingram. Again, Kuzma is already seasoned with three years of collegiate play, but Ingram has a higher ceiling. Speaking of Ingram vs. Kuzma, why not put both on the floor at the same time? They can score, they can attack, and they can use their length. I'd like to call a starting lineup of Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma the "Slenderman" lineup. Regardless, Kuzma is a perfect complimentary player and a movable chess piece to exploit mismatches. And he could possibly creep up in Rookie of the Year conversations too. Even better, he could be in the conversation for Sixth Man of the Year if he continues to put up staggering numbers coming off the bench.
Season Outlook (Concluding Thoughts)
With Magic, Rob, and Luke at the helm, the Lakers are likely set on the fact that Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball are their cornerstones. They have their established core of young talent and they're not going to change that. Development and continuity is going to be key for the Lakers to get back into the glory days behind Ingram, Ball, and Kuzma. As much as I want to say playoffs, they're not loaded to compete against Golden State, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, the list goes on and on. The West is super stacked this year and the Lakers are living in the slums of the Western Conference. What I expect is improvement over the 26-56 record last season. Last year's finish was much better than the last three seasons. And in those three seasons, the Lakers got progressively worse. And that's because they didn't have an established core. They shouldn't fall to like 15-67 with the established young core of players and veterans they have on this year's roster. I'm hoping for at least a 30-35 win season. That would mark small steps forward for the Lakers to take the big step. On another note, the Lakers don't have a 1st round pick next year, so tanking is not an option this season. It's get the young players to develop and start grooming them into future stars. They want LeBron next year? They want Paul George next year? They want top free agents to come? Prove to them that there's a stable core of players to build around and the free agents will come. Again for the namesake of this blog, look at the Raiders after the 2015 season. Free agents saw that there's an established core of Mack, Carr, and Cooper to build around and they signed with the team. The same thing should be the goal for the Lakers. The team proves to have an established core with Ingram, Ball, and Kuzma, free agents will come play for them. This is all about righting the ship for the purple and gold. GO LAKERS! I'll see you guys on Thursday for a rare double-header on this blog when the Lakers take on the Clippers on opening night. For my fellow Raider fans and Laker fans, I'll be making some announcement before what should be a monumental Thursday Night.
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