Welcome in to the long-awaited, "A Season in Review" post for the 2017-18 Lakers. A little delay to bring this up since I had to finish up a couple projects. Anyway, I provide a condensed version of how the season went and provide a couple of scenarios the Lakers can do to take the next step in the return to relevancy.
Things are finally looking up for the Lakers as they were able to improve upon last year's 26-56 record, finishing at 35-47. By standards, if we were to expect improvement from the Lakers, it would result in a playoff spot and some Laker fans feel that way. It's our old school mentality of "championship or bust." But if you're a realist like I am, this was a much improved season than in years' past. Recalling from my Season Preview post, I had this team finishing with a 30-35 win record and they matched that threshold.
Three things highlighted the Lakers' improved record this season: 1) the emergence of Brandon Ingram, 2) Julius Randle's breakout year, and 3) the immediate contribution of the Lakers' 1st round picks from the draft class of 2017. For a good chunk of the season, B.I. has proven that he can be the Lakers' 2-way player of the future. This year, he was more relentless in getting to the basket and drawing contact. His length disrupts opposing teams' offensive flow defensively. He was also confident in taking shots he was hesitant to take during his rookie year last season. If he continues to improve his long range and free throw shooting, he'll reach that Kevin Durant ceiling. Julius Randle didn't see the floor to start the season in favor of Larry Nance Jr. starting and it lit a fire under him throughout the year. Since he won back the job, Randle became a bully for defenders. Albeit undersized, Randle's play this season reminded us of the old school post up player who would just punish defenders in the paint with raw strength and power. His speed and quick step also made him tougher for opposing teams to defend him. The 1st round rookies: Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and Josh Hart contributed in some way, shape, or form. Kuzma carried over his impressive Summer League showing, proving to be an all-around scorer. He had some ups and downs, but he looked like a seasoned vet than a rookie. He just needs to work on the defensive stats. Josh Hart had an impressive 2nd half of the season, scoring, rebounding, and defending. I absolutely love the poise he had whenever he stepped on the floor. That's something you don't see every day from a rookie. Winning the national title at Villanova helped him big time. Lonzo Ball obviously has a lot to do to convince most Laker fans, particularly in the scoring department. But aside from the shooting woes, he sets the tempo of the game. The passing and court vision are as advertised. He's an underrated rebounder and team defender. Ball showed some flashes as he got better shooting the ball in the 2nd half of the season. But, a little fine tuning here and there during the off season and he'll be an all-around special player.
Outside of the growth and maturity of the young core, the veterans that Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka added were much better fits than Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng (he's still here) last year. Brook Lopez gave the team a Center who could space the floor and post up defenders inside. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a decent complement to Lonzo Ball in the backcourt, providing scoring and defense. The acquisitions of Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye before the trade deadline were tremendous moves by Magic and Rob. Particularly, I.T. brought a certain swagger back to the team that was lost since Kobe retired. With a good influx of talent and veterans, the Lakers were a lot more competitive this year than in season's past. There were games where they off to slow starts, even terrible starts, but they find ways to get themselves back in the game. The biggest improvement was the team defense. The Lakers defended the ball better. They made opposing players work for their shots. They pressured opposing team's into making mistakes and it helped set up their fast pace style of play on offense. Not to mention, the unselfish nature of this team was infectious and it rubbed off on the players to play team basketball. The Lakers this year notched many signature wins against more of the better teams. You look at the road game against Houston where the Lakers snapped their 14-game winning streak. The one-point victory over Boston at home. The road game against San Antonio to cap off a 4-game sweep on the road. We saw a lot of glimpses in games where the Lakers hung in there in games and find ways to win. They gave us a little bit of a tease by keeping afloat in the playoff picture this late into the season, especially in a really competitive West where it was a "who's who" conference outside of Houston and Golden State this season. Unfortunately, the Lakers went through a pair of long losing skids to ensure another losing season. For every Laker loss, most of the blame goes to high turnovers in games than the opposition and especially poor free throw shooting. The Lakers were one of the worst free throw shooting teams this season. It wasn't until they brought in I.T. where they had a reliable free throw shooter that could close out games. Those are areas that the Lakers need to work on if they want to take the next step.
So, with an improved record and a stabilized young core, is it good enough to lure in a LeBron James or a Paul George? The case for and against landing a star player to go with a young core is that the team would become instant contenders, but the young players would experience delays in their development. Technically, the Lakers' young core is still in a developmental stage, but there's no question that Magic and Rob have to add quality pieces in this years' free agency class to make the team better. They have a lot of options: they can sign, PG, LeBron, or both, they can max out Randle and/or max out PG, they can re-sign Randle to a max deal and re-sign Lopez and I.T. to reasonable contracts and wait until next year when guys like Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard are available in the open market. They also have to add some rim protection and more 3-and-D players. There's a lot of options to decide. If you want my honest opinion, I believe signing LeBron would be a mistake. When you have two players in LeBron and Lonzo, both players a pass-first mentality, it's not gonna work out. Though I won't discredit LeBron's ability to take over games when needed. Not to mention, we don't know how long will LeBron retain his freakish athleticism. Randle obviously deserves a contract after a breakout season and he has a better long-term upside. Paul George is a marquee target because he's a hometown player and I think he would be a huge upgrade over KCP. Lopez and I.T., are the two players I want the Lakers to resign. The asking price both will demand will be the biggest question. Or if they lose out in the LeBron and PG sweepstakes, 2019 is a good plan B with Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard coming up. Klay, I'd think would be a better fit as he would provide the Lakers a consistent scorer and he could form a nice defensive backcourt with Lonzo. He's also familiar with the system Luke Walton's implementing. Differentiating between 2018 and 2019's most coveted free agents, Paul George for marquee purposes, Klay Thompson for better overall fit with the system. Whichever plan works, Lakers win either way.
This Summer should provide a lot of interesting headlines and scenarios on the Lakers' front. I compare this upcoming offseason to what the Raiders went through in 2015-16. The Raiders improved from a 3-13 record to a 7-9 record. And in the following offseason, free agents looked at the Raiders and saw that they have a stable core of Derek Carr, Khalil Mack, and Amari Cooper. As a result, the Raiders became a hot ticket for free agents and signed guys such as Kelechi Osemele and Bruce Irvin. When I look at what the Lakers accomplished, they're trending in the same waters. Free agents will look at their stable core of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and Julius Randle (maybe) and their improved record. It will leave free agents interested in playing with such young talent. Also with Luke Walton, Magic Johnson, and Rob Pelinka in charge, there is a robust relationship between the coach and the front office. For once, we can finally look at the offseason and say to ourselves that signing a big time free agent is realistic because of the promising young core, head coaching continuity, and a robust, competent front office. Thank you for following my coverage of the Lakers' 2017-18 season. Hopefully, they continue to shoot for the moon in 2018-19.
No comments:
Post a Comment