By MICHAEL DAUBER
STAFF WRITER
Let’s face it: since 2011, Lakers basketball hasn’t been all that fun. There was the failure to threepeat after being swept by Dallas and Kobe’s weary body. There was Phil’s retirement. There was the Chris Paul fiasco. There was Mike Brown. Then there wasn’t Mike Brown, and there was Dwight Howard. Then there was almost Phil Jackson. Then there was D’Antoni. Then there was “We want Phil!” Then there were missed free throws and almost missed playoffs. Then Kobe didn’t have a left Achilles and Dwight left LA.
But after three agonizingly boring and miserable seasons, the Lakers are fun again. Why? Kobe’s not playing. Not that any Laker fan is happy about that, but when the Mamba doesn’t play, winning is not a guarantee, by any stretch of the imagination. Over the summer, the Lakers acquired Xavier Henry, Wesley Johnson, Nick Young, Chris Kaman and Jordan Farmar. Like in Moneyball, the Lakers scraped the bottom of the barrel, both in terms of cash and seemingly in terms of talent. But as Lakers commentator Stu Lantz reminded us during Friday’s game against the Spurs, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
These Lakers are young. They’re athletic. They’re gritty. They pass the ball efficiently and quickly. All things I haven’t seen since the 2010 Finals. In addition, they have solid bench presence. In their home opener against the Clippers, the Lakers racked up a whopping 78 bench points against arguably the deepest team in the league. Many predict the Clippers to assemble the best record in the West, possibly even in the NBA, after picking up coach Doc Rivers and maintaining their deep roster from the previous season. Yet apparently most of the production on offense from the Lakers comes from the bench. Indeed, the only starter to play in the fourth quarter through Friday’s loss to San Antonio was Steve Blake…and only in that game. The Lakers bench obliterated the Clippers’ starters for the entire fourth quarter opening night.
The new-look Lakers are athletic, too. Except for Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant across the previous seasons, the Lakers haven’t looked (or been) all that young. This year, however, the Lakers run the court at full speed on most possessions. Xavier Henry, in particular, a young athletic shooting guard, has been leading the Lakers in scoring frequently, posting 22 points the first night and scoring in double figures in all but the San Antonio game, relying mostly on fast drives to the rim. Wesley Johnson brings exceptional blocking to the table and has some hops of his own. Jordan Hill, who made my underrated players top five, currently leads the NBA in offensive rebounding, and puts in solid effort on every possession.
It’s true that this season isn’t going quite as the Lakers front-office envisioned it before the summer. The assumption was that Dwight would decide to stay in LA, as no great big man has ever said no to the purple and gold before. Yet if you get into the numbers and compare them to last year, the difference is alarmingly positive. The Lakers currently sit at a 2-2, .500 record. Obviously it’s still early, but do you realize how long it took the Lakers to taste .500 for the first time last season? March. They are at .500 in only the fourth game of the season. Additionally, the bench was almost non-existent in stretches last season, whereas in the first game of the season this year they put up 78 points. They had over 40 last night, and outscored the starters in almost every game so far. Everyone complained about D’Antoni last year, saying the Lakers were too slow for his system. But with this young, athletic, guard-heavy roster, fans are remembering what a good coach he can be. The offense looks like it has the most flow, teamwork and speed since the Phil Jackson era.
Where do the Lakers go this season? Tough to say. A lot of that still depends on a 35-year old future hall-of-famer’s left Achilles. But one thing is for certain: this season sure will be interesting.
