A Night At The Staples Center

November 27, 1916 was Chick Hearn’s birthday. If you don’t know who Chick was click here.
Basically, he was a legend. For us old-timers who grew up listening to him announce Laker games, it’s still a little weird to not hear his voice during Laker games. Last night at the game, the Laker organization decided to honor him by passing out bobbleheads of Chick (it’s my first bobblehead).

No matter how many games I attend, I walk up to the entrance at the Staples Center with eager anticipation. I already know how they do the introduction of the starting lineup but I hate missing it and want to see every time. Okay, so we lost the game to a Pacers team missing one of their best players (Danny Granger). Kobe had the flu but found the strength to drop 40pts and grab 10 rebounds and we still lost. The lost makes us 7-8 and Laker Nation, in typical fashion, is freaked out and demanding Pau Gasol be traded to improve the team. I just feel a need to address Laker Nation with our team’s current state (especially for you who have a cable company that hasn’t struck a deal with Time Warner Cable yet).

Yes the team looked awful last night and has looked awful overall in this first month of the season. The expectations were high when we got Dwight Howard and Steve Nash during the summer for a broken Bynum and some measly draft picks we never use anyway. So let me address some things to help calm down my fellow Laker brethren.

The Bench

The bench is awful!!! Or at least that’s what everyone has been saying. I get it. They’re an easy target for the media and the fans. But let’s take a closer look.

Jodie Meeks was signed to provide some outside shooting but currently has an atrocious PER of 7.31 (the league average is 15) and is only shooting 31% from the field overall. Last night he came in the 2nd quarter and played a measly 3 minutes and they ran zero plays for him. Why are you going to bring in a shooter and not try to get him some shots? D’Antoni started playing Meeks with Kobe in order to open up more shots for him, which was working. However, what happens when Kobe needs to sit and Meeks takes his place? If you don’t run plays for him or set some screens he’s not going to do much for you offensively. Furthermore, if you’re playing him 3 minutes at a time you’re not building his conference much either. Meeks will be fine once Nash gets back because they’ll be another play-making guard on the floor at all times whether it’s Kobe or Nash. In addition, we’re going to need him if we’re going to make a run in the playoffs so it’s imperative we get him going and Nash will do that.

Jordan Hill is a high-energy guy who is quietly having a solid season. He’s far and away our best bench player. Hill rebounds like crazy and can make short-range Js. I would’ve loved if we kept Matt Barns and have those two play the 3 and 4 for our 2nd unit and just bring monster energy because we are sorely lacking in that department. Yet D’Antoni doesn’t play him much because Hill fell out of favor with him while they were in New York. D’Antoni needs to get over it and I believe he will.

Antawn Jamison – much was made about signing Jamison because “We finally have some bench scoring!” Truthfully, I didn’t expect much from him this year. Sure he had a couple of great games in Memphis and at Dallas. But too much was made about him averaging 17pts per game last year in Cleveland. He played 33 minutes per game on a crappy team jacking up 16 shot attempts per game but only shooting 40% from the field overall. There’s no way he’s getting that type of playing time here and he’ll be lucky to get 16 shot attempts in a month with Kobe/Dwight/Pau on the team. It’s also strange both Mike Brown and D’Antoni play him at the 3 instead of using him as a stretch-4. The two games against Memphis and Dallas last week he shot a sizzling 63% from the field and averaged 17.5 pts and 11 rebounds. Did you know what position he played? You guessed it . . . stretch-4. This isn’t rocket science.

Darius Morris is a nice young player. You might look at his awful PER 8.43 and simply write him off. Yes, he’s done some foolish things on the court. Here’s the different between using Morris as the back-up PG instead of Steve Blake when Nash gets back. With young players they’re going to make mistakes but they’ll learn from it and get better. Confidence is always the key for young players. Steve Blake is who he is. When he makes a mistake he’s not going to improve from it. He’s already hit ceiling as a player and is already declining. Why not let the young guy develop? He’s already a better defender than Blake and we could use some youth on this team.

Pau Gasol

Laker Nation wants him traded (what else is new?). It’s been recent revealed Pau has been playing with tendinitis in both knees thanks to Mike Brown's long practices. If you’ve ever had tendinitis anywhere on your body you know it’s painful. This explains his lack of aggression on the court. If you watch him run you could see it’s painful for him. I’m not making excuses for him it’s just a reality of his physical condition. While D’Antoni was in New York he drove Amar’e Stoudemire to the ground so I’m a little worried he’ll do the same with the starters here in LA.

I love Pau. He helped us win two titles. I know he’s one of the most talented big-man in the league, which makes his inconsistent play maddening. But I’m not ready to trade him. Before thinking about that I would consider moving him to the bench as a back-up center. He can’t guard stretch-4(s) and the league is filled with them now. Pau needs the ball in the post and it’s frustrating watching one of the best post players tip-toeing around the perimeter wondering what to do and jacking up 3s because, well, that’s all he could do.

If he were to come off the bench as a back-up center we could play the offense through him and he could get it in the post, which does 3 things for us. First, Pau will be more effective getting the ball closer to the basket. He’s not getting it in the post with Dwight on the floor. Second, he would strengthen the bench and open up everything for everyone else, Meeks would benefit from this. Finally, reducing Pau’s minutes would allow him to heal and keep him fresh for the playoffs. Furthermore, what back-up center in this league could contend with Pau? I’m not ready to trade him. What are we going to get back anyway? He still has $38.3M left on his contract. Who’s taking him?

Of course the media will make it look like a demotion but Pau shouldn’t take it that way. He’d be free to play more to his strengths instead of being exploded for his weaknesses.

Conclusion

There are some legitimate concerns with the team. We still have to wash the Mike Brown stench off of us. I’m also worried about D’Antoni is playing the starters way too many minutes and his inability to think outside the box (moving Pau to the bench, playing Jordan Hill more, not playing Jamison at the 3, etc). But overall, the season doesn’t really start until we get Nash back. I could totally see us have a 17-3 run over 20 games late in the season to grab the #2 seed in the West. Will we win the title? That’s still a question mark but despite the current state of the team, I’m confident will finish the season with a better product that's currently on the floor.