The Lakeshow Review

After an encouraging showing against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the crosstown rival Clippers during Monday’s contest of Summer League action in Las Vegas by a score of 67-58 (ugly game). The Lakers now sit at 1-2 in the early stages of Vegas Summer League. LA got off to a nice start, thanks in part to Bronny James, who came out shooting the ball well. Bronny scored 5 quick points in the early portion of the first quarter, providing some rhythm for the struggling Lakers’ offense. Bronny played a much improved all-around game finishing with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists on 6-10 shooting from the field and 3-5 from deep. It was perhaps his best outing in Summer League so far, even going back to last summer. Unfortunately, no one on the team brought that same level of effort or productivity. Cole Swider added 16 points on 15 shots, including 4-11 from three, however, aside from Bronny and Swider, no other Laker managed to crack double digits in scoring. Overall, the team also struggled significantly at shooting the three, going only 9-30 as a team from distance. It was certainly an ugly game for the Lakers, much of it fuelled by one of my early concerns going in to summer league; the lack of a traditional point guard to run the offense. Last Saturday, against the Pelicans, LA managed to move the ball soundly and produce a well balanced offensive attack. Against a more disciplined and physical Clippers, their ball movement was foiled by the Clippers’ suffocating defense, relegating LA to aimlessly swinging the ball around the perimeter, with no real gameplan to break down the defense. Thus they ended up settling for bad shots, and were unable to find any consistent rhythm throughout the contest.

Dalton Knecht had another rough showing, scoring only 8 points on 3-15 shooting and 1-8 from three. Even though it’s still very early in the year, it does raise some alarms regarding DKs readiness come training camp and eventually the regular season. His shot has looked flat so far, perhaps an indicator of lack of conditioning. He was coming off of an injury suffered during last Thursday’s game against the Mavericks, but one would still expect him to stand out amongst mostly second rounders, two-way contract guys and G-Leaguers that make up every club’s Summer League program. This hasn’t been the case so far, so concerns about his productivity come next season are warranted. Another downside to Kencht’s game at the moment is his defense. He’s seemingly exposed constantly when it comes to help defense and on-ball defense, displaying poor fundamentals and decision-making on both areas. He repeatedly looks lost as a help defender (often wandering off his man on the wing or at the corner), and consistently takes bad angles to close out a driver’s lane to the rim. Alot of these things come down to effort, awareness and positioning. Unfortunately, there isn’t much improvement on that end, or as much as one would have hoped. Dalton is still young but he needs to make strides as a defender if he is to be a viable contributor this season. He has the the tools, athletically speaking, but it’s up to him to put the pieces together and start making things happen on the defensive end.

As I mentioned, Bronny James had a surprisingly strong performance, maybe his strongest of Summer League yet. He shot the three ball well, which is encouraging. He also flashed some of his driving ability, finishing at the rim over contact on a few occasions and even showing some post-up chops against switches. I think there’s still much room for improvement and growth, nonetheless, it’s great to witness the improvement. Hopefully he can keep getting better. Defensively, one has to like his activity, especially when engaged. In the past he’s often played with a low motor, but against the Clippers, the effort and the hustle were clearly present. This needs to be a consistent trend with Bronny, as that will make up for his lack of polish offensively. Being the first guy to every loose ball is a great way to earn the coaching staff’s trust, which will help keep him on the floor during crucial minutes.

There weren’t many other standouts, not to mention, this was a very sloppy and slow game for both sides. LA made a decent push to assume control, as they ended the first half only down by one point, 32-31. Even late in the fourth quarter they managed to take a 54-53 lead. But they failed to score consistently to end the quarter, eventually watching the Clippers go on a short run to close them out. The Lakers also did not do themselves any favors, going only 5-13 from the free throw line for the game. It was a very un-synchronized and clumsy performance, which makes it very tough to win these types of games. This SL roster certainly lacks individual talent that stands out, which makes their lack of a legitimate floor general all the more evident. They’re having trouble generating looks, and when NBA guys like Knecht are struggling with their shot, it’s very tough to get any thing going on the offensive end. Moving forward, I’d like to see the team implement more ball movement, and emphasize getting better off-ball movement from their catch and shoot threats, namely Knecht and Swider. This team’s identity seems to be their shooting (at least on paper) and their rebounding. If they can go back to defending aggressively, thus generating turnovers and utilizing their shooters to create space on the break, they will be able to find easier looks during their early offense. The Clippers did a great job of stiffling the Lakers’ gameplan, but the team needs to go back to playing aggressive defense and attack the open floor, as they don’t have much going on the half-court (this is were not having a true PG hurts this group). Hopefully we can see some adjustments, as well as having players like Knecht get back into a groove. If so, they’ll be able to finish on a high note. Now, it’s on to the Boston Celtics on Thursday In Vegas, as the team looks to bring its record to 2-2. Go Lakers.