Los Angeles Lakers: Closing In On The Worst Season Ever
By Shane Young
Following the two heartbreaking losses in Charlotte and Miami, the Los Angeles Lakers descended to 16-44 on the season, giving them the fourth-worst record in the entire NBA. Luckily for them, the number “four” is exactly what the organization likes to hear, as it keeps them in solid position to land a top-five lottery pick in May.
Even as Jeremy Lin had one of his most impressive games of the year on Tuesday, with 23 points, eight assists, and six rebounds — with the bench combining for 49 points to the Hornets’ 20 — it still reeked of waste.
Everything the Lakers do this season, whether it’s playing a distasteful fourth quarter or celebrating after a meaningless win, they always leave you with a foul stench. Nothing has been exciting, the team isn’t a topic in everyday conversation anymore, and the franchise superstar is back to the rehabilitation process. Things have been a roller-coaster for Los Angeles since the 2010 championship, and now it’s broken down on the tracks. This seems unrepairable.
Now, we’re actually getting a glimpse at how appalling this roster makeup was by Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss.
Most of it could be due to injury (Kobe’s rotator cuff and Julius Randle‘s leg), but it’s borderline impossible to make a case for Bryant helping the team. With Bryant on the court (1,207 minutes), the Lakers accumulated a defensive rating of 115.5 this season. With him off the floor, they kept opponents at a mark of 106.9. That’s 8.6 points per 100 possessions better defensively with Bryant on the bench — which is by far the most negative defensive impact of anyone on the team.
Bryant is gone until October (roughly seven more months), but the losing still continues. It virtually has to, because Buss can’t afford to look any worse if Philadelphia claims the top-five protected pick. If the Lakers don’t draw a top-five selection in May’s draft lottery, they lose the first-round pick completely.
With 22 games to go, Byron Scott‘s bunch is on pace to win just 22 games for the year. It would mark the second time in Lakers’ history they’ve won less than 23 games. The only other occurrence was during the 1957-58 season (led by Vern Mikkelsen), when the franchise was still located in Minneapolis. That was 57 years ago, and they only managed to win 19 games. However, the season only included 72 games, opposed to the current standard of 82.
It’s also being mighty generous to think these Lakers will win six more games before mid-April, considering they still have 10 playoff-caliber teams left on their schedule. Giving them 22 wins may just be a push, but it’s already guaranteed to be the single worst season in their Los Angeles archive.
The 3-point Attack
Perhaps it shouldn’t even be labeled an “attack.” There really is no outside attack, because Byron Scott believes in constant penetration to the paint. When Jeremy Lin — the team’s best guard at 3-point shooting, with 36.7 percent efficiency — is doing majority of the driving and kicking, there isn’t much else out on the perimeter. Ryan Kelly has come along, shooting nearly 39 percent from deep, but he only gets 1.9 attempts per game. Efficacy tends to be higher when you don’t have a large portion of shots.
This season, the Lakers rank 23rd in the league in 3-point attempts per game, taking just 19.3. The only playoff teams from 20th to 30th are the Bucks (25), Wizards (27), and Grizzlies (29). Of those three, Memphis is the only one that’s proven to be a legitimate Finals threat. So, it goes to show, you actually need to extend your range to succeed in this league.
Out of their 60 games thus far, Los Angeles has only made 10+ triples in 12 of them. 12 times in 60 games is a rate of just 20 percent. Meanwhile, the Rockets have done so in 45 of 61 games (74 percent) and the Warriors have accomplished it in 37 of 59 games (63 percent). You begin to see why the purple and gold are 18 games out of playoff contention. Their play-style doesn’t fit the new fashion required for wins.
Scott’s Lakers have only made 399 3-pointers this season, and it puts them on pace to make only 545 by the end of the year.
This isn’t such a horrible figure, however, when you consider how the team has performed in the 2000’s. Over the last 15 years, six other Laker teams have been below 545 made 3’s:
- 2003-04: 365 made triples
- 2001-02: 439 made triples
- 2002-03: 486 made triples
- 2001-02: 510 made triples
- 2010-11: 524 made triples
- 2009-10: 532 made triples
- 2014-15: on pace for 545
Of course, I left out the 2011-12 lockout season, because numbers are skewed whenever the league only played 66 games that season.
The crazy part: In four of those seven years listed above, the Lakers went on to claim an NBA title. In 2003-04, they advanced to the Finals and lost to Detroit. So, not extending their range has historically worked well for their success.
However, most of those title teams included the most unstoppable force in basketball history (Shaquille O’Neal) handling the post. This year, there is no unguardable big man for L.A., giving them no excuses for ignoring the triple. Yet, they still have.
Dreadful Field Goal Percentages
Regardless of where the shots come from, this team has very little skill actually getting them in the bucket.
The Lakers are only shooting 43.5 percent total from the field, which ranks 24th in the league. There are no playoff teams ranked below them, with the average record of teams ranked 25th through 30th being 18-42. Luckily for their pride, the Lakers are above that nasty mix of teams, but only barely.
Throughout franchise history, this current mark of 43.5 percent would be the worst Lakers season since 1961-62. 53 years have gone by since the Lakers have shot this poorly from the field.
It has to make the hair on Byron Scott’s head stick straight up. Oh …. wait: That’s missing, just like the team’s efficiency.
It’s important to keep in mind one thing: Although there were 14 other seasons (before 1963) of the Lakers shooting below 43 percent, we have to remember that the league wasn’t based on great shooters. It was primarily a big man’s game, and pioneers of the game were still trying to develop moves, skills, and different shot-types.
With the NBA the way it is now — having the best shooters on the planet in both conferences — 43.5 percent from the field is far from acceptable. It’s lamentable for any coach, and impossible for a team to compete in the postseason with bad shooting. A “make or miss league” is exactly what we’re witnessing.
As for their 3-point percentage this season, the Lakers are shooting just 34.4 percent from long-range. Surprisingly, they’re right around league-average in this regard. It ranks them 17th overall, with the average of all 30 teams being 34.8 percent.
You really can’t stigmatize this Lakers group for what they’ve been able to do from beyond the arc, given the amount of attempts they get. However, there are only four “likely playoff teams” below them in 3-point percentage: Miami, Indiana, Memphis, and Oklahoma City. To be great in this league, you have to take a lot of triples, and make a great percentage of them. The Lakers do neither.
In the last 15 years of Lakers’ history, only four L.A. teams have shot worse from 3-point range than this current squad. Thus, it’s not their worst season with the long ball, but it’s certainly coming at the worst time.
The Opponents’ Shooting
Having respectable percentages on offense means absolutely nothing if you have zero ability to defend. As it pertains to forcing opponents into tough shots, these Lakers also fail miserably.
This season, opponents are shooting a laughable 46.4 percent from the floor against the Lakers. Laughable, as in, astoundingly great.
Allowing a field goal percentage of 46.4 puts Los Angeles 28th overall, with only Orlando and Minnesota trailing behind. Those two have a combined record of 32-90 (.262). When you’re only slightly ahead of two teams of that caliber, you know something is wrong.
Only two Laker teams in the last 20 years have allowed their opponents to shoot 46.5 percent or better from the field.
Then, it translates to the perimeter defense: Guarding the 3-pointers.
Again, the Lakers never rise to the occasion.
They’re allowing opponents to shoot a very high, 36.6 percent from beyond the arc. It ranks 29th overall, only better than the Knicks’ mark of 38.9 percent. Somebody get the water-hoses when teams come to play New York and Los Angeles — two historic basketball programs that only put themselves in these bad situations.
36.6 percent allowance from 3-point range would be the worst Laker mark since 2002-03, when they allowed teams to shoot 38 percent.
Overall Defense
When the season first began, the Lakers were on pace to finish with one of the five worst defensive ratings in NBA history. It slowly got a small, tiny bit better, and it’s been steady ever since.
“Defensive rating” is a measure that approximates how many points per 100 possessions your team allows.
In 2014-15, Scott has led this team to a rating of 110.5, which puts them at 28th in the league. The Wolves (110.7) and Knicks (110.6) are only fractions behind.
For the Lakers, they are almost guaranteed to stay this horrible defensively for the next month and a half.
If they finish the year with a defensive rating of 110.5, it will be their worst since 2004-05. If you recall, that was the year following Shaq’s departure, along with Phil Jackson not being welcomed back by Jerry Buss. Kobe Bryant had to put the team on his back, with no defensive center, and head coach Rudy Tomjanovich realized how grueling it was. Those Lakers finished with a defensive rating of 111.4.
This current team is pushing it, but it’s still a bad reputation to be the city’s worst defensive team in 10 years.
If you didn’t want to adjust for pace, and just looked at how many points they’re allowing per game … it’s even worse. These Lakers are allowing 105.9 points per night, but it’s also just a carry-over from last year. In the last 26 seasons, only one Laker team has allowed 106 points per game: The 2013-14 unit, led by Mike D’Antoni. As the season ends in April, expect it to be two in the last 26 years.
Sitting in the doldrums of the Western Conference, the Lakers already know the numbers. They’re already aware of how the statistics paint the picture.
They just don’t have the personnel to make the picture change.
It’s been unattractive. Nonetheless, things only get uglier until the draft rolls around.
**All statistics credited to Basketball-Reference.com**