Los Angeles Lakers Summer League Notebook: Game 3 Reaction

The Los Angeles Lakers might want to burn all of the footage from this summer league.

The Lakers fell to 1-2 following a loss to the New York Knicks, disappointing many fans who had hoped for a much more productive start to the NBA’s summer session.

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Losing to the Knicks 76-66 doesn’t sound as bad when you consider that the Lakers mustered only five points in the first 10 minutes of play; on second thought, it might sound worse. The offensive woes carried over to yet another game, as the Lakers shot 30.5 percent and turned the ball over 20 times.

Jabari Brown made his 2015 summer debut, and wasted no time making his presence felt. He had 20 points to lead all scorers, but Jerian Grant‘s 10 points and eight assists gave New York its second consecutive victory.

Here are five thoughts from the Los Angeles Lakers’ third summer league game:

Julius Randle‘s playmaking will determine his ceiling

Randle has not had a great summer league. In fact, he has looked lost the much of his time on the court. But, there are some encouraging signs that he’s shown physically, even if it’s been via barreling himself into the lane with brute force.

The Los Angeles Lakers current offense hasn’t produced fantastic looks for Randle to show off any type of range, assuming that the tales of his improvement in that area are true.  Instead, he has been regulated to a handful of isolations that end in him ferociously attacking the basket and oftentimes failing to finish at the rim.

The beautiful part of this is that Randle has a unique skill set for a power forward with elite quickness and strength. His touch has evaded him so far — chalk that up to rust, for now — but he is able to get where he wants to go nearly every time.

Opposing defenses will eventually have to bring help, and that leaves it up to Julius to make the correct play, whether it be putting his head down and attacking or dishing out to the Lakers’ growing number of three-point threats.

The forward’s handle has been a bit loose (that’s putting it nicely), but he doesn’t have to be Kyrie Irving with the ball to be effective. As a four that can bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense, Randle has a package that is extremely promising if he can iron out the wrinkles in his game. Knowing when to attack and when to facilitate will determine his impact.

Jabari Brown, Lou Williams, and Nick Young will make for an … interesting bench unit

Brown was probably the Los Angeles Lakers’ best player in the loss to the Knicks on Monday. That’s not saying much considering the abysmal performance the team put forth the majority of the game, but it’s true nonetheless.

Using the word “aggressive” to describe Brown’s approach after coming off the bench would be putting it lightly. He took 14 shots in 27 minutes of playing time, and attempted 11 free throws as well. That high usage came at the expense of ball movement, as tunnel vision seemed to consume his basketball consciousness.

For this summer league squad, his attacking style was a much-needed shot in the arm. When everyone else is being indecisive, ineffective, or a combination of both, it can be nice to have a guy that throws caution to the wind and tries to manufacture points.

In the regular season, assuming Jabari Brown is in contention for the primary backup at shooting guard, it’s tough to see how his style will mesh with the rest of the unit.

Lou Williams just won Sixth Man of the Year by being a score-happy backup point guard and Nick Young (probably the backup at small forward) has never met a shot he doesn’t like; add a player like Brown into the mix, and the ball may never get passed more than once.

There is still a long way to go — Brown’s contract isn’t guaranteed, so it’s possible he doesn’t even make the team — but this is something to watch.

D’Angelo Russell continues to struggle, but it’s not all on him

Through three games of summer league action Russell’s averages are: 10 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and 6.67 turnovers per game. His shooting hasn’t been much better: 33 percent from the field with a 12.5 percent mark from deep.

The turnovers are expected for a 19-year-old rookie point guard playing with a bunch of guys he’s never run with before. The shooting woes are frustrating to watch, especially when he begins to force things, but many fantastic players shot poorly in their summer league debuts.

As a recent Sporting News piece points out, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry all shot less than 37 percent in their respective summer leagues.

Of course, that won’t stop the Los Angeles Lakers faithful from abandoning hope, even through three games of the summer session. Anointing the second overall pick a “bust” has become commonplace on Twitter.

Those who have kept their sanity can take solace in the fact that Russell appears to be thinking his way through things; the first step in turning his play around.

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Part of the problem with Russell’s turnovers and poor shot selection is obviously on him; not rushing will be something that comes with time.

Still, the coaching staff hasn’t exactly put him in great position to do what he does best: facilitate. The “offense” the team has attempted to play has seen sub-par production, and Russell’s assist chances (and scoring opportunities) have been cut off as a result.

There are plenty of things for the rookie to work on, and it will be a process, but to put all the blame on him is wrong.

The “others” aren’t getting much opportunity

If you were hoping for the Los Angeles Lakers to unearth a summer league gem that wasn’t already on the radar, it doesn’t appear to be happening.

The “others” (Tony Mitchell, Dwight Buycks, Will Davis II, & Xavier Munford) haven’t had much of an opportunity to show anything due to limited minutes.

Honestly, it makes sense because there are a bunch of potential rotation guys are on the Lakers summer league roster, but it makes for an interesting dynamic for how minutes are distributed.

Buycks, who the Lakers were reportedly interested in bringing back next season, has not provided much hope that he could seriously contend for a roster spot. Of the rest of the bunch, Mitchell has at least brought some energy and effort, but opportunity has been sporadic for almost all of the aforementioned players.

The situation will be worth watching to see if playing time is distributed differently over the final two games of summer league.

Seriously, what is this offense?

I hope this is the last time I feel the need to call out the Lakers for this, but the offense is terrible, even for summer league.

Maybe it’s too complex a system to install on the strict time constraints summer league demands. Maybe the offense is just terrible. Maybe it isn’t a good match for the roster.

Truth be told it’s probably a combination of all of those things, but when your offense results in action like this:

Maybe try anything else.

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