With the Los Angeles Lakers’ season coming to a end, these are five takeaways from their 2017-18 campaign.
The Los Angeles Lakers concluded their 2017-18 regular season on April 11 with a 115-100 win over the Los Angeles Clippers to bring their record to 35-47. This will be the fifth consecutive postseason that the Lakers will miss, their longest drought in franchise history, but there’s more optimism around this playoff absence than the previous four.
For starters, the Lakers outperformed their preseason win total applied to them by Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. Although they finished just above said projection (over/under set at 33.5 wins), crossing that threshold and scoring above that projection line with how many young players lost significant court time is impressive.
Most of the noise before the season about the Lakers focused on the rookie season of Lonzo Ball and the 2018 free agency period during the summer with the team loaded with cap space and ambitions to sign one or two star-level players. But as the season wore on and Lonzo missed a good amount of games, the other Lakers stepped up and projected a bright future for the franchise.
Aside from an expected difficult time of losing in December, which can be attributed to injuries and a tough stretch of games, this was a smooth season of development for the Los Angeles Lakers, from the players to the coaching staff to the front office grabbing a first round pick for the second straight season.
Here are the five main takeaways from the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2017-18 regular season, beginning with their 2017 draft class.
5. 2017 draft class immediately changed the culture
There was plenty of praise for the Los Angeles Lakers after selecting Lonzo Ball (No. 2), Kyle Kuzma (No. 27) and Josh Hart (No. 30) with their three first round picks. They grabbed their new floor leader in Lonzo and added a pair of experienced players that figured to be solid rotational players.
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Fast forward to the end of the season and the Lakers may have hit one of the most impressive first round draft hauls in a long time. Lonzo is everything we thought in terms of offense and controlling the tempo, but his defense, both on and off the ball, were better than advertised. His shooting percentages dipped toward record lows and still have much more to improve, but he looked more comfortable with his form as the season progressed.
Hart is similar to Lonzo, with his strong defense and know-how to make the right play on offense. But, as I’ve recently profiled, Hart can do more than spot up and make the right pass. He’s a one-man fast break that can get downhill and finish on anybody, and closed the season with 20 points in three of the final four games.
The real prize in this draft, though, was Kuzma at No. 27. His hype train started in NBA Summer League and hasn’t slowed down all season. He’s the ideal 4 in the NBA these days and gives the Lakers a legit go-to scorer that can hold his own on the defensive end.
These three are a close-knit trio (Kuz and Lonzo constantly clowning each other) that play hoops in a way that keeps everybody engaged. They’re selfless, enjoy playing with one another and simply want to win. Finding three rookies in the same draft that set the foundation for the next brand of basketball is a massive victory for the Lakers this season.
4. Injuries hampered playoff hopes
The Lakers weren’t expected to make noise in the postseason, and ended up 13 games adrift from the playoffs. Despite being in a loaded Western Conference, the Lakers reaching their 35-win total this season is surprising given how many games two of their best players missed this season.
Lonzo Ball missed 30 games with a list of injuries to both knees and his shoulder. Brandon Ingram followed suit by missing 23 games on the season with groin injuries and a concussion sidelining him.
Having these two players miss over a quarter of the season apiece hurt the Lakers, with the team going 10-15 with Lonzo out and 8-17 without Ingram. These two were the Lakers’ primary ball-handlers and the team was thin at the guard spot all season.
It also didn’t help that Josh Hart missed 19 games, the team traded Jordan Clarkson, and his replacement, Isaiah Thomas, missed the final 11 games himself with another injury to his hip.
Josh Hart: "I truly believe that if we were healthy all 82 games, we could be a playoff team. It is just that adversity we kept playing hard & competing for every game." #Lakers
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) April 12, 2018
I’m not saying the Los Angeles Lakers would have made the playoffs if these injuries didn’t take place. Every NBA team undergoes injuries and players missing time throughout the season, and the Lakers didn’t suffer any terrible, season-ending injuries to players, which is always a plus. But the injuries to key players ended any hopes they had, especially with Lonzo missing most of December during the team’s toughest stretch of games.
3. Big leaps by Ingram and Randle
With a majority of the preseason hype lying with the rookie class, Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle were not at the forefront of Lakers-centric conversations. But this pair of former top-10 picks were the two best players on the team this season after making great strides in their games.
We’ll start with Ingram, whose season shouldn’t be forgotten about despite missing plenty of games toward the end. Ingram’s statistical improvements speak for themselves, but the main aspect I take away from his season is how he never seemed overwhelmed on the court as his responsibilities increased. He can initiate the offense, and started using his length and skill to finish at the rim instead of settling for jump shots.
Julius Randle entered the season failing failing to come to a contract extension with the Lakers, making the fourth-year forward a restricted free agent this summer. Randle followed suit by reporting to training camp in ridiculous shape, making him stronger and more agile, something he showed by flying across the court on both ends of the floor.
He led the Lakers in points and rebounds per game while appearing in all 82 games this season. Randle still uses his brute force to finish at the rim, but it’s apparent his new frame allows him to take slower-footed bigs off the dribble while maintaining his strength to finish through just about any player in the league.
Defensively, Randle can guard all five positions, and is on the right track to become an anchor on that end of the ball, with or without elite shot-blocking numbers.
Randle should receive a healthy contract extension from the Los Angeles Lakers this summer, but it was a great dynamic to see him take a major step this season. The massive improvements between him and Ingram will be something I remember as turning points for their careers.
2. Coach Walton’s system is fully in place
Maybe all it took was a front office pairing that understood the personnel head coach Luke Walton needed to run his system. Maybe it was Walton starting to get the hang of leading a team his way as a second-year head coach (filling in for Steve Kerr not included). But whatever happened, the Los Angeles Lakers are seeing the results of why the hired Walton two years ago.
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When Luke Walton was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors, he learned a hybrid system that Steve Kerr implemented that combined elements from the offenses he learned during his time in the NBA. Walton has brought that style to the Lakers with his own spin on it, and the organization has given him the players that fit that vision.
The Lakers finished seventh in assists per game, jumping 19 spots from last season’s 26th finish. Walton has always preached ball and player movement, so the assists improvement is a strong indicator in players buying into his ways. The defense improved on the surface, but injuries derailed any season-long improvement, although effort and communication increased.
The main indicator of Walton’s system being fully in place is the success and style of play their G League affiliate, South Bay Lakers. They are a surprisingly deep and fun group of players to watch, and have no problem sliding up to the NBA Lakers and understanding how Walton wants to play because the system is the same from the NBA team to the G League squad.
The reshuffled roster and their fit together could be the main factor in the improved Lakers, but Walton kept the team together and continues to show he has the calm presence and grasp of the modern game that makes him the perfect coach for this organization.
1. The Lakers are built for long-term success
All of this positive momentum garnered from hitting on all of their draft class to other players maturing to having the right coach at the helm is building toward the Los Angeles Lakers having an extremely bright product for the future with a chance to expedite their contending window thanks to a big free agency summer coming up.
It’s no secret that Paul George is a free agent this summer, is a local kid from southern California and has expressed interest in joining the Lakers (or Los Angeles Clippers, to be fair). The Lakers also happen to have a boat load of cap space ready to splash out, especially given the lack of cap space teams have throughout the NBA.
With Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka at the helm, there’s plenty of confidence they won’t overspend and throw money at players well above their price range. This means future cap flexibility is being prioritized and the Lakers are growing into a free agency destination again.
Even if the Lakers fail to land PG-13 or any big free agents and run back their current team with Randle being locked up long-term, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope coming back on another short-term contract, they should be a competitive team that is in the playoff hunt all season.
Next: 2017-18 Week 26 NBA Power Rankings
If the Lakers bring Randle back, they move forward with a core of Randle, Lonzo, Kuzma, Ingram and Hart. That’s a group of five legit NBA players that fit together seamlessly, are under 23 years old and (outside of Randle) are on rookie contracts for multiple seasons. That’s an impressive group of talent to partner with cap space that gives the Los Angeles Lakers one of the brightest future outlooks in the league.