Walter Tavares was one of the few bright spots in a truly awful year
You have to go back to the 1957-58 season to find a Lakers team even remotely this bad. That squad went 19-53. The most recent edition? 1 worse, and a franchise record futility in 18-54. Yes, Caron Butler battled through a broken finger. Yes, Isiah Thomas was a controversial head coach hire. And yes, the roster was almost completely devoid of talent, made all the more dreary for the front office's failure to consummate a single trade for the first time ever in contemporary Jestorball. It was a long, slow, painful slog that projects to ve even worse next year. Here's a look at some of the grim, grim stats:
25th Or Worse Categories
Assists: 18.5 - 27th
Rebounds: 36.4 - 30th
Blocks: 2.6 - 30th
FG % - 41.9 - 26th
Turnovers: 13.7 - 26th
Opp Points Allowed: 107.3 - 30th
Assists Allowed - 22 - 30th
Steals Allowed - 6.6 - 29th
FG % Allowed: 50 - 30th
3P % Allowed: 39.3 - 27th
Turnovers Forced - 10.8 - 25th
That's 11 categories in the bottom 5 of the league, 4 of them last and least. And yet, despite this horror show, the Purple and Gold actually managed to win more games than two other, equally bad teams in the Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic. It just goes to show awful the bottom 3 (along with the Brooklyn Nets), truly were this season, where teams secretly prayed for lottery luck and the right to draft either Marcus Smart or Andrew Wiggins.
But more about the lottery and draft later. Next up, team review:
Point Guards
Jordan Farmar had a terrific 3.0 A/TO ratio after being tossed the keys to the offense. But that's the only thing he did well, as his 3 point shot, so spectacular last season, deserted him, dwindling to a decent 37.4%. And his other shot types were simply horrific. Defense? That didn't happen, either. Marquis Teague was made the apprentice, but failed to show expected growth, and his only noteworthy accomplishment was a very impressive 0.8 PA/SF. Randy Foye and Vander Blue were non-factors.
Shooting Guards
Preseason predictions said that Doug McDermott had a good shot at leading the Lakers in scoring, and he did - barely. 15.2 points on 41% shooting from 3 point range was absolutely phenomenal, but he also stopped just 25.4% of drives. Jeremy Lamb actually displayed progress in hitting 42.5% of his shots, 38.1% from downtown, but was equally putrid on defense, and the Lakers are quite eager to see his fourth year option erased after erroneously being picked up.
Small Forwards
Caron Butler was a nice feel-good story of hometown bros before breaking his finger, but he, too, was completely forgettable. Darrell Arthur was his backup, but also did nothing of note.
Power Forward
Expectations were high for David West, but he had the single worst year of his career in every single metric, both defensively and offensively, and absolutely torpedoed his trade value in the very likely event he picks up his player option. Carlos Boozer essentially duplicated last season's PER 36 numbers, putting together 15 points and 7.2 rebounds, second on the squad in both categories, while shooting more or less at the same rate. He should be a key free agent target for a team like the Wizards this offseason, looking for explosive post scoring that can be made better with work on his form.
Center
Walter Tavares will get his own section. Robert Sacre and Guywithlongname were scrubs.
Why Walter Tavares Needs To Be Rookie of The Year
13.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 0.7 steals, 1 block, and an oh so damned blissful 57.4% shooting. And a team-high 16.0 Efficiency rating.
Rookie Ranks
Points - 4th
Rebounds - 3rd (just 0.1 out of 2nd)
Blocks - 8th
FG% - 1st - the next closest? 48.8 Almost a 10% difference
Efficiency - 1st - next closest? A full 2 lower at 14. More to the point, much-hyped Jabari Parker is all the way down at 8th
Double-Doubles - 1st with 23, the next with 18. In fact, just 5 rookies hit double-digits in double-doubles
In fact, Tavares was 21st in the entire league in double-doubles and ranked 51st in efficiency rating, just behind Kyle Korver's 16.1 at 50. But the most impressive stat? His 57.4% shooting was 3rd in the ENTIRE CSL, behind only Brandan Wright and Dwight Howard. That's an eye-popping stat.
The Future
The Lakers' pick fell out of protection in one of the most shocking lotteries in a long time, dropping from 3rd to 6th, as 4th, 7th, and 9th all jumped into the Top 3. That leaves the Purple and Gold without a single draft pick for the first time ever for a Jestorball team. Nor does it appear that they'll seek to enter the draft, given that the picks on the block are all demanding future firsts, which the organization has absolutely no interest in parting with.
As a result, Los Angeles has three first round picks next year - their own, the Jazz, and the Kings. With Utah getting lucky for the second straight year, and additionally finally hiring a competent, experienced GM, and the West once again looking weak, it appears that the team will have a lottery pick and two mid-late firsts, given the weakness of the West. Due to the crash in pick value, they won't be dealt.
While the team is loaded for bear with cap space, due to most of their roster going out of contract (Tavares, McDermott, Teague, and Farmar are the only guaranteed contracts, while West is almost certain to pick up his $12 million PO), the current gameplan is to sign a presumed 7 or 8 min-sal players to one year contracts after renouncing all expirings and team options. It will be another terrible season next year, perhaps having even fewer wins than this one.
Then, once West and Teague are out the door after next season, the rebuilding can truly begin in earnest, armed with three first round picks, Tavares, McDermott, and Farmar, and only then will the Lakers consider making free agency splashes - particularly if some of the rest of the teams who have obscene amounts of money spend this offseason. More likely, however, is a continued willingness to lose and stockpile picks with a low payroll until the young players are developed enough that dashing in free agents makes sense.
2020, 2023, 2027, 2035
