The Lakers keep getting kicked while they are down from members of their past outfit.  James Worthy always keeps it real on the halftime broadcast, but now Magic Johnson, another Lakers legend emerged from the shadows with condemnation for the underachieving group.  He said the owner deserved better. 

It’s some impeccable timing.  Jeanie Buss deserved better than what Johnson gave her while serving as president of the Lakers from 2017-2019.  His behavior was a stark contrast to his TV persona of all smiles and giggles.  Behind the scenes, as ESPN’s Baxter Holmes reported, he was a bully who didn’t have the stones to tell his boss that his welcome was worn out, even after he rambled on to a dazed and confused press corps about their “amazing relationship.”

At building a team, Johnson was no good either.  When LeBron James arrived and made the Lakers relevant again, he incomprehensibly decided to construct a team around his star player that didn’t maximize his abilities.  Johnson said scrap the shooting, let’s put playmakers around the man who reluctantly finds someone he trusts with the ball.  

Then Pelinka was left as his successor.  He’s most responsible for the state the Fakeshow finds itself in.  Each year under his control the identity of the team has changed.  Heading into 2019/2020, LA loaded up with defensive role players plus the addition of Anthony Davis from New Orleans.  AD and Rich Paul held NOLA hostage and ultimately got their way, while the Pelicans, to this day, are fumbling with what’s left of that exchange. 

That Lakers team won it all.  Next, in their 71-day offseason, Pelinka altered the group’s core by letting go of the unit’s defensive role players for an offensive identity.  

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This past summer, Pelinka reached for the stars.  It cost the Lakers much of what was left of their championship DNA, trading for Russell Westbrook, who’s fit with James and co. has been suboptimal to this point. 

In the interest of transparency, I was one of those people who thought the Lakers were back in business after their swap but have recently sold as much stock on LA as possible.  Davis’ eventual return cannot save this team because he’s not an effective perimeter player.  The Lakers have spacing issues already in his absence and they even resorted to running James at center to help stretch the floor.  It was a gimmick that only worked on the bottom tier teams. 

Spacing is far from the team’s only issue.  Westbrook’s decision making as lead guard incessantly digs the Lakers in a hole they can’t climb out of.  Over LA’s last six games, #0 has made his last 25/87 attempts (28%) from the field. 

 In the loss on Jan. 12 at Sacramento, the Lakers went on a 10-4 run in the last five minutes to cut the deficit to four.  Then Westbrook came waltzing upcourt, readjusted on the left wing and hoisted a triple from 25 feet out that bricked.  On the next possession the Kings splashed their own 3-pointer, burying the Lakers, now done seven with less than a minute to go. 

A few nights later at Denver, the Lakers couldn’t hang with the Nuggets and all they had to show for themselves was a loss by 37 points and bowed heads.  It was their poorest showing of the season, less than a month after the group’s second worst defeat– an L at home to San Antonio by 28 points on Dec. 23.

On Monday, the Lakers delivered on James’ promise of improvement, holding the fourth-seeded Utah Jazz, a group 13 games above a .500 record, below 100 points.  The Stifle Tower made 6/8 shots in the restricted area and the Jazz converted 16/21 attempts total in that zone.  Utah’s undoing this night was their fiending for long range bombs.  Triples were 55% of their attempts, while they barely made over ¼ of their rounds fired from deep. 

 On Wednesday at home against the Indiana Pacers, Rick Carlisle’s group hammered away at LA’s interior.  Domantas Sabonis kept catching help when assaulting the interior on a mismatch and finding the open man– ending up with a triple-double, making 75% of his field goals.  Late in the game, Vogel benched Westbrook.  Russ kept slicing his way into the paint but falling short all but once in his 11 tries.  

Someone’s going to have to pay.  Unfairly, it might just be Vogel who gets the axe.  Reports from The Athletic said he was “coaching for his job” after the Denver smackdown.  This tells this mad observer that Pelinka is a man with close to zero basketball character.  How convenient for the man who builds the team for the coaching staff to use, to not have any heat on them from ownership, to my knowledge, for his performance improving the roster.

Vogel is not a perfect coach, but he does have a ring, won only 15 months ago.  If he is let go, good luck to Pelinka finding someone that’s going to trust him.  Championship coaches don’t grow on trees.

Duncan Robinson has really struggled this first half of the first of the five seasons he is signed for with the Miami Heat.

He’s struggling to get some shots in, and we’re struggling to understand what’s really going on and how he went from one of the most lethal shooters in the NBA to a less than average shooter in this season so far.

40 games in for him (The Heat has played 43), we can’t talk about a short slump anymore. We have to talk about a bad season!

But, wait a minute. Is Duncan Robinson’s season that far away from what he’s done in the past?

His general stats don’t really show that. Or at least, not to the extent that Heat Twitter, and most of our analysts in Five Reasons think.

After only two full seasons in the NBA with the Miami Heat, his numbers per game, in average, have only dropped a little bit. If you look at it in four or five years, you may not even notice it.

Yes, numbers don’t say everything, and I agree: Duncan Robinson is missing shots he was making in the past, and maybe just a bunch of good games helped him bump his averages up, but here’s the simple math (in a general scale):

Only taking into consideration his two full seasons (2019-20 and 2020-21), Duncan Robinson this season is averaging just two minutes less than his first full year, and less than four minutes less than his second full year. Spoelstra has lost some of his confidence on Robinson, but he’s still getting plenty of playing time.

His three-point attempts per game are almost the same. 8.6 per game this year, versus 8.5 and 8.3 in the years before. He’s actually shooting more (just slightly), and he’s definitively making less shots.

So far this season, Robinson has 119 threes in 343 attempts, for a 34.7%, way under his 40.8% from last season, and the 44.6% he had a couple of seasons ago. A 10% drop in two years (more or less, since we’ve had three seasons played in a very short time).

If he continues on this same path, it means Duncan Robinson would finish the season within the NBA average (for this season at 34.9% so far), but way under his average when he

Like Nekias Duncan stated in his article The Curious Case Of Duncan Robinson’s Shooting, what has surprised us the most is that, “oddly enough, it’s the easier shots — catch-and-shoot jumpers — the ones that aren’t falling”. The entire league, in average, is having a down year for multiple reasons.

It’s not just a Duncan Robinson issue, but it’s the issue we see every time we watch the Heat. Or not every time. Be fair with Duncan Robinson. He’s just being average, and you’re not used to it.  “Average” Duncan Robinson should be better than the rest. That’s why he got paid…

With Bam Adebayo coming back tonight, as ESPN reported a couple of days ago, we’ll see if Duncan gets a necessary spark. Teams have adjusted to Bam’s dribble handoff to Robinson in the past, and with Robinson having less gravity to get Adebayo open on a pick and roll,  I am not sure we should expect Duncan Robinson’s numbers to go up just because of this particular play, but hopefully I am wrong.

If you’re tired of my optimism based in cold numbers, you better go ahead and listen to what Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sylvander and Brady Hawk had to say about Adebayo’s return to the team (whenever it finally happens this week):

And also, check Brady Hawk’s Five Takeaways of the Loss against the Sixers here.

The Portland Trail Blazers are running out of time to turn their season around.  After 42% of the year, they’ve underachieved and sit at eight games below .500. Some of their record can be blamed on the injury report but most of it should be attributed to the poor product the Blazers have put on the court. 

Damian Lillard was diagnosed with an abdominal tendinopathy on Dec. 1, causing him to miss the next five games. In that span, Portland went 1-4.  Their only victory came against Detroit, one of two teams with single digit wins.  Yet, Lillard returned 11 days later in the loss at home against the Timberwolves, and it might have been too soon.  

Since his return, (8 games) Lillard appears to need more assistance getting open with the help of a screen. Most instances where he zips past a defender have come when he’s running down hill in transition with fewer moments of #0 beating his man in single coverage in the halfcourt.  Whenever Lillard initiates the offense in the halfcourt, Portland’s go-to option as of late is to have a teammate screen for him on either wing so he can pull up for a triple.  It’s becoming as predictable as Julius Randle of the Knicks cutting left. 

Another play Portland runs significantly is attack through the pick ‘n’ roll ball handler.  It’s used for 1/5 of their offense but the team isn’t scoring efficiently this way.  Portland is only converting 41.5% of their shots in this category while taking the eighth most attempts in the league.  This could potentially improve with the return of CJ McCollum.   He’s another dependable option to score as the pnr ball handler because of his swift ability to breakaway or stop on a dime.

This season under first-year coach Chauncey Billups, Portland has cut down on its isolation frequency.  In 2021, the Blazers led the NBA in iso usage (10.2%) and now only eight other teams run more one-on-one action.  Portland may have the ball stick less now (7.6), but their effectiveness attacking this way has decreased. While McCollum is out, most of the iso plays are going to Lillard, who has his teammates clear out for a possible lane or for space to take a jumper.  On more occasions, Dame Time is settling for a deep tray instead of blowing past his man.     

Defensively, the outfit is the worst team guarding in the NBA.  The Blazers are tied with New Orleans for last in the league in opponent 3-point percentage while also giving up over 48 points a night in their interior.  Much of this is due to poor communication, like not alerting a teammate of an incoming screen, a Blazer failing to inform another he’s switching, or not receiving help when stuck in a mismatch. 

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As an illustration, on Dec. 21 at New Orleans,Portland put the Pelicans in the bonus less than five minutes into the game.  Some of the penalties came defending a couple fastbreak layups by NOLA’s Josh Hart and Braondon Ingram and another was Jusuf Nurkić losing control on a loose ball.

Then on Dec. 31, Avery Bradley of the Lakers set a screen on Nassir Little on the right wing  anticipating LeBron James’ dive in transition.  James wrapped around the screen and Lillard was left on an island with him on the baseline.  In the moment of truth, Norman Powell did not help from the opposite baseline and instead stayed on Russell Westbrook in the corner. James then powered past Lillard to the basket for two plus the foul.

Four minutes into the same game, James stripped Powell’s right baseline cut and got out in transition after Westbrook flung the loose ball back to start the break.  Here Tony Snell of the Blazers can be seen jogging from the left corner until he reaches his team’s 3-point line.  

On Jan. 3, without Lillard (load management) at home, Portland outlasted the Atlanta Hawks, but not without the opposing squad dropping 131 points.  It was the fourth time this season their matchup scored at least 120 points at the Moda Center, but the only instance in which the Blazers won.  

Portland’s room for error is shrinking, but they are not out of the playoff hunt yet. Lillard and McCollum as recently as the bubble games showed that they could lead their team to wins at the end in the regular season to secure a final spot.  During that eight game stretch the Blazers finished 6-2.  This time around, performing late season heroics might be very challenging.  Every team is at risk of losing a key because of COVID-19 outbreak.  Missing the right players could derail a season.

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Kyrie Irving won.  It probably won’t be long either before the Nets change course on their decision not to bring him back.  

Inexplicably, the Brooklyn Nets swallowed their words in the middle of a league-wide covid outbreak. And they shouldn’t have.  It was only on Oct. 29 when team owner Joe Tsai said it wasn’t tenable for his star guard to compete on his own time. Eight weeks later, Irving’s lack of social awareness is the reason people miss his game and why the Nets have had to trod on through 30 without him.  

Given this impulsive change of direction, Irving is only available for 23 of Brooklyn’s 27 remaining away games while he stays unvaccinated.  Hopefully the Nets don’t confuse him with a groupie because they’ll only see him on the road.  But as of now, they are first in the east, and away from Barclays, the team has the best road record in the NBA at 11-3.  

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New York’s laws aren’t changing.  While Irving remains obtuse, his part-time gig of Cirque du Soleil basketball still leaves the Nets at a disadvantage come playoff time.  They’ll be without him in their building while he sits at home, twiddling his thumbs watching the game like the rest of us.  

Sure, Irving finally coming back will help them win more of the games they were supposed to.  But it doesn’t mean anything if he can’t be there in the trenches with his group when they need him the most.

And they do need Irving back badly, despite being “#1.”  James Harden has lost two steps because of age and weight.  Kevin Durant, as brilliant as his arsenal is, will get burnt out if he keeps averaging 37 minutes a night.  

In the previous postseason, Harden was limited in round 2 against the bucks because of a grade 2 hamstring strain.  In Game 4 of the same series, Irving sprained his ankle and couldn’t continue after Giannis Antetokounmpo undercut him.  Durant was left on an island with the team’s role players and nearly got them there if not for his size 30 sneakers.  

This star threesome could become the greatest trio that never was.  Irving, Durant’s and Harden have played only 13 games, a third of the way past year two together.  Sources tell me Vegas will start taking wagers soon on the over/under for the three linchpins playing 82 games collectively over the next 18 months. To their “credit,” the Nets record in their minuscule sample size was 10-3.  

Once Irving gets back on the floor, one can only hope that his fix of competing will overpower his reluctance to follow the advice of medical professionals.   

The necessity of a trade is sometimes the fault of a player not living up to his end of the contract or a front offices’ miserable ability at building a winner.  Assembling a quality squad through the draft takes years.  It only makes it more painful for those competing or the devoted supporters who spend their money and time on the product when the people in charge have no plan.

It seemed like there was an idea for the Sacramento Kings after the 2017 draft.  They got a gold claim in De’Aaron Fox, the most dynamic guard in the class who had just fallen in their laps.  But in the following years, Sac took two guys who play the same position as Fox and had another miscalculation picking Marvin Bagley over Luka Doncic. 

The Kings have the longest active playoff drought in the NBA (15), and their best player, the Fox, is already on his second deal.  It’s the first year of a five-year contract worth  $163 million, the largest in the organization’s history.  Unfortunately, the Kings make roster upgrades at a snail’s pace.  The Fox might be on his third contract before this outfit breaks its abysmal streak of failure.

But they shouldn’t wait that long.  With three players who should have their opportunity to claim the QB spot, Sacramento got very lucky that Tyrese Haliburton is versatile enough to be a secondary initiator and tall enough to play shooting guard.  The problem is the team is too small if it plays the three of them at once, and the Kings reluctantly do so. 

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Usually, rebuilding teams in the lottery want their young guys competing with each other to build chemistry.  Three of the last four first-round picks for Sacramento (Fox, Haliburton, Davion Mitchell) have shared the floor in eight different lineups this season.  None of those rotations that Sacramento uses with its three point guards averages more than 8.2 minutes per game.  

Mitchell might have been the best player available, but if the Kings needed a guard that badly, perhaps they should have taken Chris Duarte, who is four inches taller and a more effective marksman.  He fell to Indiana at 13.  

On Nov. 21, the Kings fired coach Luke Walton adding another name to the graveyard of instructors who tried to turn the team around.  I’m not here to say Walton was anything special as a coach, but the blame for the team’s record cannot be entirely placed on him.  Perhaps he’d still have a job if former general manager Vlade Divac knew a generational talent when he saw one.  

Picking Mitchell in the previous draft was President Monte McNair’s choice.  Despite the poor start to the 2021/2022 campaign, the Kings have the ammo to make significant modifications to the lineup.  It starts with putting Fox on the trade market.  

 It was reported in July (before the draft) that Sacramento was one of the teams interested in Philadelphia’s disgruntled All-Star Ben Simmons.  The Kings had an opportunity to get him, but they didn’t want to include Fox or Haliburton in a deal.  And that’s why “scared money don’t make no money,” as Jeezy said.

Simmons was one of the finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2021.  The Kings are 28th this season in defensive rating, needing versatility and size in their frontcourt.  Simmons could have provided that and the threat of a ball-handler in exchange for Fox.  Philadelphia likely won’t be interested now in a swap with Sacramento after the emergence of Tyrese Maxey.

And that’s also why Grover Washington sang, “Good things come to those who wait, but not for those who wait too late.”