SB Nation - Jordan Farmar

Shaking Up The Core: Thoughts On Changing Up UCLA Basketball's Starting Lineup/Rotation

Nestor — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:06:09 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Jerime Anderson is not getting it done with an A/T ratio of 1.18, shooting 50% (!) from the FT line, 23% from 3 point line (35 % overall), and yet averaging 29 mins per game

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So here I go.

I have seen 4 regular season games this year. 5 if I count the second exhibition game against Humboldt State, which I saw via the pathetic online feed from the official site. Based on what I have seen so far here is the starting lineup that seems to make sense:

I think for the short term Howland needs to make two critical moves:

Bench Dragovic for rest of the year (duh) limiting him not much more than 10-12 mins per game
Bench Anderson and limit his mins to not more than 15 mins per game.

More on these two points and other thoughts on how Howland needs to shake up the current core of starting rotation after the jump.

Let's start with the obvious problem, which is the crazy amount of minutes Howland keeps wasting on Dragovic. Nikola Dragovic might be the most startling enigma during Coach Ben Howland's 7 years in Westwood. It simply doesn't make any sense how Howland continues to give this kid special treatment despite his total failure (and no I couldn't care less about his meaningless rebounding statistics) on the court. Time after time we have seen Howland using a quick hook whenever dealing with an underclassmen. We have seen him inserting and then pulling a freshmen or sophomore for making simple defensive mistakes or turning the ball over on the offensive side. Yet, with Dragovic (and in some cases with Josh Shipp from last season), we have seen Howland giving special treatment to an upperclassmen, who clearly doesn't play up to the standards of a Ben Ball warrior on the court (I will not even touch Dragovic's off court issues).

The only explanation I can think behind Howland giving Dragovic mins is that he is hoping that he somehow regains his shooting touch like he did to a certain extent against Pac-10 teams last year. However, numbers don't lie. He is shooting less than 20 percent from the 3 point line this season. Last year, after he got hot during the Pac-10 games, he still shot less than 39 percent from the 3 point line. He is an atrocious defender and he has never shown anything that indicates that he has a natural feel for the game. Yet, he continues to get the mins.

At this point, after what he did against Mississippi State, Howland will send wrong message if he starts Dragovic tomorrow. To me it's a no brainer that Howland takes Dragovic out of the lineup. Now the guy I would start would be James Keefe and here is my explanation for it. I think Brandon Lane has more upside than Keefe. However, I would at least give Keefe the start, because Keefe despite being tentative has a better feel for the game than Dragovic. I think it might make sense to start him and then bring in Lane off the bench. Keefe is better than Dragovic when it comes to shot selection (he has better FG%) and he understands Howland's offense and defense much better than Dragovic. Keefe's problem has been on the FT line and just being too tentetive (which goes back to Howland having a quick hook for all the other players except for some one like Dragovic).

At least with Shipp, I understood a little why Howland let him get away with defensive relapses. Josh Shipp had courage and also a knack for making big shots when it mattered. He was fearless and I thought was a game. Dragovic? Well, I think Bellerophon was off the mark, when he called Dragovic a "scrub" for his effort (or lack there of) on the court. He has shown as much as guys like Ryan Walcott and Travis Reed, to merit starting mins on the court, which is nothing.

Moving on to the point guard situation. This one is obvious. Here is bruinponcho:

The biggest problem is that his lineup and rotations make no sense. As soon as I saw JA in the starting lineup with MR at small forward, I knew this was a loss. JA is not a starting point guard, period. MR is not a small forward. We have lots of big guys and only three guards, go with a bigger lineup.

ML and MR should each be playing 30 minutes a game with JA playing 10 minutes backing up ML and MM playing 10 minutes backing up MR. JA and ML should never be on the floor at the same time. Ever. Their games are too similar in that there only offense is driving and neither can shoot. Used appropriately and in conjunction with a shooter like MR, this can be effective. But you cant have both JA and ML out there together when JA’s game is just an inferior version of ML.

And Meriones called for this, well back in April:

Backcourt size — Can anyone remember when we started a both-6-5 backcourt? Didn’t think so. Malcolm’s hustle and length and Roll’s experience in CBH’s schemes should do wonders to negate any possible lack of waterbug quickness. Worse comes to worst, we bring in JA to check smaller guards and fight pace with pace, but at least we START with the size advantage, for a change.

Note Meriones did have Dragovic in the starting lineup but being the wiseman that he added this:

Caveat: this would hinge ENTIRELY on whether Drago can put in a full summer of workouts and improve his defensive rotations.

Uh, I think from what we have seen this year we don't have to discuss Drago's defensive rotations any further.

I have to say I was dumbfounded that Howland even started Anderson last game after seeing how much more effective and energetic we were against Kansas, when Lee got the start. It doesn't make any sense how this kid continues to get more than 20 mins per game, given he cannot shot, cannot drive, cannot make FTs (!!!), and most importantly cannot defend. Jerime might be working hard. However, given what we have seen from the court, we are not seeing the results. I think it is time for Howland to dramatically reduce his mins, so that Anderson can reflect on how he can be more efficient, smart in practice and focus on how he can improve game by game.

Going back to our rotation, Honeycutt needs to start next game. After watching two games, it seems like he probably has the most upside as the natural scorer in this team. He is also a rebounder (8 in last game, 6 against Kansas). I think it is time for Howland to ride Honeycutt and Nelson, just like he rode on the freshmen talents of JF and AA in their first two years of Westwood.

I get that Howland is trying to win every game. However, from what we have seen its clear that the current core which includes major mins for Dragovic and Anderson, is not the winning formula. It is time for Howland to shake up his current core. He needs to do that by starting Lee at the 1, user Moser's athleticism to back up the 2-3 spot behind Roll and Honeycutt, take out Dragovic from the lineup at the expense of increased mins for Lane and some Keefe. I have to say I have also been impressed with the effort Morgan has given in recent weeks. I think he has clearly earned some backup mins at the 5. I am hoping he can turn up the intensity even few more notches and he might be able to salvage his career in Westwood, just like Ryan Hollins did before he was done in Westwood.

Lastly, people who are feeling uncomfortable with the criticism of Coach Ben Howland on BN needs to chill out. None of us are even going anywhere close to calling for Howland to step aside. There is no discussion of "coaching candidates" that are actually happening on other UCLA online communities. All we are doing is offering our frank thoughts and analysis on what we see wrong with our program. We have been in Howland's corner all this time. We will give him all the benefits of doubt. However, don't expect us to stay quiet and be blind homers when we see something is wrong.

All we are doing is offering our analysis and thoughts. So with that said the thoughts above are my impressions on what Coach Howland needs to do address the current concerns with our hoops program. While the measures suggested are steps to address the short term concerns, I believe they can also help to steady the program, paying dividends for the long term, bringing back where Howland took us in recent history. We can get there again and it will require Coach Howland to adjust, adapt, recalibrate, just like Coach John Wooden did during his time in Westwood.

GO BRUINS.

Win Streak Hits 11, Kobe's Finger Banged

DexterFishmore — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:04:07 -0000

Lakerdom's lingua franca added a new medical term tonight: "avulsion fracture." That's what befell the precious right index finger of Kobe Bryant in the second quarter of a 104-92 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. It happened while he was defending Ryan Gomes near the sideline, and it sent him to the halftime locker room early. He returned, with a splint courtesy of trainer Gary Vitti, to play about 18 minutes in the second half, looking more or less OK, but he admitted after the game that it felt "pretty painful." Please commence your candlelight vigils.

The Lakers' effort level was up and down tonight. After opening up an 11-point lead early in the quarter, they let point guard Ramon Sessions engineer a comeback that made it a two-point game at half. L.A. allowed Minnesota to score 1.10 points per possession over the first two quarters, which is just absurd. The Wolves average 0.97 PPP on the season. On the road against a team with the Lakers' length, they shouldn't even sniff the 1.00 mark.

In the third quarter, the Lake Show locked everything down. They forced the Timberwolves to do what they do best - turn the rock over to the other team - and built up an 18-point margin. A key contribution was made by ~~Laker double agent~~ Minnesota head coach Kurt Rambis, who sat Sessions for the first 10 minutes of the third. Sessions was 6-for-6 in the first half, so it was nice of Rambis to cool him off.

There wasn't a lot of flow in the Laker offense tonight. It was one of their worst shooting performances in a while. Pau Gasol, though, put in an evening of solid work: 17 points, seven assists and a career-high 20 boards. Ron Artest was quietly productive (16 points, five assists and three steals), and backcourt reserves Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown and Sasha Vujacic chipped in 22. Onward to Utah.

Before we go, however, a heartfelt plea to Stu Lantz, wherever he may be: come back soon. I AM BEGGING. Hot Rod Hundley filled in tonight, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say his performance was the most tragic event in American history. About 80% of the game he spent mumbling impenetrably. Dude, seriously... you need to speak up and enunciate. You sound like an 80-year-old Boomhauer up past his bedtime. The remaining 20% of the game, we realized how nice things were when we couldn't understand what Hot Rod was saying.

I need my Stu back. I swear, I'm never writing a bad word about him again.

	Poss.	TO%	FTA/ FGA	FT%	EFG%	TS%	Off Reb%	Def Reb%	PPP
Minny	96	18	0.18	75	45	48	32	71	0.96
L.A.	96	15	0.14	77	49	52	29	68	1.08

Something Special Brewin? Malcolm Jones Honored As Gatorade National Player Of The Year

Nestor — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:08:15 -0000

Many of us have followed college athletics long enough to know that we shouldn't always get too excited about hype around big time recruits. It is especially true these days in the world of college basketball. Sometimes recruits in hoops such as JF, AA, and KL live up to all the hype. Other times, well I don't think I have to go through the details of the Ben Ball ~~warriors~~ class of 2008 (you can also read the comments in this thread which will go back much further).

Same dynamics also play out in football to a certain extent (even though in football it takes recruits traditionally a year or two to make discernible impact in the program). I think we can write post after posts on who has worked out (MJD, Brian Price, Akeem Ayers, Rahim Moore, XSF) and who hasn't (Ben Olson, Aundre Dean ) in recent years in Westwood. Yet, every once in a while we read and hear about a recruit in football or hoops, and we can't help but hope for something special when everything looks and sounds right about his arrival to Westwood. Well, if you haven't yet then meet Malcolm Jones. He just became the first UCLA football recruit ever to be honored as the Gatorade National High School Player Of The Year:

The LAT writeup provides the eye popping numbers:

Jones, a running back-linebacker, has scored 109 touchdowns in his four-year prep career. This season, he has rushed for 2,156 yards, putting him 40 yards short of tying the single-season school record held by Marc Tyler. He has 36 touchdowns and is nearing 6,000 yards rushing in his career.

Jon Gold from the Daily News had the following comment from MJ's team-mate on how emotional he was yesterday:

"You should have seen the expressions on his face when he was walking out of class," Oaks Christian quarterback Nick Montana said with a wide smile. "He was with his family, biggest smile on his face; I haven't seen him smile like that in a while. He was tearing up a little bit - it was awesome to see."

Well congrats to Malcolm from the entire BN. We have a little more on him after the jump.

Gold sheds a little more light on Malcolm as a student and person off the field:

Jones maintains a 3.46 grade-point average and announced in early October that he would play for UCLA, choosing the Bruins over expected front-runner Stanford. Additionally, Jones is a peer tutor and a youth basketball volunteer referee.

"He's realizes I think that he's really blessed," Marshall Jones Sr. said. "He takes his blessings as something he should utilize for the good of himself and others. And that's what makes me proud of him.

"He's a better person than he is a football player."

He also has the right perspective heading into UCLA next season:

"I really wanted to go to a school where I can really make a name for myself, not just be the "next" star running back at a USC or one of those big-time colleges," Jones said. "I want to prove to everyone that I can really help turn the program around, get them back on top."

Sounds like a Bruin already. lol Here he was few weeks ago reflecting on his team's season, his commitment to UCLA, and the looming CIF playoffs:

Well, Malcolm is going to lead his 13-0 Oaks Christian team into tonight Northwest Division championship game against Gardena Serra. He has played on three consecutive section championship teams.

In terms of some previous history on this award, I should note in hoops it was KL and Jrue Holiday who were also honored as Gatorade NPOY (as I said in my opening grafs, we have mixed records). Previous honorees as Gatorade NPOY includes names such as Peyton Manning, Emmitt Smith and Jeff George. The list also includes Matt disrespected Barkely (won the award in his junior season), who hasn't really done all that much considering the talent he was surrounded with at Southern Cal.

All that said, it's still a big deal. As noted above Malcolm is the first Bruin recruit to win this award. As excited as we all are about him, what I am even more excited is listening to him, he comes as as the perfect Bruin in the mold of ATV. Keeping my fingers crossed, Malcolm experiences the same level of success as our current senior captain both on and off the field starting next year at UCLA.

GO BRUINS.

Appetite for Destruction: Lakers Demolish Jazz

DexterFishmore — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:07:18 -0000

I'm feeling a bit dazed at the moment, as I'm sure are the Utah Jazz. That fourth quarter was a lot to take in. In a matter of minutes, a tightly contested game that looked like it would go down to the wire turned into a brutal street crime. The Los Angeles Lakers, cranking up their defense like we've never seen, strangled the Jazz into submission, stole their wallets and ice, and then kept kicking their lifeless bodies just for fun. Utah managed only six points in the fourth. Seis.

Someone should probably get them to a hospital.

The masterpiece that was the fourth quarter redeemed what had been an uninspired effort to that point. In the first half, the Lakers looked annoyed that someone was asking them to defend the Utah offense, which ran with its usual Swiss-engineered precision. Open looks were abundant for Jazz shooters, who hit four of their first eight three-point attempts. Shannon Brown (failing to follow cutters) and Andrew Bynum (failing to rebound) were the chief offenders, but nobody in Lakerdom distinguished himself.

In the third, Utah finally started missing threes - they would end up honking their last nine attempts from distance - and the Lakers exploited the chance to claw back into the lead. Kobe Bryant had 13 in the third, which ended with a Jordan Farmar money ball. Jordan had another in a string of quality efforts. He finished with 11 points, four rebounds and a net plus-minus of +17.

And then the fourth quarter started, and there was BLOOD EVERYWHERE. Voracious and predatory was the Laker defense. For the quarter the Jazz turned the ball over eight times in 24 possessions and shot 2 for 18. It was, let's just say it, the best 12 minutes of Laker D any of us have seen. Like, ever. The final score was 101 to 77.

Here, for your amusement, is how the teams fared in points per possession by quarter.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
Utah	1.14	1.27	0.83	0.25	0.86
Los Angeles	1.14	1.04	1.09	1.17	1.11

The Lakers are now 17-3 and have won 10 straight. They're undefeated since the return of Pau Gasol. Here are the game stats, followed by a tasty dunk by Shannon. I believe it will meet with your satisfaction.

	Poss.	TO%	FTA/ FGA	FT%	EFG%	TS%	Off Reb%	Def Reb%	PPP
Utah	90	19	0.22	79	36	41	33	75	0.86
L.A.	91	10	0.40	77	49	55	25	67	1.11

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Lakers Bring Back Showtime

Josh Tucker — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:00:26 -0000

In a defensive showcase, the Lakers clamped down in the fourth quarter and held the Utah Jazz to 6 points in the period. This included a 19-0 stretch, and from the start of the quarter to the 4:35 mark, a 23-2 run. We'll have LOTS more to say about that soon enough, but for now, here's your highlight of the night.

It's Showtime again in Los Angeles. Enjoy.

Lakers Dominate Suns, Look Better Than Ever

Josh Tucker — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:38:35 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

NCIS is my favorite show. Gibbs is my role model.

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In 2008-09, the Lakers won the NBA Championship (you know ... in case you hadn't heard). Along the way, they won 65 games. Throughout all this, their longest winning streak was 7 games. They had more than one such streak.

During the regular season, they often struggled to maintain focus and intensity. Their ceiling was very high, and they had the fortunate ability to play at nearly full potential when needed — but not consistently, and not when the competition was less than top notch. They often gave too much ground to bad teams, and though they were solid against Denver in the Conference Finals, and handled Orlando quite quickly en route to a 4-1 Finals victory, they weren't nearly as good as they should have been in the first two rounds, against lesser competition.

Many of these things appear to be changing, and last night's game is just the latest piece in a nine-game string of of games that punctuate that statement. With Pau Gasol still getting into shape, Ron Artest still learning the offense, and the schedule tougher than the pundits would have you believe, the Lakers' win over Phoenix last night has them riding a winning streak of nine games — already two better than anything they did last year.

With the stage now set, let's take a closer look at last night's blowout of the Suns at Staples Center...

Okay, I just can't help myself. Two more fun facts about this streak that I just have to point to:

On this nine-game winning streak, the Lakers have broken 100 points nine times. They have held their opponents below 100 points eight times.
Their average margin of victory over these nine games is 15.3 points per game. Basically, they're on a dominant nine-game winning streak, averaging a blowout.

Okay, on to last night's game. We'll do this with bullets.

Defense

The Suns have the NBA's best offense. Even after last night, they still rank nearly a full point per 100 possessions better than second-ranked Denver in that category. The Lakers, meanwhile, have one of the NBA's best defenses — 3rd by Offensive Efficiency rating, but first in defensive FG%, eFG%, and TS%. When the two clashed, the Lakers' defense easily won out.
The Lakers held the Suns under 100 points; only two other teams have managed that all year. They also held the Suns under 90 points; no other team has managed that all year.
They also held the Suns to under 100 points per 100 possessions (or, as we like to say around these parts, under 1.00 point per possession). By Hollinger's measure, they managed an efficiency rating of only 95.8 points per 100 possessions (0.96 PPP); by Dex's more accurate count (Hollinger uses a formula; Dex actually tallies it all up, possession by possession, superhero that he is), they were up to 0.98 PPP (98.0 points per 100 possessions). Either way, considering these two facts: (a) the Suns average 112.1 points per 100 possessions (1.12 PPP), and (b) a defensive efficiency rating of 95.8 points per 100, by Hollinger's rating, would be good enough for best defense in the League.
The Suns are 3-point shooting maniacs. They average 22.7 three-point attempts per game, and they convert at a mind-numbing rate of 43.4% from that range. Last night, the Lakers defended the arc very well, holding the Suns to a mere 13 attempts, of which they made only four. For the mathematically challenged, that's 30.8% shooting from distance. For some perspective, note that if they shot that poorly from three all season, it would rank them 23rd in the NBA in 3-point accuracy, instead of where they currently rank — first.
They also rank 3rd overall in total field goal percentage, at 49.3%. The Lakers held them to 44.6% on the night. Solid.
Phoenix didn't break 30 points in any quarter. They were held to 22 or less in three out of four.
Some subjective observations: Ron Artest was awesome as ever on D. Five steals, very disruptive overall, and never gave up on a single play. I was also very pleased with our bigs' defense. Taking a page from Toronto's playbook (I can't believe I just typed that; Toronto is ranked dead last in defense), LA switched on screen-rolls with Nash, sending Gasol or Bynum out to challenge the floppy-haired Canadian. I was impressed with both big men, who were very active defensively, moving their feet and generally preventing Nash from getting by them and into the paint. Great effort there, and great result overall. They didn't shut him down, but they kept him pretty quiet, at 12 points and 10 assists.
Final thought on last night's defense, back to offensive/defensive ratings: Tallying a defensive rating that, if maintained over the course of the season, would rank the Lakers first in the league, against the best offense in the league? Yeah, I'd say that's pretty damn good defense.

Offense

The Lakemen are slowly climbing their way up the ranks in Offensive Efficiency. They're still ranked only 13th overall, but the offense has actually been quite good of late, and their rating is slowly increasing. Last night, they scored 121.0 points per 100 by Hollinger's formulaic rating — a number matched identically, in this case, by Dex's more accurate exact count, which yielded 1.21 PPP. For perspective: Phoenix boasts the best offensive rating in the League, a point better than 2nd-ranked Denver, at 112.1 points per 100 (1.12 PPP); last night, the Lakers were 9 points per 100 better than that.
21 three-point attempts, 10 makes, which is a conversion rate of 47.6% from distance. Yeah, they stole the Suns playbook on that one. Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Shannon Brown, and Jordan Farmar — all hit at least 50% of their three-point attempts.
26 free throws earned, a very solid rate of 0.32 FTA/FGA, and converted at a very high rate of 84.6%. Ron Artest didn't miss a single freebie.
The Suns doubled heavily in the paint, since the Lakers destroyed them down there last time. The Lake Show simply responded by hitting jumpers, knocking down threes, and passing out of the double team down low. On a couple occasions, I was very pleased to see Bynum take a page from Gasol's playbook, drawing the double with his back to the basket and then dumping the ball off to his low post-mate.
Good ball control. A temporary lapse in the second quarter, where they committed six turnovers, but only 11 overall — and only one in each of the first and third quarters.
Six guys in double figures, including two off the bench. (I'm telling you, the more I see the Farmar/Brown lineup, the more I love it.)

Bench Play

I've decided to refer to the reserve lineup that Phil Jackson plays when it still matters — typically, in the 2nd and early 4th quarters, and sometimes in the 3rd — as the Bench Unit. This is the lineup that features Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, and Lamar Odom (or at least two of those three), but NOT Sasha Vujabric, Adam Morrison, Josh Powell, or DJ Mbenga. The lineup featuring Vujabric/Morrison/Powell/Mbenga, usually accompanied by either Farmar or Brown, is what I will refer to as the GarbageTime Unit. It's nothing revolutionary, just calling a spade a spade, since the GTU guys simply do not play when it still matters.
The Bench Unit was very good last night. They were part of a 2nd-quarter 8-0 run, and a 3rd-quarter 15-1 run (that's where the game was decided, going from a still-in-question 9-point game at 72-63 to an insurmountable 23-point lead at 87-64). They also managed to play even in the first half of the fourth quarter, responding to a mini-run by Phoenix which cut the lead to 13 thanks mainly to a pair of threes by Shannon Brown, which pushed the lead back to the 20-point margin the Lakers ended the game with.
The Lakers won every quarter but the fourth, and they only lost the fourth by 1 point.
The GarbageTime Unit didn't lose a single inch. The Bench Unit lost only 1 point to Phoenix in the first part of the fourth quarter, but held a 20-point lead when the GTU replaced them. The GTU held its own and ended the game with that same 20-point lead.

Individual Play

Kobe Bryant. Awesome as usual. 26 points on only 16 FGAs. 9-16 from the field, 50% on threes, 7 rebounds, only one turnover, 8 trips to the line, in a pretty average 36 minutes.
Ron Artest. As I already mentioned, 5 steals, very disruptive overall, never gave up on defense. Lights out from three (3-5), hit all his free throws. 15 points on 11 FGAs, along with 5 assists. Solid.
Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. 5-9 shooting for Bynum, 6-10 for Gasol. 13 points for Bynum, 14 for Gasol. Between them, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and only one free throw miss and one turnover. Played very well together offensively, and both were excellent on defense. Bynum even attempted a 3-point attempt (didn't have much choice), which almost bounced in (factoring out that desperation attempt, he was 5-8 from the field).
Lamar Odom with the little things. 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal.
The Point Guards. All three of them. Good three point shooting, good defense, good energy.

Final Thoughts

It's worth noting that Phoenix was once again playing on the second half of a back to back, in Los Angeles. Not ideal circumstances. On the other hand, the Suns are a good team, and good teams pose a serious threat even on the second half of a back to back, on the road. Yes, it was a bit of an advantage for the Lakers, but don't undervalue the effort they gave or the credit they deserve for this win. They controlled this game in every way, and it wasn't because Phoenix didn't come to play.

Speaking of controlling the game: The Suns play at a pace of 98 possessions per game. The Lakers play at a similar pace of 97.8 possessions per game. Nonetheless, because of the Suns' ability to run with Nash and to take high percentage threes in transition, as well as the Lakers ability to dominate in the post, and in the half-court set in general, I think it's safe to say that in this particular matchup, a slower game is a good idea for the Lakers. With that in mind, the pace of the game was yet another thing the Lakemen controlled very well, as the game went 89.5 possessions (89 for LA, 90 for for Phoenix).

Bottom line: Another game, another blowout.

Lakers Drop-Kick Nets Into History Books

DexterFishmore — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:42:26 -0000

Rod Thorn to Tom Barrise, early Sunday morning: "Good news, Tommy! You get to be an NBA head coach. Congrats! The bad news? Ehh... *scratches neck nervously*... dude, how do I put this? The team you're gonna coach blows. Like, really blows. Also, you gotta go face the Lakers. And this might just be for one night. That last thing might be part of the good news, actually."

The New Jersey Nets, it turns out, are worse than we thought. Phil Jackson warned his team not to overlook the winless Nets, but overlooking them probably wouldn't have made a difference tonight. The Lakers could've forgotten the game was scheduled, showed up at Staples in the middle of the second quarter and still pulled out a win. The talent gap between these two teams is too big to measure with our planet's primitive technology.

The Lakers came out sharp as steak knives and quickly sliced up the Nets into tasty filets. A 21-2 run in the first quarter essentially ended things. Kobe Bryant toyed with whoever New Jersey ran at him, posting a 21-6-3 halftime line. He played only 29 minutes and still scored 30 points and made seductive eye contact with a triple-dub. Pau Gasol owned the Nets' front line for 20 points, seven assists and nine rebounds. Jordan Farmar had his best game of the year, hanging 15 points off the bench and spiking a Rafer Alston layup attempt off the backboard, LeBron-style. The final score was 106 to 87.

The Lakers are now 13-3, half a game behind the Phoenix Suns for the NBA's best record, and the Nets are 0-17. They share the league record for most consecutive losses to start a season and, with Minnesota's delightful upset of Denver tonight, are pretty clearly the NBA's worst team. The Lakers will see them again on December 19, at which point it's unlikely, though not totally inconceivable, they'll be 0-27.

	Poss.	TO%	FTA/ FGA	FT%	EFG%	TS%	Off Reb%	Def Reb%	PPP
L.A.	90	19	0.26	62	58	59	31	72	1.18
N.J.	91	20	0.25	70	46	50	28	69	0.96

Sexy Update! Here's the video of Farmar's sweet, sweet Rafer ownage.

Challenges For The Caretaker Of Westwood: Will Howland Adapt & Adjust?

Nestor — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0000

More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP

Time for youth movement in Howlandwood

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I am an eternal optimist when it comes to talking about Coach Howland's basketball program in Westwood. For good reasons he is loved around this community and has earned the moniker "the Caretaker of Westwood" as the heir apparent of the greatest Coach ever to lead any American sports team. That said it doesn't mean we cannot be honest about about concerns and questions when they arise about his program on and off court. Right now there are few of them and we have legitimate reasons to wonder about where Howland is taking the UCLA basketball program both in the short and long term. We wonder that because right now we think UCLA basketball is in a very precarious position and how Howland react, adjust and navigate through it in the coming weeks will have ramifications for our program in next few years.

I don't really want to go over the details of last night's game too much. The scoreboard tells the story and frankly the blowout was even worse. I want to focus on few of the big issues that I think will determine what kind of season we end up having in Westwood. BTW after last night we need lower our expectation even more. Forget about making the Big Dance. Right now I am not sure whether we can qualify for the NIT with a winning record at the end of this season. Chew on that for a minute. We are that bad (and it is not going to feel any better tonight after we get done being handled by Butler). So what's our deal (as Jim Harbaugh said last time he left the Mosoluem). Come with me after the flip.

First, the obvious problem starts at our pg. The PG position at PointGuarU is a clusterf**k. It's a mess. I don't want to reach a conclusion on JA. I still think he has a shot of emerging as a credible Pac-10 pg by the time he is done in Westwood. I think it is unfair to make long term conclusion about his game given the fact that he has bee dealing with injuries this season and just doesn't have enough experience as the starting pg of this program. That said, right now he is not a Pac-10 level pg. He certainly wouldn't start for a good team and he is playing for a very bad one right now.

How did we get into this situation? Well the blame lies with Coach Howland, his staff and the primadonna we all know as Jrue Holiday. Obviously Holiday was supposed to be our starting pg this year, but apparently (from what we have heard) he couldn't handle Howland's tough coaching style in Westwood, so he bailed early. Well that is fine. That leads me ask two questions: 1) why didn't Coach Howland have a contingency plan when he knew the brat was going to leave at the end of the season (especially when recruits such as Donte Medder might have been open to coming to Westwood) and 2) why didn't Howland bench Holiday's primadonna a$$ more last season and give more time in favor of someone like ML (who during the second half brought lot more defensive energy and urgency in the game, See i.e. games against ASU and WSU)?

The second question, leads me to my second issue with out team: minute allocation. We find a number of our young players such as JA and ML so inexperience because Howland was too stubborn not to give them enough mins last year. He did the same with RW in his freshman season as well. His stubbornness worked out fine earlier in Westwood because he had enough experience (NBA level at that) on his roster but not this time around. We are seeing that issue again playing out with the minutes given to Nikola Dragovic (and JK).

Nikola Dragovic ate up 22 worthless mintues last night in Anaheim. When he came into the game the score I believe was tied up at 7-7. As soon as he came in his total lack of defensive instincts and intensity, change the complexion of the entire game. The Pilots went on a 9-2 run with him on the court and never looked back. Before Dragovic came in we were not doing too well offensively, but at least we were showing a defensive pulse. We lost all of it after he stepped on the court. The issue is when Dragovic comes on the court, the team loses its classic Howland identity. Ben Ball is predicated upon tough inside-the jersey defense, rebounding, and a solid fundamentals on offense that depends on selective high percentage shots. Well Dragovic doesn't help with any of that (and I don't care much for padded rebounding stats accumulated due to clankers on the offensive end).

Dragovic has no idea how to hedge. He can't really box out. He never finds himself in the right position and he usually sees eithe his man blowing right by him or leaving him wide open. He seeminly has defensive brain cramps in ever possession showing no clue on how to play team-defense. It is a pathetic site to watch him play "Ben Ball". I have no idea why Howland is so obssessed with giving him so many minutes and sitting down players like BL and RN. He didn't do it in his second year when he had no problem sitting down certain Lavin (btw how comical was it it listen to him talk about an "anemic offense" last night?) recruited players so that he could go with AA, JF, JS and LMR. I don't understand why he can't do the same this year. Last night Dragovic shouldn't have been alllowed back on the court after his intial mins. I also though BL played with much more passion and intensity than JK who showed zero signs of urgency and senior leadership on the court.

Third, I am not seeing any signs of Howland holding his young team accountable. Last night was the second game in a row when DG chucked a 3 pointer with lots of time left on the clock? I mean WTF is up with that? DG shooting 3 pointers? I don't understand why Howland didn't bench him immediately after pulling moronic stunts like that. It wasn't just DG who was pulling idiotic and poorly coached "stunts" on the court. Perhaps Howland could have sent a statement if he stated ML at the 1 during second half to send a message to JA.

As for Howland's style of offense, I am not sure he needs to make wholesale changes. The numbers from last few years back him up interms of effectiveness of his offense. However, during last few years he also had college superstars such as JF, RW and DC running it. He doesn't have anyone close to their calliber in his backcourt right now. So he does need to make adjustments, which might entail loosening up the reigns or shifting around his personnel, going with talent and potential over "experience," to make sure he gets the most athletic combination (i.e. more mins for MM) on the court. Right now I rather have Howland struggle with an athletic team that he teaches through taking its lump on the court, than an experienced core, which hasn't proven itself after 3-4 years in Westwood. In other words, Howland needs to do IMHO what he did in his second year in Westwood: go with the youth movement.

This is an interesting moment for Howland. If you think about it he is the ultimate builder/rebuilder of programs. He has done it at three different schools. However, he has never been in a situation where he had to maintain and build on success. This is a first for him. It will mean he will need to make adjustments and some changes to continue the incredible success he has blessed us with in Westwood. It is clear the opponents (and the currrent landscape of basketball with the way draft works) have adjusted to him. It will be up to Howland to make some moves to counter so that he can continue the incredible job of caretaking he has done so far in Westwood.

We will have our game thread up late tonight when we take on Butler. We are all rooting for him.

GO BRUINS.

Pardon Our Bench

DexterFishmore — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:30:11 -0000

About a month into the season, we're starting to know some things about the Los Angeles Lakers. It's still only November, sure. We don't know how strong they'll ultimately be compared to other league powers. But we can start to see the contours of a typical night at the office.

Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum are a manly inside pair and too much for most teams to handle. Kobe Bryant is still a lethal scorer and playmaking force. Ron Artest is still a splendid defender, and on any given night either he or Lamar Odom will be good for 15 or more points. All of the above was on display against a pathetically overmatched New York Knicks team last night.

And then there's the bench. I'm really sorry to do this, but it's time we talked about the bench. We've put this off long enough.

First, let's be clear who we're talking about. Although Lamar doesn't start when the team's fully healthy, he does play starter's minutes, and his talent and production are not subject to any serious debate. He hasn't always been great so far this year, but we know he's not the problem. When Lakers fans grumble about "the bench," Lamar isn't meant to be included.

What we're really talking about is the play of Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown, Josh Powell, Luke Walton, DJ Mbenga, Adam Morrison and Sasha Vujacic. Of this group, Walton didn't play last night because of his back injury, and Mbenga and Powell got DNP-CDs. The performances of the other four are cast into unflattering relief by their plus-minus numbers. Farmar, Brown, Morrison and Vujacic averaged a -9 in about 10 minutes of action last night. All but Farmar were on the court when the Knicks ripped off an 11-0 run, which dragged Kobe and Ron back into the game with five minutes left.

If you were surprised that the second unit failed to maintain the Lakers' lead, welcome to the wonderful sport of basketball. I hope you enjoyed your first-ever game.

With about two minutes remaining against the Knicks, Lakers play-by-play announcer Joel Meyers asked rhetorically at what point in the season the Laker reserves would "step up." After the game, sideline man Michael Eaves asked Pau how long he thought it would take for the bench to find its "rhythm." These questions contained an unstated assumption that the Laker bench right now is anomalously underperforming, playing worse than what we should reasonably expect. Is that really the case, though? What precisely are we expecting from these guys?

I'm not implying that the second unit is playing well, mind you. Certainly their job description should include being able to hold a lead against the Knicks, at home. But why do people keep expecting them to transform into game-changing shock troops? Isn't it possible that they're not "inconsistent" or "out of sync," but just not that good?

In the table below I've listed, for each of the Laker reserves in question, their PERs for the last two seasons as well as the season so far. And before you start screaming: no, I'm not suggesting that PER be accepted as an end-all, final-word metric. It's just a useful shorthand for a player's overall production and works fine for the present discussion.

Player	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Brown	6.6	13.0	12.8
Farmar	15.3	9.9	10.7
Mbenga	9.4	13.9	10.2
Morrison	DNP	5.7	11.2
Powell	10.4	9.9	10.8
Vujacic	14.9	12.7	6.4
Walton	12.2	11.3	15.0

If there's to be improved play from the bench this year, where's it supposed to come from? Luke was the best reserve before his injury; if he's in decent shape when he returns, the situation won't look quite so grim. But who else?

Shannon, DJ and Powell are all basically performing in line with their respective track records. At age 24, Brown likely has some improvement ahead of him, but he's not going to become a Sixth Man of the Year candidate overnight. Farmar, I'd argue as well, is also more or less where we should expect him to be. With each passing game, his performance in 2007-08 looks increasingly flukish, and his performance last season looks like his real baseline.

Adam Morrison has actually been better than we would've guessed, but no one thinks he's a candidate to be even a league-average player. The dude is simply no es bueno. If he's in the NBA next year, it'll be solely due to residual caché from having been a high lottery pick once upon a time.

The real mystery in all this is Sasha Vujacic, who in three years has gone from good to frustrating to radioactively bad. On the one hand, it seems improbable that he'll remain this terrible; someone his age shouldn't completely fall apart absent an injury. On the other hand, he shows no sign of bouncing back any time soon. He's averaging less than 10 minutes a night and has made only two shots in the last five games. It must be getting hard for Phil Jackson to justify even putting him on the court.

What about help from outside? As Ben R pointed out in the comments last night, two available names are Jerry Stackhouse and Wally Sczcerbiak. If those guys had anything at all left in the tank, they wouldn't be available. There's also Allen Iverson, though it's hard to imagine the Lakers voluntarily stepping on that particular land mine.

A deadline trade will be a possibility, the most likely situation involving cutting bait on Farmar and shipping out Morrison's expiring deal. It's not possible at this point to foretell who might be obtainable in return.

The Lakers, we should probably just admit, are stuck with a subpar bench. The reserves aren't about to "step up" or find "consistency." How the Lakers have won games so far, by overwhelming opponents with top-line talent, is how they'll have to get it done in the foreseeable future. Which might, in fact, be plenty good enough.

LA 108, Chicago 93: Recapping Lakers-Bulls, Pau Gasol Style

Josh Tucker — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:31 -0000

by Noah Graham - NBAE/Getty Images

View full size photo »

Welcome back, Pau Gasol.

Thanks for stopping by, Pau Gasol.

So glad you're back, Pau Gasol.

It's true; sometimes, this Lakers team can be so ridiculously talented that when a guy like Gasol sits out the first eleven games of the season, you can almost forget just how much you miss him. Almost.

When things don't quite seem to fit, you think to yourself that this team is far, far too talented not to be destroying everybody they meet. But things look awkward, not quite right. Something is wrong; what's the problem?

And then he comes back, and life is easy and grand and beautiful, with everything in its right place, and you remember. Not that he's good — you were never that forgetful. But you remember just how good he is, and everything he does for this team.

Thank you, Pau Gasol.

Remember the part about how Gasol hasn't played in several weeks, and therefore could be kinda rusty? You know how sometimes, when coming back from injury, big men like Bynum need some time to find their timing again? Not an issue for Pau Gasol.

Gasol played nine minutes in first quarter, shooting 4-5 in the period for 10 points, along with four rebounds, two of them offensive. The Lakers jumped out to a quick 25-19 lead, and the rest of the game followed suit, with the Lakers winning the first three quarters by a steady average of six points, and playing the Bulls evenly in a final period that was nothing more than a formality. Just like that, Pau Gasol was back.

Rusty, he was not. He scored 24 points while taking only 15 shots, connecting on almost two thirds of them (nine). Talk about efficiency. At the same time, his timing was good enough for 13 rebounds, including seven offensive.

Fatigue may have been a factor—he said he was "looking forward to the first timeout," and was glad for the longer timeouts of nationally televised games—but if so, it didn't show in the amount or quality of the minutes he played. Phil Jackson had said prior to the game that he would be happy with 25 minutes from Gasol; instead, Gasol gave him a full 35. And if he was tired, he fooled me. He ran the floor, was often one of the first down on offense, and got back quickly back on defense. He challenged shots, fought hard for rebounds, played solid defense. Sure, he may have been thoroughly winded when it was all over, but he certainly didn't play like a guy who couldn't catch his breath.

Meanwhile, Gasol's presence had a positive ripple effect throughout the entire Lakers roster. As Kenny "The Jet" Smith pointed out in the TNT postgame show, Gasol's return put everyone back in their natural positions. It also bolstered the bench, allowing Lamar Odom to return to his role as sixth man and bench leader and anchor. Gasol's presence also enabled Jackson to use more mixed lineups — two bench players with three starters, or three bench players with two starters, instead of simply swapping out entire five-man starting and replacement units.

Andrew Bynum had a quiet night, with "only" 11 points and eight rebounds, but don't be fooled. J.A. Adande is wrong when he says that Gasol's return negatively affected Bynum's production. In reality, it was poor shooting and a minor injury that resulted in a lower point total for our budding young center. A sprained ankle caused him to play only 24:16; meanwhile, he took 12 shots, which is only two fewer than his average for the year, and pretty consistent with his average over the last three games (12.6).

I don't know about you, but the fact that he got off 12 shots and pulled down eight rebounds while playing 13.5 fewer minutes than usual because of that ankle doesn't say to me that Gasol's presence is hindering Bynum's production. If anything, it was a simple off night that resulted in a lower point total for Bynum, as he missed several shots he usually makes. In his previous nine games, Bynum has shot the ball at a rate of 59.1%. Had he shot that well on his 12 shots tonight, he'd have had 15 points. Then, if we compensate for his shortened minutes, we find that, had he played his usual minutes, he would have scored 23 points on the night.

While Andrew's minutes may go down a bit overall, even when he's not tweaking his ankle, I think it's safe to say that Gasol's presence on the court had nothing at all to do with Bynum's lessened production. Assuming he still plays 32-35 minutes, I see no reason why Bynum can't continue to be a 20/10 guy, or something close to it.

Kobe Bryant struggled with his shot, but I got the impression (as did several others) that he's simply adjusting to the changes in dynamics with Gasol back on the court. He's spent 11 games working out of the post and in the paint, and now he's back to spending a bit more time on the perimeter. He'll probably still get a few more inside touches than he did last year, and obviously it shouldn't take long for him to adjust back to a balance of perimeter and post play, but last night, it seemed a simple case of readjustment. His shots were good ones, for the most part, and several of them barely rimmed out.

On the other hand, the rest of his game was quite good. In addition to 21 points, he had nine rebounds, eight assists, and only one turnover. While I could care less about the assists—it's an incomplete and misleading statistic—I did like his passing and his approach to the game overall. It's not necessarily that he had more of a passing mentality, and less of a shooting one; it's simply that in the past 11 games, this team has needed him to score first and foremost. With Gasol back and not missing a beat, that need was immediately less pronounced, freeing Kobe up to play a more rounded game, and he did just that.

I have to talk about Ron Artest. I can't be excited enough about this guy. First, let's talk overall. How fortunate are the Lakers to have a guy like Ron Artest, who has been the top dog on his team for most of his career, to essentially play the role of defensive specialist? I'll answer that for you: very. Loul Deng came into the game averaging 17.4 points per game on 46.1% shooting from the field. Ron Artest simply shut him down, and it didn't even seem like a big deal. 3-11 shooting for Deng, for a grand total of six whopping points. He was a non-factor for the game, and that was Artest's doing.

But it's more than that. This is a guy whose actions (and just plain craziness), for most of his career, have demanded attention. It was impossible not to notice Artest. With the Lakers, so far, you could almost miss him if you weren't paying attention. And understand me here; this is a very good thing. You're not noticing him disrupting the offense. You're not noticing him jacking up bad shots (well, aside from not one, but two straight backwards, over-the-head layup attempts, last night). You're not noticing him shooting poor percentages and taking the Lakers out of their game offensively. You're not noticing him being a disruption off the court, or picking up technical fouls and threatening to fly off the handle on it.

And if you're busy watching Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, and Andrew Bynum, you might not be noticing him making plays, passing, setting up teammates, defending, rebounding, deferring, and making virtually all of the right decisions. You might not be noticing him putting in constant effort, never relaxing or playing lazy. And you might not notice him making life in general easier for Kobe Bryant and everyone else around him.

Oh, and by the way, lost in Pau Gasol's return and Kobe Bryant's rebounding and distributing against the Bulls were Artest's 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and only one turnover. He made half of his three-point attempts (2-4) and his only free throw (woo!). And while he took 13 shots to score 15 points, that line is deceptive, since he had four offensive rebounds. As you may recall from Dex's intro lesson on advanced statistics, possessions with one or more offensive rebounds still only count as a single possession for the Lakers. And since three of those four offensive rebounds were on his own misses, it turns out that he actually scored 15 points on only 10 offensive possessions, or 1.5 points per possession. And that is very efficient basketball.

Shoutouts to Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom, both of whom shot well from the field (Fish 5-5, Odom 4-7) and from long distance (Fish 2-2, Odom 2-4), adding a couple assists each. Odom also chipped in with 8 rebounds, one of four Lakers to collect at least 8 boards. Jordan Farmar also played fairly well overall, making good decisions even while the rim wasn't kind to him, and adding a couple assists and three steals to his eight points in 20 minutes.

Overall, the stats confirm what our eyes told us, that the Lakers dominated the Bulls on both ends of the court. They scored 1.09 points per possession while holding the Bulls to 0.96 points per possession. They controlled the offensive and defensive boards, rebounding 28% of their misses while allowing the Bulls to rebound only 21.7% of theirs. The Lakers had nine turnovers in the first half, but brought things under control with only three in the second, committing 12 turnovers overall to the Bulls' 15.

My favorite things from a team perspective, however, were the points in the paint and the game flow chart. In the former, the Lakers held a 60-40 advantage, scoring 55.6% of their points in the paint. Borat say, very nice! The game flow chart, meanwhile, shows a consistent effort from start to finish from the Lakers, and that's something I like. Rather than coming out flat and then building up to take back control, or starting strong and then letting the Bulls back in before gritting out the win, the Lakers steadily outperformed the Bulls from beginning to end. Hell, even a garbage time lineup featuring Adam Morrison, DJ Mbenga, Josh Powell (who is solid, but not when he shares the court with Mbenga), and Sasha "The Broken Beyond Repair Machine" Vujabric managed to more or less keep pace with the Bulls.

Not everything was perfect for the Lakers, but the signs were very promising. The passing was well-intended, but at times sloppy and imprecise. This will improve as the Lakers grow more comfortable with their current lineup, and as Ron Artest becomes more comfortable in the triangle and playing with Gasol. Things were sloppy at times, but don't underestimate the balancing and spacing effect Gasol has on the entire offense. As these guys get more comfortable with each other, and with Gasol in the mix, I expect the passing to become crisp and precise, a true thing of beauty, and the offense overall to begin running at a level we have not yet seen this year.

And that's what tonight's game was: A thoroughly enjoyable display, a strong reminder of the countless things Gasol does for this team, and a promise of how good these Lakers—already one of the best teams in the league even without Gasol—can be now that he's back. As Timbo said in last night's game thread, what the Lakers with Gasol aren't additively better than they were without him, they are exponentially better. Expect the various power rankings to start changing in the Lakers favor.