The Los Angeles Lakers were built with a relatively clear identity, and that was to be an elite offense. It was the only option for a team built around Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and a 41-year-old LeBron James, with Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia as key role players.
They doubled down on that by trading away Gabe Vincent — one of their lone net-positive defenders — to the Atlanta Hawks for Luke Kennard.
Yet despite an abundance of offensive talent, the Lakers are still not an elite offense. Doncic leads the NBA in points per game at 32.8, but the Lakers rank eighth in the league in offensive rating. That simply isn’t good enough for a team with this much talent that struggles on defense, and part of the reason for that is performances like Sunday against the Boston Celtics.
L.A. managed only 89 points against the Celtics, an almost unacceptable showing for a fully healthy Lakers team. After practice the following day, Hachimura spoke about the inconsistency in the team’s offense and the need for more ball movement, via Dan Woike of The Athletic:
“I think it mostly depends on the team we play against. There are some teams that play really good team defense. Against that, we have to be more of sharing the ball, trusting each other. We got to have ball movement. Like yesterday, last game, they are a really great team, especially off the shift. So, I think usually, some guys, even for me, I can split the defense. But those guys are really good on the shift. They are a real handsy team and they allow them to do that. So, against those type of teams we kind of really struggle. We don’t have enough ball movement so I think those kind of stuff is the key for us to keep a high level offense. Have the ball movement is going to be the key.”
Hachimura brings up a theme that has been consistent for the Lakers this season, and that’s trusting one another. L.A. has not been a particularly pass-heavy team, despite the fact that Doncic and James are two of the best passers in the game and Reaves is incredibly high-IQ in his own right.
There is no reason why the Lakers should be as resistant to passing as they are, but it’s showing in some of these inconsistent offensive performances.
If the Lakers are going to be competitive this season, it’s going to have to be with an elite offense. The only way to reach that point is to be trusting of one another and share the ball, not play isolation-heavy basketball.
Luka Doncic feels chemistry with other Lakers stars is not there yet
One issue for the Lakers offense is that their star trio — Doncic, James and Reaves — have not played many games together. Their on-court chemistry has clearly suffered for it, and it shows even more in these brutal games against other top teams.
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