![]() ![]() He'd go a long way toward opening the floor for the James-Davis pick-and-roll.īut it's worth wondering how much of a difference Irving, individually, would have made. ![]() Defenses have to account for what he does off of the dribble as well when they allocate help resources. His catch-and-shoot numbers are just as strong as his pull-up percentages, and his gravity extends beyond his shooting ability. He's up to a career-high 8.7 3-point attempts per game this season. Irving is an elite shooter, and he's increased his volume significantly in recent years. The message here is clear: the Lakers need not only better shooting, but volume shooting. That's going to make life much harder on James, who averaged over 14 drives per game during the 2020 championship season, but is below 10 now. Average is the best kind of shooter the Lakers currently have. The Lakers have made up for this by making more shots in the restricted area than any other team, but that's only going to get harder in the postseason when defenses start laying off of even average shooters. They make the fewest 3-pointers per game in the league. The Lakers are one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA. Irving might've helped on one front, but he'd only make things harder on the other two. But the Lakers have three significant weaknesses to address before the deadline. That's especially true when the All-Star in question would have replaced Westbrook, who, by almost any measure, is a negative-value player at this stage of his career. There's plenty of precedent in NBA history for talent overcoming fit, depth and cohesion. Adding an All-Star wasn't really going to solve them. The 2022-23 Lakers have plenty of problems. But ultimately, it would have solved problems that don't really exist. It even would have satisfied the seemingly restless James, which surely holds intangible value. Late-game possessions that once resulted in free throws or layups for James have become jumpers at a somewhat startling rate this season. It would have provided a bit of insurance against Father Time as well. Including Westbrook in a trade for Irving would have resolved that situation organically. Darvin Ham has proven more comfortable doing so recently, but he hasn't pulled the plug on the 2017 MVP entirely. It can be solved by simply not playing Westbrook, a complete non-shooter, down the stretch of games. Several other teams have copied this tactic. The Blazers defended him with center Jusuf Nurkic, which is to say that they didn't really defend him at all an effectively played the Lakers five-on-four. When the Lakers struggled to put away the Portland Trail Blazers in October, for instance, the problem could be traced back to Russell Westbrook. There have been isolated incidents of stagnant late-game offense, but they've largely boiled down to correctable issues. They lead the NBA by scoring 119.5 points per 100 possessions in the fourth quarter. The Lakers rank ninth in clutch offense this season. That brings us to late-game offense, which, surprisingly, has been among this team's best traits. When Davis has been healthy, they largely have. The Lakers don't need to win the no-LeBron minutes. Lineups featuring Davis and no James have scored in the 67th percentile in terms of efficiency this season, according to Cleaning the Glass. Besides, most of that James-less decline this season has been a result of Davis' absence. Amazingly, in their three seasons together, Cleveland's offense dipped by at least 13.5 points per 100 possessions without James in each year. Irving didn't exactly solve this problem in Cleveland, though. As a whole, the Laker offense dips by eight points per 100 possessions when James goes to the bench. Bench scoring has been a bit more of a problem. They rank fifth in the NBA in fast-break points and second in the league in pace. Transition scoring has been a Lakers strength. Unsurprisingly, refocusing an offense around 30 minutes or so of LeBron James-Anthony Davis pick-and-rolls with proper spacing does wonders on the scoreboard. and then upped its average by nearly seven points per 100 plays in the playoffs. That's hardly ideal, but remember, the 2020 championship ranked 16th. ![]() They rank 15th in half-court points per play this season, according to Cleaning the Glass. The Lakers are hardly an elite half-court offense, but they get by. But to the Los Angeles Lakers? They were probably a luxury the team simply can't afford. They will be to a Dallas Mavericks team that desperately needed another shot-creator next to Luka Doncic. In the right setting, these skills are absolutely critical. He can carry your bench offense for stretches. Kyrie Irving's best traits are simultaneously extremely valuable and extremely narrow. ![]()
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