Thought Starter...
No margin for error.
After the loss to the Clippers on Sunday, the Lakers spoke frankly about the reality of their situation.
“We don’t have a huge margin for error. Nor can we create that margin organically,” said JJ Redick.
“That’s how our team is constructed. We don’t have room for error — for much error,” said LeBron James.
From a practical standpoint, both agreed that because they lack any wiggle room, simply can’t afford to have breakdowns in execution. They can’t afford turnovers, or bad shots, or lapses in focus. And as Redick notes, it’s something that’s baked into the roster. “We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to necessarily always draw two to the ball. We don’t have a guy on our team that’s going to be able to get past his guy one-on-one and get to the paint and spread it out to the perimeter. Like, that’s just not our team. So we have to do it through connectivity, through execution.”
When they do? Redick says they’re really good. Except clearly they don’t do it enough.
Meanwhile, LeBron went as far as to say the Lakers need to play near perfect ball to win, in a game that is “never perfect.”
So what’s going on here?
Are LeBron and Redick putting out a call for more help from Rob Pelinka and the front office? A bit of CYA from both the coach (there’s only so much I can do with what I’ve been given) and star (you can’t expect me to carry these folks in year 22)? A moment of blunt talk at a very challenging moment in the season? Yes to all of it. And while, particularly regarding Redick, the talk will draw more attention to his coaching (if the roster is deficient, scheme becomes that much more important), it’s ultimately going to put the focus on Rob Pelinka, a thing he tends to enjoy much more in good times than bad.
—BK
Overheard In This Episode
“LeBron used to be margin for error. Like, by himself, LeBron was margin. For any team that had LeBron on it had a reasonably significant amount of margin for error just because LeBron could do superhuman things, particularly when he was in the East. So to say that we don’t have, meaning the Lakers, any margin for error is to some degree an admission of, you can’t jump. My presence is no longer enough to elevate a team to something bigger than it ought to be.”
“What’s funny about this though is when you talk about the squishy middle, I think in some ways that’s the space that they prefer because the squishy middle allows them to do the least amount possible with the most possible cover. ... I think there’s a ceiling on their confidence with this group internally, but the problem is there’s an even bigger ceiling on what they’re willing to do about it. Because like I said before, they don’t know what to do with themselves without superstars on hand.”
“I think what they also have is a massive, massive confidence deficit. Like, they just aren’t sure of what they’re doing and what, you know, when things are going poorly, guys don’t, you know, hate the expression. They don’t trust the process.”
