Thoughts About the L.A. Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers
I am old enough to remember when the Philadelphia 76ers and L.A. Lakers were model franchises contesting three NBA Finals (1980, 1982-83) in a four year span. The 76ers had the NBA's best regular season record from 1976-83 while reaching the NBA Finals four times (1977, 1980, 1982-83), and winning one championship (1983) with a dominant 12-1 playoff run. Julius Erving was the one constant for the 76ers during that span, with Moses Malone joining the 76ers for the 1982-83 season as the final piece to their championship puzzle. The Lakers featured Pantheon members Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson plus a host of other All-Stars, and they won five championships (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987-88) during the 1980s.
My, how the mighty have fallen!
The Lakers defeated the 76ers 116-106 on Friday night, but it is highly unlikely that either team will participate in the 2025 NBA Finals. The Lakers are 5-4, and on pace to win fewer games than they did last season. Other than taking the 2020 "bubble title", the LeBron James-led Lakers have been more about sideshows--capturing the 2023 NBA Cup before losing in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, signing Bronny James instead of trying to put the best possible player in every roster spot--than about contending for championships. In LeBron James' six full seasons with the Lakers, they have lost in the first round twice, and missed the playoffs twice, a track record that makes the "bubble title" look like an aberration.
The Lakers fired Coach Darvin Ham after going 47-35 last season, and it remains to be seen if his replacement J.J. Redick is the next Pat Riley. Redick mastered the obvious by making Anthony Davis the hub of the Lakers' offense--Davis scored a game-high 31 points versus the 76ers and he is currently the league's scoring leader--but other than that Redick's biggest early season move has been taking D'Angelo Russell out of the starting lineup prior to the 76ers game. Media members may try to fool the public into believing that this is some kind of strategic master stroke, but Redick could have put Bronny James--or possibly even some dude from the YMCA--in the starting lineup and the Lakers would have still beaten the injury-riddled 76ers, who are without the services of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Redick was a member of the media until fairly recently, and his former colleagues seem to be determined to treat him with kid gloves, but that will become increasingly difficult to do if the Lakers are still hovering around the .500 mark 30 or 40 games from now.
Redick publicly called out every Laker other than LeBron James for lack of effort before benching Russell, which creates some potentially interesting locker room issues. It is obvious that Redick's podcasting partner LeBron James hired Redick, and that Redick will serve as Lakers coach only as long as he curries favor with James--so when Redick calls out players he is speaking on behalf of James, which is problematic from the jump and becomes more problematic if Redick does not call out James when James' effort or execution are not up to par. The best coaches lead by challenging their best players, which then inspires the rest of the team to live up to that standard. The presence of Bronny James on the roster is a constant reminder that the Lakers make roster decisions based on LeBron James' whims, not winning, and calling out role players without challenging LeBron James will get old very quickly, particularly if the Lakers do not soon move up in the standings.
The 1-7 76ers are in even worse shape than the Lakers, and they face an uphill battle just to qualify for the Play-In Tournament. The 76ers still have more suspensions and fines than wins this season, and they have not advanced past the second round of the playoffs since Allen Iverson carried them to the 2001 NBA Finals. Daryl Morey prides himself on utilizing the kind of "advanced basketball statistics" that lead him to believe that James Harden is a greater scorer than Michael Jordan, and if Morey stays true to the "stat guru" way of thinking then his 76ers will tank the rest of the way, because "stat gurus" assert that the worst thing in the NBA is to be stuck in the middle; the 76ers have most definitely not "Tanked to the Top" but if they are not going to get a top playoff seed then the vaunted numbers so prized by "stat gurus" suggest that the 76ers should deliberately sacrifice wins for draft picks--but even the stat-obsessed Morey probably has enough sense to realize that the last thing that 76ers fans will tolerate now is more tanking on the heels of the infamous "Process" that yielded Embiid and a string of seasons ending in the second round of the playoffs (or earlier). Statistics--real ones, not the contrived "advanced ones"--indicate that a 1-7 team is more likely to participate in the Draft Lottery than the playoffs, but deliberately aiming for the Draft Lottery with Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey on the roster is unthinkable even for the unofficial king of the "stat gurus."
On Friday night, the 76ers got just nine points on 4-13 field goal shooting from Paul "I call myself Playoff P" George, who will collect more than $200 million from the 76ers during the next four seasons. The 76ers are paying Morey a lot of money to build their roster because they believe that Morey's use of "advanced basketball statistics" gives him a significant edge over his peers. It would be interesting to know which proprietary metrics persuaded Morey that it is shrewd to pay more than $200 million to a shooting guard in his age 34-38 seasons.
Labels: Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell, J.J. Redick, Joel Embiid, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, Paul George, Philadelphia 76es, Tyrese Maxey
posted by David Friedman @ 9:06 AM
12 Comments:
watching Bronny James struggle in G-League is.... eye opening... he is lacking basketball basics and wouldn't even make G-League if not for LeGM.... yes, it gets Lakers money (I guess), but fans won't be happy. When will Vegas take bets on how quickly Bronny is out of league?
Anonymous: The reality, as you noted, is that Bronny is not only not an NBA caliber player, but he is barely a G-League caliber player. Kenny Smith was way off target when he tried to justify the Lakers drafting Bronny based on Bronny's high school recruiting status; that status is irrelevant, because the reality is that Bronny played poorly in his only college season, and Bronny did not do nearly enough to establish himself as a viable Draft pick now, regardless of what he was previously projected to be.
Great write up as always David. As a former lifetime Lakers fan, it has been therapeutic for me to completely abandon watching them. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about how far a once great and proud franchise has fallen. The fact that Bronny James still commands headlines -- is an indictment on the league as a whole. Viewership is down, ratings are down, and longtime NBA fans like me are losing or have lost interest.
Too bad the league doesn't promote young talent -- or the best players. Lebron gets all the shine while AD, who has been carrying the Lakers for years, gets zero media. Jokic barely gets any shine. Luka same. Shai gets a bit, but not nearly as much as someone like Edwards, who may have gotten farther than Shai last season, but does not have nearly the body of work. Instead of pumping up Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, the Lebron-media has instead ostracized them.
And, Wembanyama should be the headline every night he plays.
I can't wait until Lebron is gone. His "reign" over the NBA is what has led to this watered down, weak product -- filled with a bunch of whiners who do not hold themselves accountable for anything. Where guys who are making 1990s-entire NBA career money in one season, are sitting out games in order to preserve their "efficiency" and averages. Where players pack up and join other "superstars". I love how John Stockton described this -- instead of climbing the mountain, they are taking a helicopter.
Bronny is the posterchild for this NBA generation. Given everything without deserving any of it.
My only sliver of hope is that once Lebron is gone, the league will be able to once again establish an identity of competition.
Jordan: Thank you! I appreciate you for being a long-time reader and commenter.
Marcel
Lakers won 3 straight and we looking like a contender at home.
Ad our best player and Austin Reeves been great with rookie knecht
D lo been a disappointment and rui been good
Far as bronny he not a NBA or g league player but can grow into one
He got on cause of his dad and LeBron earned that right based on his career
Bron got 3 straight triple doubles. He can do what he wants
Hell probably retire next year
I'll never see a career in sports as great as his
Marcel:
The Lakers are sixth in the Western Conference, which means that they are on pace to not have homecourt advantage in the first round (and they are just half a game above seventh, which would put them back in the Play In Tournament).
The Lakers have feasted on a largely soft home schedule with wins against weak and/or injury-depleted teams (including Philadelphia, Toronto, and Memphis), and they have been terrible on the road even against bad and/or injury-depleted teams (with losses to Detroit and Memphis).
The evidence so far provides no reason to believe that they are significantly better than they were last season.
Why do you believe that LeBron's greatness entitles him to put his son on an NBA roster? Are you in favor of nepotism across the board, or only for LeBron?
LeBron's durability as a high level player is unmatched in NBA history, but in terms of the greatness of his career he has not surpassed Bill Russell (11 championships in 13 seasons), Michael Jordan (six championships in six Finals appearances), or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six championships, six regular season MVPs). LeBron is a well-deserving Pantheon member, as I noted even before he won his first title, but we don't have to fall prey to recency bias and say that he had the greatest career ever (and I did not even mention some athletes from other sports whose careers are at least as great as LeBron's).
Marcel
We're 7-2 when ad plays
Kings, Phoenix, Memphis, Minnesota, are above 500
We lost to Detroit, Memphis, Cleveland, and Phoenix
We beat two people we lost two
So saying the schedule easy make no sense
U playing semantics like u always do with LeBron
His high level play for every year he been in the league goat in any sport
He right up there with any Kareem and Jordan career wise
If u think Kareem or Jordan career better is personal opinion I do but it's others who don't
LeBron like giannis or any great player get privileges bronny on the team is that
Marcel:
“We”? Are you on the roster?
I don’t see separate standings for when Davis plays. “You” are sixth in the West.
I base my analysis on facts, not speculation or rooting preferences.
The facts show that LeBron has had a great career.
Does having Bronny on the team help “you” win? Is it good for “your” team chemistry?
Marcel
David why isn't ad talked about i. Best player in NBA conversation
Anthony Davis been the best player this year
Marcel:
Davis is definitely in the early MVP discussion this season. In previous years, he missed too many games, but if he stays healthy and keeps playing at this level then he will be on the short list of legit MVP candidates for 2024-25.
Marcel
David what ur opinion on Dalton knecht he a draft suprise
Marcel:
Knecht was an excellent college player, but there is such a bias now against drafting "old" players (he is 23) that the "experts" dismissed him as a top prospect. Based on his size, skill set, and athletic ability, his performance should not be considered that surprising; he is averaging 11.7 ppg as the 17th overall draft pick (and he should have been a Lottery pick, as noted above).
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