Cooper Versus Bronny is Strictly an Off-Broadway Event, Not a Broadway Feature Show
ESPN and other media outlets promoted Cooper Flagg's summer league debut game with a level of breathless hype just a notch or two below that accorded to an NBA Finals game--but this was equivalent to treating an off-Broadway play as if it were a Broadway feature show. It is understandable that fans may be interested to see how the number one overall draft pick performs, and it is natural for media outlets to relentlessly seek ratings/clicks/view/likes. However, the attempt to market Cooper Flagg's debut as some kind of battle royale versus Bronny James is ludicrous.
Cooper Flagg will immediately be an impactful player in the NBA, and there is good reason to believe that he will eventually be at least an All-Star; he is not fighting for a roster spot, nor will he spend a minute in the NBA G League. He will have to adjust to the physically, speed, and strength of NBA players, but he will be playing rotational minutes from day one.
In contrast, as a rookie last season, Bronny James scored 62 points in 181 minutes on .313 field goal shooting. He made 21 field goals and committed 13 turnovers. His season high was 17 points, which was the only time he scored in double figures; he failed to score in 13 of his 27 games. Bronny James is only in the NBA because his father is LeBron James, who has been the de facto general manager of the L.A. Lakers since joining the team in 2018 (although that may change in the wake of the Luka Doncic trade and the Buss family selling the team to owners who may not want James to continue to serve as player/GM).
Flagg may have 62 points in his first three NBA games, and he may average 17 ppg for his rookie season, never mind scoring 17 points in just one game. It will be shocking if he has 13 games during which he does not score a point.
Neither player shined in this overhyped summer league game, during which the Dallas Mavericks defeated the L.A. Lakers 87-85 after Flagg blocked DJ Steward's layup attempt, pushed the ball in transition, and found Ryan Nembhard for what proved to be the game-winning corner three pointer. Flagg finished with 10 points on 5-21 field goal shooting, six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and one blocked shot in 32 minutes. James had eight points on 2-8 field goal shooting, two rebounds, and two assists in 21 minutes. Neither player shot well, but Flagg showed that he can create shots for himself and for others; casual fans often underestimate how difficult it is to even get a shot off against NBA players. James' regular season single game career-high for field goal attempts is 10, but it is easy to picture Flagg averaging at least 10-12 field goals attempt per game in the regular season right now.
There is rarely a prospect who is a sure thing. No one can say for sure if Cooper Flagg will be an all-time great, an All-NBA player, an All-Star, or just a solid pro--but based on what he has already shown at Duke and with USA Basketball, it would be surprising if he is not at the very least an NBA rotation player for a long time. In contrast, it would be surprising if Bronny James becomes an NBA rotation player any time soon, if at all. Flagg is playing in the summer league to practice running an offense and to get used to NBA defensive rotations, while James is playing in the summer league to try to earn an NBA roster spot and avoid being sent back to the NBA G League, which is where most players with his skill set and scant collegiate and NBA production play.
Labels: Bronny James, Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks, ESPN, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James
posted by David Friedman @ 4:47 PM
Jason "Plumber" Kidd Outcoaches J.J. "Genius" Redick as Undermanned Mavericks Rout Star-Studded Lakers
"The Lakers stink."--Charles Barkley
On Tuesday night, the L.A. Lakers visited Dallas to face an injury-decimated Mavericks team that is without the services of MVP candidate Luka Doncic, eight-time All-Star Kyrie Irving, and key big man Daniel Gafford. Clearly, this game projected to be a rout--and it was, but in favor of the Mavericks, 118-97. The Mavericks had lost their previous 10 games played sans Doncic and Irving. TNT's Reggie Miller called it a "gritty win" for the Mavericks.
That is true, but this is also a humiliating and inexcusable loss for
the talent-laden Lakers featuring LeBron James and Anthony Davis, two members of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team.
Quentin Grimes scored a game-high 23 points while shooting 8-17 from the field (including 6-11 from three point range). P.J. Washington (22 points) also scored more points than James or Davis. Spencer Dinwiddie added 19 points. Dinwiddie was a Laker last season. It sure is great for the Lakers that
they did not retain his services, and kept a roster spot open for
LeBron's son Bronny, who has scored four points this season--to be clear,
Bronny is not averaging 4 ppg: he has scored four total points.
The Mavericks outrebounded the Lakers 44-33, and the Mavericks shot 45-86 (.523) from the field. The Lakers have tremendous advantages in size and skill that could/should be exploited in the paint--but the Mavericks outscored the Lakers 52-40 in the paint as the Lakers eschewed high percentage two points shots while shooting just 11-35 (.314) from three point range.
Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 21 points but he shot just 7-18 from the field, including 2-7 from three point range. Davis had a game-high 12 rebounds. James filled up the boxscore with empty numbers, amassing a near triple double with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists. Davis' plus/minus number was -19, and James' plus/minus number was -12.
One play from this game is a microcosm of why players
should not be evaluated just based on their individual statistics alone. With less than five seconds remaining in the third quarter, James grabbed a
defensive rebound, dribbled up court, stopped a few feet beyond the three point line, and passed the ball with less than
one second remaining; time ran out without the Lakers taking a shot,
and James managed to avoid both a missed shot and a turnover, so the
play was successful in terms of preserving his vaunted "efficiency"--but his team
trailed by 13 points, so the unselfish team-first play would be to take a three
pointer from the top of the key; maybe the shot goes in, maybe James is fouled, but there is no potential downside for the team even though James risked adding a missed field goal attempt to his personal statistics. Passing the ball when there is not enough time for the intended recipient to shoot just wastes the possession for the team (but not for a player who is obsessively focused on his personal statistics). That play did not decide the outcome of the game, but it speaks volumes about James' basketball values, and about the mentality of this Lakers team. When the team's best player cares more about his numbers than he does about winning, that attitude permeates the entire roster. It is not a mystery why the Lakers often look lackadaisical; the tone of not focusing on team success is set at the top of the roster, and then cascades through the rest of the roster.
How did the Mavericks win this game? Simple--Jason Kidd coached circles around J.J. Redick. Redick's team has the two best players, but Redick could not figure out how to exploit his team's obvious matchup advantages on offense, and his team's defense was awful, which highlights his limitations both as a motivator and as a strategist. After the first 22 games of the J.J. Redick era, I provided this assessment: "In short, Redick's Lakers have a mediocre offense and an atrocious
defense. They have terrible rebounding numbers, and they often don't
play hard. There is zero evidence that Redick is providing any kind of
strategic advantage or that he is effective at motivating players to
give maximum effort."
When Redick took this job, he declared that he signed up to coach a "championship caliber" team. If his assessment is that the Lakers are a championship caliber team then it is fair to ask why they are not playing at a championship level. Redick will never admit that his lack of NBA coaching experience and acumen is a problem, so it will be interesting to see when the Lakers figure this out (or admit it to themselves); I suspect that this will not happen until James retires or until James is no longer playing well enough to justify the top to bottom control he currently exercises over the franchise in terms of hiring/firing coaches and making personnel moves (including the drafting of his son Bronny, who is not an NBA caliber player and will not be an NBA caliber player for the foreseeable future).
There is still more than half the season left, but it does not seem likely that Redick will turn out to be the next Pat Riley.
When Redick worked as a TV commentator and as a podcaster, he made the ridiculous assertion that Bob Cousy's statistics are not impressive because Cousy played against "plumbers and firemen." Kidd's NBA playing career began in 1994, which is past the era during which NBA players regularly had other jobs during the offseason, but Redick--with his rampant recency bias and slavish devotion to promoting LeBron James while denigrating the great players of the past--has taken potshots at that era as well, dismissing it as watered down due to expansion.
It was fun watching Jason "Plumber" Kidd outcoach J.J. "Genius" Redick. Kidd played the game at a high level for a long time and, unlike Redick, Kidd played both ends of the court. Charles Barkley called Kidd's coaching in this game a "master class," and it goes without saying--but I'll say it anyway--that Redick's coaching was the opposite of a master class. Call it amateur hour, befitting of someone whose only prior coaching experience was coaching his son and other amateur kids. During his post-game press conference, Redick emphasized that during this game the Lakers played defensive coverages that he has never seen. Presumably, his intended point is that he knows defensive coverages but his players are clueless; however, Redick's statement is a self-indictment of his inept coaching, because there are only two reasons for the Lakers to play defensive coverages that he has never seen: one reason is that Redick is not good at teaching defense to NBA players, and the other reason is that the players do not respect Redick enough to do what he asks them to do.
The Lakers played so poorly that the poster child for NBA nepotism--Bronny James--made a rare appearance (just his ninth game played this season), logging one minute of garbage time and putting together a "trillionaire" boxscore number of one minute played followed by zeroes in all other categories (though, it should be noted, he managed to have a -4 plus/minus number during his cameo appearance).
This is one game in an 82 game season. I am not foolish enough to think that the legacies of players or coaches are defined by one game. The larger point is that the way that the Lakers played versus the Mavericks reflects issues and trends that have been apparent for several years--ever since the Lakers won the "bubble title" in 2020--and thus cannot properly be dismissed as an aberration. This is the sixth time in 36 games this season that the Lakers lost by at least 20 points. As Chris Berman loves to say (though the expression does not originate with him), "Once is an accident, twice is a trend, three times is a problem." This game is an indictment of a problem, and not just an "accident."
The two greatest things about Redick coaching the Lakers are (1) we don't have to hear his asinine takes about basketball history as an ESPN commentator and as a podcaster, and (2) he will be an endless source of unintentional comedy with his combination of inept coaching and arrogant refusal to take responsibility for his team's losses, much like James Harden provides comic relief with his "concert tour" playoff field goal percentages.
Labels: Anthony Davis, Bronny James, Dallas Mavericks, J.J. Redick, Jason Kidd, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, P.J. Washington, Quentin Grimes, Spencer Dinwiddie
posted by David Friedman @ 1:30 AM
Assessing the Lakers After the First 22 Games of the J.J. Redick Era
It is an NBA truism that after the first 20 games or so of a season you can reasonably assess how good each team is. The Lakers just played their 22nd game of the 2024-25 season, so let's take stock of the early results of the J.J. Redick era. The L.A. Lakers started last season 13-9--a .591 winning percentage--and they finished with a 47-35 record (.573) to rank eighth in the Western Conference before losing 4-1 to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. This season, the Lakers are 12-10 after one of LeBron James' old teams took his current team to the woodshed tonight, as the Miami Heat waxed the Lakers, 134-93. Tyler Herro poured in a game-high 31 points and had a +30 plus/minus number as every Heat starter had a plus/minus number of at least +22. James led the Lakers with 29 points and he had a -21 plus/minus number as every Lakers starter had a plus/minus number of -20 or worse.
The Heat set a franchise single game record with 42 assists, they tied
the franchise single game record with 24 three pointers, and they posted
the third largest margin of victory in franchise history. The Heat shot
52-90 (.578) from the field, including 24-47 (.511) from three point
range.
No NBA team should lose by 40-plus points, and that goes double for a team featuring two members of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team (LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who had just eight points on 3-14 field goal shooting). It would be one thing if this game were an aberration, but this is the fourth time this season that the Lakers lost by at least 25 points. The 10-10 Heat are far from being a powerhouse, but the listless Lakers simply did not play hard or smart.
After last season, the Lakers fired Darvin Ham and replaced him with J.J. Redick because Redick is purported to be a basketball genius (despite the fact that he has no prior coaching experience outside of coaching his sons in youth league play). Redick is the fourth coach the Lakers have had during the seven year LeBron James era in L.A.; with James running the franchise, the Lakers have won one championship while missing the playoffs twice and losing in the first round twice. James won two of his four NBA titles during his four seasons in Miami, the only franchise that did not give him free reign to hire coaches and make personnel decisions, but he won just two NBA titles in his other 17 seasons running the show during two stints in Cleveland and his current stint in L.A.
The Lakers' best season by far with James was 2019-20, when they went 52-19 in the COVID-19 shortened season before winning the "bubble" championship. That squad ranked fourth in points allowed, eighth in defensive field goal percentage, and ninth in rebounding--but just 21st in three point field goal percentage. The notion that LeBron James must be surrounded by three point shooters is demonstrably false. The 2020 Lakers ranked first in field goal percentage because they ranked third in two point field goal percentage, with Dwight Howard shooting .732 from two point range, followed by JaVale McGee (.640), James (.564), and Davis (.546). James averaged 13.1 two point field goal attempts per game and 6.3 three point field goal attempts per game, while Davis led the team with 14.2 two point field goal attempts per game. Davis averaged just 3.5 three point field goal attempts per game. The 2020 Lakers averaged 56.7 two point field goal attempts per game, ranking ninth in the league.
So far this season (not including tonight's blowout loss), the Lakers rank 21st in points allowed, 26th in defensive field goal percentage, and 27th in rebounding. Redick was supposed to provide a great advantage with his analytically driven offensive strategies, but the Lakers rank 17th in scoring, ninth in two point field goal percentage, 10th in field goal percentage, and 18th in three point field goal percentage. The Lakers average 51.9 two point field goal attempts per game, ranking 14th in the league.
In short, Redick's Lakers have a mediocre offense and an atrocious defense. They have terrible rebounding numbers, and they often don't play hard. There is zero evidence that Redick is providing any kind of strategic advantage or that he is effective at motivating players to give maximum effort.
I don't place much value on the NBA Cup, but it should be noted that Ham's Lakers won the inaugural NBA Cup while Redick's Lakers failed to advance past group play in this season's NBA Cup.
It may have been a heartwarming story when Bronny James played alongside his father LeBron James on Opening Night, but the harsh reality is that Bronny is probably not good enough to deserve a G League roster spot, let alone an NBA roster spot; he has averaged 5.0 ppg on .211 field goal shooting in two G League games this season. By hiring the unqualified J.J. Redick and drafting the unqualified Bronny James, the Lakers' front office sent a clear message that this season is about appeasing LeBron James and not about winning games, so it should not be surprising that the Lakers are not playing hard or smart.
There are good reasons to believe that the Lakers are worse than their record. They had a -2.6 point differential before tonight's debacle. Seven of the Lakers' 12 wins are against sub-.500 teams New Orleans, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Toronto (twice), and Utah (twice). The Lakers only have seven games left against those teams, and they have yet to face Boston, Dallas, Golden State, Houston, or New York, teams that they will play a total of 14 times.
Labels: Anthony Davis, Bronny James, J.J. Redick, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, Miami Heat, Tyler Herro
posted by David Friedman @ 11:59 PM
LeBron and Bronny Make History, but Davis Dominates as Lakers Tame Timberwolves
It is not often that a second round draft pick who played three minutes in his NBA debut gets headline treatment--but when that second round draft pick is the son of the NBA's all-time leading scorer, and that duo becomes the first father and son to share playing time on an NBA court then headline treatment is inevitable. The L.A. Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 110-103 in the second game of TNT's 2024 NBA Opening Night doubleheader, but what will be remembered most about this game is that Bronny James played alongside his father LeBron James. Bronny did not score a point, shooting 0-2 from the field with a -5 plus/minus number in just under three minutes of action; his best chance to score came on a drive and kick pass from his father, but Bronny missed an open three pointer.
Bronny was the story of the night, but Anthony Davis was the star of the game with game-high totals in points (36), rebounds (16), and blocked shots (three). Davis' activity level was so high that sometimes it seemed like he was in two places at once. When Davis is healthy and dominant, the Lakers look like a different team. He was the main reason that the Lakers outscored the Timberwolves in the paint, 72-40. For the past several years, we have been subjected to various narratives about the Lakers, including the team supposedly needing "lasers" (outside shooters), Russell Westbrook being demonized and turned into a scapegoat even though intelligent analysts like Hubie Brown praised Westbook, and media members bending over backwards to spin the facts about the team's flaws to preserve access to LeBron James--but we rarely hear the truth told about this team: the Lakers are at their best when Davis and James attack the paint at both ends of the court; that was the recipe for success when the Lakers won the 2020 "bubble title."
The Lakers shot 5-30 (.167) from three point range and James had a quiet game by his lofty standards (16 points, five rebounds, four assists), but the Lakers' paint dominance spearheaded by Davis was the difference. Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 27 points, but he shot just 10-25 from the field as the Timberwolves shot 35-85 (.412) from the field overall. Julius Randle, who was acquired from the New York Knicks in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns, finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. The Timberwolves used their size to push teams around last season, but in this game the Lakers pushed them around.
New Lakers Coach J.J. Redick is a "stat guru" at heart, so one of his mantras is that he wants the Lakers to shoot more three pointers than they did last season. If the Lakers follow that prescription then they will not improve their record, but if they play with force in the paint the way that they did versus the Timberwolves then they will be better than than they have been in recent seasons.
TNT's postgame on court interview is usually conducted with the star of
the game, but instead of Davis receiving the honor and the attention the
spotlight shined on LeBron and Bronny, who comes across as a thoughtful
and grounded young man. LeBron James grew up without his biological father, so James' commitment to being a family man is commendable. As a father, I understand how meaningful it must be to him to play in an NBA game alongside his son, and from a human interest standpoint this is a wonderful moment, with the emotional impact heightened by the fact that Bronny has recovered from suffering cardiac arrest on July 24, 2023.
However, from the standpoint of the NBA putting the best possible product on the floor and from the standpoint of the Lakers posing as a team that aspires to win a championship, Bronny's presence on an NBA roster--let alone his appearance in an NBA game--is problematic. Bronny averaged 4.8 ppg on .366 field goal shooting in his only college season; no player with that statistical profile is going to be drafted by an NBA team--unless his father is LeBron James. TNT's Kenny Smith kept emphasizing that Bronny James was a McDonald's
All-American in high school, stating that this demonstrates that Bronny
earned being a second round draft pick--but being a McDonald's All-American in high school does not always translate into college success, let alone NBA success. It is ridiculous to suggest that any team other than James' Lakers would have drafted Bronny (unless a team thought that drafting Bronny could influence James to leave the Lakers to sign with them).
By not only giving Bronny a roster spot that he did not earn but putting him on the court in a regular season game, the Lakers are demonstrating that they are not serious about winning; they don't have the best 15 player roster that they could have assembled, nor do they have the best 8-10 player rotation that they could have assembled. If the plan is to give Bronny three minutes now and then have him spend the rest of the season in the NBA G League, then essentially this was nothing more than a publicity stunt, and if the plan is to keep giving Bronny a few minutes here and there even though he has not earned those minutes then the other players on the Lakers' roster--and better players than Bronny who are not even in the league--will inevitably become resentful. Bronny is set for life financially regardless of how his playing career goes, but for most NBA prospects the opportunity to earn an NBA roster spot is potentially life-changing. The LeBron-Bronny father-son moment came at the expense of a player whose hard work should have earned him an NBA roster spot. I have heard the argument that nepotism happens in all fields so this is not a big deal, but that is the first time that I have heard the notion that because nepotism is widespread that makes it OK.
Opening Night was a happy story on the surface--the Lakers won, and LeBron James orchestrated the father-son moment that he has talked about for years--but the Lakers' season is unlikely to have a storybook ending. James has taken over the franchise to the extent that the Lakers feel compelled to make decisions that will please James even at the expense of on court success: they hired James' buddy Redick even though Redick has no meaningful coaching experience, and then they gave playing time to a player who is not NBA-caliber at this time. These unprofessional decisions will likely lead to consequences down the line.
Again, as a father I understand why LeBron made this happen--and I wish Bronny all the best in his career and life--but it is naive at best to expect this to end well.
Labels: Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, Bronny James, J.J. Redick, Julius Randle, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, Minnesota Timberwolves
posted by David Friedman @ 3:19 AM
