re: Non-Pels NBA January Thread

I think we proved tonight that we are one of the West's elite. But the Clippers, Thunder, and Nuggets are all 8-2 in their last 10 games. And in us and the Wolves, and I think those are the elite of the West -- I don't really think the Kings belong in that tier.

Pelicans on a 4-game win streak and the Lakers are back below .500

gotta love it

Paolo banchero is HIM. and these kings announcers are annoying as frick

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Paolo banchero is HIM. and these kings announcers are annoying as frick

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Kayte Christensen is terrible. Kings did get screwed on the out of bounds call but ended up winning in 2OT so I guess it doesn't matter.

Shams

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There's currently a growing disconnect between Darvin Ham and Lakers locker room stemming from disjointedness around rotation and adjustments, per me and @jovanbuha.

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More from that article in The Athletic:

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There’s currently a deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and the Lakers locker room, six sources with direct knowledge of the situation say, raising questions about the head coach’s standing. The people spoke with The Athletic on condition of anonymity so that they could speak freely on the matter. Those sources have described that the disjointedness between the coach and team has stemmed from the extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments recently from Ham, leading to a fluctuating rhythm for several players across the roster.

The Lakers are 3-9 since winning the In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas on Dec. 9. They’ve lost three games in a row, and Wednesday night’s defeat led to rising turbulence.

In the latest attempt to turn around LA’s skid, Ham used his 10th starting lineup of the season and third in three games: Austin Reaves at point guard, Taurean Prince at shooting guard, Cam Reddish at small forward, LeBron James at power forward and Anthony Davis at center. The Lakers were minus-3 in the 13 minutes the group played together Wednesday against Miami.

The latest lineup change continued a troubling trend as the Lakers have struggled to determine their best lineups or establish continuity this season, regardless of how healthy the team has been. The concern has only grown in recent weeks.

Ham’s decision to bench D’Angelo Russell and start James, Prince, Reddish, Jarred Vanderbilt and Davis in a lineup without a second guard ballhandler beginning Dec. 23 in Oklahoma City was considered a head-scratcher by multiple parties internally, according to sources spoken to for this story.

The Lakers championed their continuity all summer, including bringing back their top-five scorers from the Western Conference finals run (James, Davis, Reaves, Russell and Hachimura, in that order). But more than a third of the way into the season, three of those players – and the team’s third-, fourth- and fifth-highest-paid players in Russell, Hachimura and Reaves, respectively, at that – were coming off the bench. Reaves has been coming off the bench most of the season despite being touted by Ham as a future All-Star over the summer and ranking third on the team in scoring, Russell’s role has shrunk since Las Vegas, and Hachimura’s playing time vacillates on a nightly basis.

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Ham eventually spoke with the media 30 minutes after the buzzer. He continued to state that the Lakers, despite having James, Davis, Reaves and Russell for all but eight games combined, aren’t going to “find any consistency” until they get fully healthy. Hachimura (left calf strain), Russell (tailbone contusion) and Gabe Vincent (left knee surgery) are the three players currently injured.

“We’ve got to get healthy,” Ham said. “… And once you get healthy, guys got to get back into rhythm and we’ve got to find a cohesive unit, a total cohesive rotation that we can go with. When you’re dealing with different guys being in and out of the lineup that frequently, it’s damn-near impossible to find a rhythm. That’s just being real. That’s no slight on anybody.”

Ham then went as far as to suggest that it’s easier to play without a star – like the Heat have been without Butler – than for a team to have multiple rotation players in and out of the lineup, as the Lakers have had for a majority of the season.

“I think the multiples (rotation players) are more impactful than … if you lose one of your big dogs, you’re going to figure out how to try and manage without them,” Ham said. “… And when you have your key role players, your key rotation players – this guy misses three or four. This guy misses three or four. And they’re happening one right after another, that’s what makes it difficult. … We’ve got to figure it out. I’m disappointed, but I’ll be damned if I get discouraged.”

When asked if he would consider going back to the team’s original starting lineup of Russell, Reaves, Vanderbilt, James and Davis, Ham said the team is considering every possibility.

“I think everything is on the table that makes sense,” Ham said. “No stone shall go unturned. We’re here to explore whatever we can to right the ship.”

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Ham confirmed postgame that the team had a team meeting afterward, which is partly why the locker room took so long to open. By the time Davis spoke with the media, the rest of the players in the Lakers’ locker room had cleared out. Reaves said the vibe in the locker room is “sh—y.”

“We’re losing,” Reaves said. “Anytime you lose, the vibe should be off, you know? If I went in there and the vibe wasn’t off after the rough stretch that we’ve had, then I’d be concerned.”

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Now we can all sit here and say that we would probably defer the pick until next season unless the ping-pong balls turn it into a top-4 pick.

We might not really want the pick this year ... but other teams would.

So, as we start to approach the trade deadline, this is definitely something to keep an eye on. It has the potential to significantly strengthen the hand that Griff is holding.

My money is on Brooklyn

Draymond Green will be returning to the warriors facility "within the next few days" to ramp up for return

-woj