The Lakers have clearly struggled on their recent 0-3 road trip. What are the problems and how can they be solved? Of course, Kobe is below par due to several injuries. Rest would probably help here. But there are other more pressing problems.
Looking at the last two weeks our Adjusted +/- data reveals the following:
- Artest and Bynum have been playing much worse on offense.
- Brown, Farmar, and Gasol have been playing much worse on defense.
Like most teams, the Lakers often play suboptimal lineups. Here are the Lakers best lineups.
- Note that 6A and 9A rest Kobe well. For example, 6A with Brown and Odom replacing Bynum and Bryant has played an amazing 33 points per game better than average (we do adjust for strength of opponents).
- 1C , 3C and 8C do a great job of resting Artest.
- 2B and 3C, 8C and 9C do a great job of resting Gasol
LAL 11.06 ( 8.31 4.20 -4.11 22.78 1.42 3.55) 584.36 minutes 165 appearances 1 A 9.28 113 $
Artest Bryant Bynum Fisher Gasol 29.71 years 109_LAL_2010
LAL 8.91 ( 12.79 3.78 -9.01 31.92 2.02 4.31) 380.36 minutes 144 appearances 2 A 5.17 41 $
Artest Bryant Bynum Fisher Odom 29.84 years 557_LAL_2010
LAL 11.32 ( 18.44 9.37 -9.07 56.24 3.12 3.00) 233.64 minutes 146 appearances 3 A 6.78 33 $
Artest Bryant Fisher Gasol Odom 31.30 years 613_LAL_2010
LAL 9.24 ( 12.13 4.08 -8.06 27.04 1.77 4.38) 138.07 minutes 85 appearances 4 A 11.47 33 $
Brown Bryant Farmar Gasol Odom 27.63 years 598_LAL_2010
LAL 32.56 ( 9.20 -0.35 -9.55 27.69 1.51 3.68) 85.04 minutes 38 appearances 6 A 25.97 46 $
Artest Brown Fisher Gasol Odom 29.85 years 611_LAL_2010
LAL 8.85 ( -0.11 -9.76 -9.64 -18.67 -0.51 4.13) 74.14 minutes 35 appearances 9 A 11.65 18 $
Artest Brown Bynum Farmar Odom 25.93 years 539_LAL_2010
LAL 19.55 ( 14.77 5.55 -9.22 34.20 2.20 3.69) 59.13 minutes 56 appearances 1 B 19.48 24 $
Artest Bryant Farmar Gasol Odom 28.84 years 597_LAL_2010
LAL 23.12 ( 9.12 -0.04 -9.16 9.89 1.11 4.60) 55.56 minutes 39 appearances 2 B 24.19 28 $
Artest Bryant Bynum Farmar Odom 27.38 years 541_LAL_2010
LAL 36.14 ( 15.80 7.90 -7.91 49.08 2.69 3.94) 36.05 minutes 22 appearances 1 C 30.63 23 $
Brown Bryant Fisher Gasol Odom 30.10 years 614_LAL_2010
LAL 37.71 ( 10.16 2.31 -7.85 24.76 1.59 4.86) 34.84 minutes 18 appearances 3 C 37.20 27 $
Brown Bryant Bynum Fisher Odom 28.63 years 558_LAL_2010
LAL 12.31 ( 5.53 -5.27 -10.80 32.25 1.30 7.05) 30.45 minutes 15 appearances 4 C 14.19 9 $
Artest Bryant Fisher Mbenga Odom 31.21 years 677_LAL_2010
LAL 12.53 ( -6.97 -7.23 -0.26 -33.42 -1.46 4.77) 29.87 minutes 16 appearances 5 C 24.11 15 $
Brown Bryant Bynum Farmar Powell 25.53 years 1054_LAL_2010
LAL 17.74 ( 12.95 1.06 -11.89 36.01 2.09 4.23) 24.64 minutes 15 appearances 7 C 15.59 8 $
Artest Brown Bryant Gasol Odom 29.04 years 583_LAL_2010
LAL 34.75 ( -10.31 -11.96 -1.64 -55.64 -2.44 6.23) 23.97 minutes 12 appearances 8 C 34.05 17 $
Brown Bynum Farmar Odom Walton 25.85 years 4634_LAL_2010
LAL 19.69 ( 7.31 -4.53 -11.83 11.69 0.99 4.94) 23.59 minutes 15 appearances 9 C 16.28 8 $
Artest Brown Bryant Bynum Odom 27.58 years 527_LAL_2010
Note that the lineups shown below play fairly often and have not done well. For example, there is a 95% chance that 5A ’s true ability level is 5 points better than average or worse. Why keep using it when there are better alternatives? For example. 3C with Fisher for Farmar (and other 4 guys same as 5A) has played an amazing 38 points better than average and is used less often than 5A. This certainly does not help the Lakers.
LAL -9.29 ( 6.49 -1.51 -8.00 2.72 0.67 5.02) 126.78 minutes 72 appearances 5 A -9.46 -25 $
Brown Bryant Bynum Farmar Odom 26.17 years 542_LAL_2010
LAL 2.57 ( 15.55 11.90 -3.65 21.29 1.98 4.04) 75.86 minutes 25 appearances 7 A 6.33 10 $
Bryant Bynum Fisher Gasol Odom 29.71 years 620_LAL_2010
LAL -16.49 ( -0.93 -5.52 -4.59 -5.77 -0.19 2.78) 35.52 minutes 12 appearances 2 C -17.57 -13 $
Artest Brown Bynum Fisher Gasol 28.26 years 107_LAL_2010
LAL -30.21 ( -32.60 -25.76 6.84 -69.30 -4.55 4.69) 26.00 minutes 13 appearances 6 C -12.92 -7 $
Brown Farmar Mbenga Morrison Powell 25.71 years 1426_LAL_2010
Recent trouble is worth playing attention to and everybody can at least try to improve even when they are going good but 8 positive lineups vs 2 negative used over 50 minutes in their season data is more in order than almost anybody.
Comment by Crow — March 8, 2010 @ 8:34 pm
Boston, Cleveland, Phoenix and Denver are pretty close to this split, this standard at least according to basketballvalue. Orlando is close. I don’t think anybody else is as good or better but I didn’t check everyone. By your measure is there much basis to score any team in this pack above the others in terms of the wisdom of lineup choice / usage?
Comment by Crow — March 8, 2010 @ 8:44 pm