If you want more Tim & Tom content, our Discord server is the place to be. Example: with 24 bonus pods since the start of the regular season, that's an extra pod every ~2 games. Join any premium tier to get into the Discord for good: tinyurl.com/supportlakersexp…

Hey @Lakers I have LA at 0.94 ePPP vs Ice defense as the major screen coverage type this past season (not good)

Jose Alvarado is very good at generating on-ball steals (Pickpocket Rating) Check out our Player Profiles with a BBall Index Subscription. You can look up your favorite player for just 5 bucks a month. Link in bio

There have only been 33 games over the last 2 seasons with 50% OOR, 50% Coverage Fit, & 50% Help Counter Rates from LA. I don't think that's a particularly high bar, but LA has a 25-8 record (76% Win Rate) with a 119.6 ORtg in those games.

One change I’d like to see next season from the Lakers is entering the playoffs with more reps under their belt doing something other than their default on defense. They were towards the top of the league in their lack of balance in coverages and the NBA's heaviest switch defense. And had 1 base iso help D they leaned heavily on. Game 1 vs Houston was the first time we saw LA do something other than switch most often among coverage options in 86 days. When you face OKC & they're a machine against switching but have holes vs other coverages, you want to be prepared to do something other than switch. You want to have worked through the kinks & installed advanced options within those. Not just drop 101 or soft hedge 101 type defense. Even w/injuries faced I'd rather they still work through that process vs try to skip steps.

Let's amend that - Dylan Harper has been THE best rookie at pressuring the rim in the last 13 NBA seasons ⬆️ Better difficulty-adjusted finishing ➡️ Higher rate of rim self-creation He ranked 13th this season among all NBA players in Finishing Talent, best among non-starters.

Dylan Harper was the rookie pressuring the rim best this past season ⬆️ Better difficulty-adjusted finishing ➡️ Higher rate of rim self-creation bball-index.com/headshots-sc…

It’s been fun this season watching all the goodness I liked from the Lakers playbook under Darvin Ham, but with actual good playcall rates. Jent was Ham’s OC. Strong playbook and great tactics that helped bring LA to a WCF during that tenure.

Dylan Harper’s regular season impact/talent/optimization ranks this season among rotation rookies: Aggregate Impact: 4th - Offensive: 2nd - Defensive: 10th Impact Per 100 Possessions: 2nd - O: 3rd - D 7th Talent: 8th - O: 12th - D: 11th Optimization: 1st - O: 2nd - D: 12th

99th percentile rate of rim self-creation 97th percentile difficulty-adjusted shooting at the rim is what you dream of. The C- FG% is held down by F quality. The next step for Harper as a finisher is raising that D foul drawn rate.

Death, taxes, Kendrick Nunn in foul trouble every game since he joined Pana

The NBA's most effective offensive lineups this season, using Defensive Talent data to adjust for the quality of opposing lineups faced stabilizing small samples. I need to dedicate some time to watching that Hornets group.

Luka and Austin advanced WOWY data Data on the left is raw data. On the right substitutes in expected points for actuals for a higher quality view of how the team played.

The Lakers went bananas in clutch time and stole some wins to boost their win % a good bit above their quality of play. This should inform "how much needs to improve" analysis. LA's ranks: Win %: 6th - - - - - DPM: 12th - LEBRON: 14th Net Rating: 14th EPM: 14th

There's goodness in the middle between those. LA is already upgrading facilities, support staff, & executives. Do the same with coaching. You'll see more winning at the scheme & tactics margins. LA has proof of concept w/JJ Luka as a younger core $$ in a way they didn't when first assembling this group.

The 9 Roll & Cut Bigs that have joined Luka in their careers saw an average Offensive Optimization change of 0.03 (nothing). I don't think for that role we can do the "Luka will fix him" thing. Fans did this with bleh players over and over again for the Bron AD teams and then after they didn't work would say it again for the next crop. This feels the same.

Here's how Austin Reaves has stacked up in terms of: 🟡 Impact: WAR for aggregate, LEBRON and its components to look per 100 possessions 🟣 Talent: the expected impact based on his roles & usage, physical tools, & skill data 🟡 Optimization: difference between Impact & Talent