As for the rest, it’s understandable that Sam Cassell is off his 05-06 pace. He is the sixth oldest player in the league at 37, and has been bothered with a series of leg and foot injuries. Cuttino Mobley has been wildly inconsistent, but is actually shooting much better from beyond the three point line this season (up to 41.3% after a career-low 33.9% in 05-06) and is also shooting a career-best 44.3% overall. But really, the bulk of the criticism has to be leveled at two pairs – Chris Kaman and Shaun Livingston, Corey Maggette and Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
Kaman and Livingston were both expected to step up this season, and neither really has. Kaman has actually taken a step back from last season’s break out performance (44.8% shooting after 52.3% last year), while Livingston has simply not done enough to fulfill his promise. The situation is only exacerbated by the additional expectations of a $52M contract extension signed by Kaman just before the season started and Livingston’s role in the unsuccessful attempt to trade for Iverson, making them respectively ‘that doofus who stopped producing when he got the big contract’ and ‘that scared kid that Elgin Baylor wouldn’t trade for the Answer’ (to paraphrase comments overheard at Staples Center).
As for Maggette and Dunleavy, the coach has chosen to use the team’s 04-05 leading scorer in a reserve role and Maggette has always wanted to start. Early in the season there appeared to be an understanding and an acceptance on both sides, and there was much talk of a ‘Sixth Man’ Award for Maggette. And if the team were winning, it might all have worked out. But everyone knows minutes are more important than starting per se, and at 27.4, Maggette is playing fewer minutes per game than four other Clippers, and fewer than he has in five seasons. The situation has boiled over on more than one occasion, with Maggette publicly criticizing his coach, the coach publicly talking about how much he likes his son’s game (with the implicit comparison), Maggette’s agent asking for a trade, and the Clippers actively shopping him around the league. Maggette’s still a Clipper, but the team’s chemistry could not be described as good right now, even if you’re a ‘beaker half full’ person.
So, that’s the bad news. Season to date, there is nothing particularly encouraging – the home record is less than dominant, the road record is awful, the record against good teams is most discouraging of all. The only way they’ve managed to stay in the race at all is by beating up on a seemingly endless string of teams less fortunate then themselves – injury-riddled Bucks, Hornets and Rockets, trade-ravaged Warriors, just plain awful Celtics, etc.
I guess the good news is that they do have the talent to perform better. Heck – they wouldn’t be the ‘consensus disappointment’ if they didn’t have talent. If it were to happen, it would not be the first time a team found the ‘on’ switch late in the season – two years ago the Nuggets were 24-29 before the All Star bread and 25-4 after. (For the record, I’m not really counting on that.) Just last year the Bulls won 10 of their last 12 to qualify for the playoffs in the final month of the season. So it could still happen. Maybe the beaker is half-full.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
by ClipperSteve of Clips Nation
ClipperSteve writing the Lakers update? The deuce, you say! Well, before you hyperventilate and turn Forum Blue bear in mind that being in LA, I do see a fair number of Lakers games and have access to plenty of Lakers coverage. Plus, given the massive inferiority complex of Clippers fans, following the Lakers, if only in the hope that they will fail, is part of the gig.
In an unsettling role reversal, the Clippers have failed to achieve high expectations, while the Lakers have exceeded relatively low ones. What kind of bizarro universe are we living in, where the Clippers are even within sight of the Lakers at the All Star break (4.5 games behind their co-tenants / overlords), yet the Clippers are the disappointment while the Lakers are a ‘pleasant surprise’?
And yet at this point, it’s difficult to say exactly where the Lakers are. Should they be happy to be 30-24 at the break, or disappointed to have lost 5 straight and 11 of their last 15? The answer of course is both.
At the beginning of the season, the Lakers were considered a marginal playoff team – expected to battle with several other OK teams for the last few playoff spots in the mighty Western Conference, but not considered a viable threat to the big three of Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix. Instead, the Mavs and Suns turned out to be in a class by themselves, while for much of the season the Lakers were solidly in the next group with the Spurs, Jazz and Rockets. But given their recent struggles, the team is right back where most people thought they’d be – at the lower end of the playoff picture, and in danger of dropping further if teams like the Nuggets, Hornets and (yes) Clippers were to get hot after the break.
In an injury-riddled NBA season, the Lakers have had more than their share, all in their front court. Center Chris Mihm is gone for the season, his backup Kwame Brown has missed 30 games and counting, power forward Lamar Odom missed 21, and now starting small forward Luke Walton has missed the last 11. Surprisingly the Lakers weathered the injuries to the supposedly crucial ‘second best player’ Odom and to the former number 1 overall pick Brown pretty well. Coincidence or not, it’s the Walton injury that seems to have upset the apple cart.