By Don Wanlass
Contributing Writer
Are the Lakers really that close to being a championship team?
That seems like an odd question to be asking after the Lakers were eliminated in five games by the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets April 29. After all, the Nuggets have won 12 of the last 13 games between the teams dating back to the 2022-23 season, including a four-game sweep in the Western Conference finals a year ago.
But the difference between the Lakers and Nuggets isn’t that large if you consider the closeness of most of the games the teams play against each other.
In this year’s playoff series, the Lakers led more than 70% of the time before losing four times in the fourth quarter to Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the rest of the Nuggets.
Whether that is enough to save head coach Darvin Ham’s job remains to be seen. The Lakers fought hard to stave off playoff elimination against the Nuggets, winning 119-108 April 27 at Crypto.com Arena to force a game five only to lose 108-106 April 29 when Murray hit his second game-winning basket of the series.
The Lakers lost by 11, 2, 7 and 2 again in this year’s series with the Nuggets. Last year it was 6, 5, 11 and 2 points.
So how do the Lakers close the gap against the Nuggets this offseason?
They need to get better players to go with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Nuggets have two stars in Jokic and Murray. Their other three starters — Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — are players who play hard at both ends of the court. All can shoot from three-point range and all play defense.
Jokic, Murray and Porter all averaged more than 20 points a game in the series. Gordon averaged only 13.8 points a game, but he went off for 29 points and 15 rebounds in game 3, which Denver won 112-105 at Crypto.com Arena.
For the Lakers, James and Davis both averaged 27.8 points a game against the Nuggets. Austin Reaves averaged 16.8 points a game and D’Angelo Russell averaged 14.2.
But Russell was wildly inconsistent, as usual. He scored 18 points in the first half of game two and then scored five points total over the next game and a half, which included a big goose egg in game 3.
Rui Hachimura scored 15 points in game 5 for the Lakers after scoring 24 points combined in the first four games.
So the Lakers enter another offseason trying to figure out how to get better enough to beat the Nuggets, while also needing to get better than younger, up-and-coming teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Sacramento Kings.
The Lakers’ off-season decisions hinge on what James wants to do. He has a $51 million contract option for next season that he can opt out of between now and June 29.
Team governor Jeanne Buss and head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka also must decide if they want to retain Ham as coach.
It isn’t Ham’s fault that two players the team was counting on to be main parts of the rotation this season — forward Jarred Vanderbilt and guard Gabe Vincent — played only 29 and 11 games this past season.
With those two and Davis on the floor at the same time, the Lakers can play defense with anyone. But they need to be healthy.
Ham has two years left on his contract and deserves another year to continue developing as a head coach. The last thing the Lakers want to do is be changing head coaches every two years.
The Lakers also must wait and see what Russell does. He has an $18 million contract for next year that he can opt out of. He’s worth more than that if he plays like he did in February and March this season.
He isn’t worth half that if he plays like he did in game 3 against Denver.
League followers are already linking the Lakers with Atlanta guards Trae Young or Dejounte Murray or Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell. The Lakers also could have a first-round draft pick at their disposal.
They still owe the New Orleans Pelicans a first-round pick as part of the Davis trade, but could choose to use this year’s pick and give New Orleans the pick in 2025.
Disappointed Lakers fans are unhappy with back-to-back playoff losses and want the Lakers to do something drastic in the offseason, but the Lakers are a good team in a tough Western Conference.
They won the first in-season tournament last December and then lost 10 of their next 13. But they finished the season winning 22 of their last 32 games.
That’s a truer picture of where they stand. Add a more consistent number three scorer, get better defensively and avoid injuries (always a factor in the NBA) and the Lakers will be in contention again next year.
STAYING ALIVE: The Clippers are tied 2-2 in their playoff series with the Dallas Mavericks as this is being written, with game 5 May 1 and game 6 May 3.
This is the playoffs, so Kawhi Leonard is hurt again. He battled knee inflammation the last few weeks of the season, sat out game 1 against the Mavericks, played games 2 and 3 and then sat out game 4 and was expected to miss game 5 as well.
Oddly enough, the Clippers won the two games that Leonard missed and lost the two games he played in.
Paul George and James Harden carried the Clippers in game 4, a 116-111 win in Dallas. Both scored 33 points.
Ivica Zubac is having a solid series, averaging 16 points a game and providing rebounding and rim protecting. With Leonard’s status questionable for the foreseeable future, the Clippers need more production from Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell off the bench. Westbrook had 13 points in game 1 but has scored only 13 more points in the other three games.
Powell had 21 points in game 3, but has only 43 total points in the series.
While the Clippers are slugging it out against the Mavericks, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the top seed in the Western Conference, is relaxing at home after sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round.
If a game 7 is required with the Mavericks it will be played May 5, meaning May 7 is as soon as the second-round series with the Thunder will start.
The Clippers are hoping to survive the Mavericks and that Leonard will heal before then.
DRAFT TALK: Both the Chargers and Rams appeared to have filled some roster holes with their selections in the 2024 NFL Draft April 25-27.
The Chargers made nine selections starting with Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt, who was the fifth overall pick.
New head coach Jim Harbaugh calls the offensive line one of his “weapons,” so it isn’t a surprise that the Chargers ignored some of the high-end skill position players available to draft someone who will probably be the starting right tackle on opening day.
Needing help at wide receiver, the Chargers drafted Ladd McConkey out of Georgia in round two (34th pick). They added two more receivers in the seventh round, picking Brenden Rice — Jerry’s son out of USC — and Cornelius Johnson, who played for Harbaugh at Michigan.
Round three choice linebacker Junior Colson is another former Wolverine. The Chargers also picked Alabama defensive tackle Justin Eboigbe in round 4, Maryland defensive back Tarheeb Still and Notre Dame defensive back Cam Hart in round 5 and Troy running back Kimani Vidal in round 6.
The Rams drafted 10 players over the seven rounds, starting with defensive end Jared Verse from Florida State at 19 in the first round.
With Aaron Donald retiring, the Rams needed to do something to boost their pass rush and Verse is expected to make an immediate impact for the defense.
The Rams stayed on defensive lineman from Florida State in round two, drafting tackle Braden Fiske.
The Rams then plucked a former Michigan Wolverine from under Harbaugh’s nose in the third round, drafting running back Blake Corum, who will probably back up Kyren Williams in the Rams’ backfield next season.
They also drafted Kamren Kinchens, a safety from Miami, in the third round.
In the later rounds, the Rams picked edge rusher Brennan Jackson from Washington State in round five, Clemson defensive tackle Tyler Davis, Stanford place kicker Joshua Karty, Texas wide receiver Jordan Whittington and Arkansas center Beaux Limmer in the sixth round and Kansas State guard KT Leveston in the seventh round.
The Rams have had lots of success finding gems in the later rounds of the draft in recent years and hope to have done the same this year.
Karty, who made 41 of 45 field goals his last two seasons at Stanford, could easily become the Rams new place kicker after Brett Maher and Lucas Havrisik made only 74% of their field goals last season, which ranked 30th in the NFL.
ON THE UPSWING: After a dismal home stand that saw them lose all three series and six of nine games, the Dodgers went back on the road and laid waste to the Washington Nationals and Toronto Blue Jays, winning the first five games on the trip by a combined 33-8 margin.
They then lost two of the next three games, scoring a combined four runs in the two losses. When the Dodgers hit and score runs, they are going to win. They are 14-4 when scoring five or more runs. They are 5-9 when they don’t score five runs.
The first four hitters in the lineup are all hitting better than .300 and the bottom of the order is beginning to show some signs of life, with the possible exception of Chris Taylor.
And the Dodgers have apparently found another gem. Outfielder Andy Pages (pronounce Paw-hes) is hitting .300 with two home runs and 8 runs batted in since being recalled in mid-April to fill the void left by Jason Heyward.
Pages could find himself in a centerfield platoon with last year’s rookie phenom James Outman when Heyward returns from a back injury.
Outman is starting to resemble Cody Bellinger circa 2021 with his .173 batting average and 27 strikeouts. In 31 more at bats, he has the same number of homers and RBI that Pages has
