Transition Efficiency: The Lakers’ Glaring Issue
The Lakers are playing fast paced, but need to score efficiently in transition.
The First Bad Sign
The Lakers aren’t that far away from their first game of the season. Playing with high pace is core to the Lakers offensive philosophy. One important way to get the team out in transition is to crash the glass. Early on, it’s clear that the Lakers need to improve their team defensive rebounding. Through six preseason games, the Lakers have been out rebounded in four of six, and some of the margins haven’t been close. The Lakers were out rebounded 50-37 and 40-38 when playing against the Nuggets. They were out rebounded severely when playing against the Clippers, 58-48, and against Golden State, 56-45. Playing time for the starters has been irregular for the Lakers and their opposition, but the missed box-outs have left a large gap in rebounding totals. The team may be overzealous to run, but it would be pointless to run without the basketball.
The Lakers are leaving transition possessions on the table.
The Initiators Aren’t Scorers, They’re Pace-Makers
Point guards are usually the heart of an offense. Ball-dominant or not, they direct traffic within the offense and try to control the tempo of the game to best suit their team. Rajon Rondo and Lonzo Ball fit that description well. However, even with the great playmaking talent of both Rondo and Lonzo, there’s plenty of room for improvement in terms of scoring in transition.
Rajon Rondo pushed the Pelicans to #1 in pace last season when Boogie Cousins got hurt near the end of January. Amidst a playoff push, the increased team pace and usage for Anthony Davis helped lead him to average over 35 points per game for the month of February. Rajon Rondo, on the other hand, had a 24.6 percent turnover rate and averaged 0.82 PPP in transition.
Lonzo Ball helped the Lakers to a #1 pace for the first half of last season. Unfortunately, he had a 23.4 percent turnover rate and averaged 0.74 PPP in transition. Among creators, both Rondo and Lonzo rank towards the bottom of the league in regards to finishing around the rim.
Explanations for these talent grades can be found here.
Last season did not bode well for their individual scoring in transition. When they have opportunities to score, Rondo shoots with an effective field goal percent of 53.5 percent, while Lonzo Ball shoots with an effective field goal percent of 46.1 percent. League average shooting across all play types last season was an effective field goal percent of 52.1 percent.
The Lakers are leaving points on the table.
How Many Points Does This Cost The Lakers Per Game?
The Lakers as a team finished 22nd with 1.06 transition points per possession last season. In comparison, the Cavaliers ranked 6th with 1.13 transition points per possession. The Cavs also shot with an effective field goal percent of 60.8 percent, 2.5 percent better than the Lakers. Due to the Lakers’ pace, the Lakers actually led the league in total transition points (just barely) over the Golden State Warriors. They averaged 23.4 transition points per game. The Cavs finished with 21.3 transition points per game.
If, for example, the Lakers were a mid-pack transition team in efficiency at 1.10 PPP last season, it would account for an extra 0.89 points per game as a team. Not bad, considering that extra 0.89 points per game would be extracted out of just 19.5 percent of the Lakers total team possessions.
LeBron James Can Make This Work, Right?
LeBron James on a Cleveland Cavalier team ranked 9th in pace, tied for 3rd in the league with 5.5 individual transition possessions per game. He’s a complete contrast to Rondo’s and Lonzo’s scoring efficiency with 1.19 PPP in transition and an effective field goal percent of 66 percent.
In fact, LeBron James accounted for 30.5 percent of the Cavalier’s total transition scoring at 6.5 transition points per game.
In comparison, Kyle Kuzma (I’m not counting Andre Ingram) led the Lakers in transition scoring at 3.82 transition points per game, which accounts for just over 16 percent of the team’s total transition scoring.
LeBron James alone can help get the most out of the Lakers’ transition opportunities with his individual scoring. The Lakers can still build upon that. One improvement that is evident throughout the preseason, is the Lakers doing a better job running to the corners when LeBron is flying down the middle.
Here’s Ingram going to a corner trying to open up LeBron’s spacing:
Here’s KCP clearing out, to left corner, Ingram right corner, and Lonzo at the wing-corner. LeBron finishes:
The goal is to eventually increase plays that look like this. KCP runs to the corner, gives LeBron spacing and a passing lane, and KCP gets fouled for three attempts at the free throw line.
Easier Said Than Done
With the preseason causing initial concerns about reduced fast break opportunities due to rebounding issues, there’s a greater emphasis to make these opportunities count. The Lakers lost considerable muscle in the paint with Lopez and Randle now on other teams. Hopefully with the starters getting more playing time and a concerted effort to rebound as a unit, large rebounding discrepancies can be mitigated. Still, Rondo needs to take open shots. Lonzo needs to seek contact in the paint. Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will get their open looks. When this team is better in sync in transition, they can hopefully squeeze out a few more scoring runs and eek out of a few more wins against the tough Western Conference.
Making the playoffs would be nice. Being competitive in the playoffs against the top tier teams, would be nicer.
Stats from by NBA.com
Video courtesy of CaChookaManTv on YouTube
Feature Image created by – Aidan Lising