Sacramento at L.A. Lakers
Time: 9:30 PM (CT), NBA TV
Spread: LAL -7
Total: 212.5
Odds c/o 5dimes
In the battle of Tankathon 2018, the L.A. Lakers currently hold a one-game edge on its opponent, the Sacramento Kings. That is to say, both teams have been horrible, but the Lakers have been slightly more horrible. Both teams boast win percentages under 33 percent, and in this fairly meaningless game, the Lakers are 7-point favorites on its home court.
For some reason, this game is going to be nationally televised on NBA TV at 9:30 PM (CT), but to be fair, many still are interested in the development of rookie Lonzo Ball and the Lakers other young talents.
KINGS
Sacramento has its fair share of intriguing talents on the roster, too, but it is an imbalanced team without a lot of top-shelf talent. Zach Randolph leads the team in scoring, but he is approaching ancient and averages just over 15 points per game. Buddy Hield has not developed into a superstar by any stretch of the imagination and is posting an overwhelmingly mediocre line of 12 points and three rebounds per game. Willie Cauley-Stein has shown some growth and improvement but remains inconsistent. Perhaps the most promising player on the roster is De’Aaron Fox of Kentucky.
The rookie has averaged 10 points and four assists per game in 25 minutes a night, but has a low PER of just 10.2 primarily due to his poor shooting and turnovers. The Kings, as a team, turn it over 13.6 times per game while managing just 20.8 assists. And if all of the offensive mediocrity was not enough, the Kings also play poor defense. There really is not much reason to be overly excited about a team that is going to miss the playoffs for the twelfth consecutive season. There has been precious little improvement, as Sacramento has become kind of a destination for careers to die metaphorically. Even George Hill has struggled to come off three consecutive productive seasons. With the lack of organization in the team’s offense, perhaps it is all too understandable.
LAKERS
The L.A. Lakers continue to pile up the losses, but the team is looking more promising in many respects. Rookies Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma are both playing well, particularly Kuzma, the Utah product who ranks No. 1 on the team in scoring at 17.5 points per game. Lonzo Ball is at 10 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.1 assists on the year, and the comparisons to Jason Kidd continue, for better or worse.
What Ball does do, is make the Lakers a better team when he is on the court. His vision and leadership have been apparent even as a rookie, and several other Lakers have shown vast improvement. Among them is former No. 2 overall pick Brandon Ingram, who is averaging 16.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 35 minutes a night.
Former Detroit Piston Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been something of a disappointment but is still a steady 2-guard and a bit of an upgrade over what Lou Williams did (score and score, basically). The Lakers still just play horrible team defense, and adding Brook Lopez was no surety to improve on that end of the court. Opposing bigs seem to batter the Lakers exceptionally well, and the perimeter defense has been average at best.
Kentucky product Julius Randle has faded out of the picture, but his undersized stature was never at the root of the problem anyway. The Lakers just do not rotate well defensively and Lopez is not a rim protector, notwithstanding that he blocks 1.6 shots per game. Larry Nance Jr.’s effort can be infectious, and perhaps if all the Lakers displayed Nance’s defensive acumen this would be a plus .500 team, but it is difficult to win with the layup drills teams regularly perform against the Lakers’ lackluster defense.
