In the grand sadness that is the 2015-16 Los Angeles Lakers, improbably, Nick Young has emerged as the lonely voice of reason.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday night following the Lakers’ 111-77 spanking in Oakland, Swaggy P said the Lakers don’t play team ball and tend to let “one guy” dictate the offense.
.@LAIreland asked Nick Young what LAL can do better, his response: “We can’t let one guy determine everything. We have to play as a team"
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 25, 2015
Nick Young continued: "It can’t be like a video game & you’re playing w/ your favorite player, you know? We’ve all got to share the ball.”
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 25, 2015
After Wednesday’s practice, Young added that the Lakers rely too much on one-on-one action and that the Byron Scott and Kobe Bryant-led crew has no offensive identity whatsoever.
From the team website:
The team has topped 100 points just once in its last nine games, and has shot worse than 38 percent in back-to-back contests. […] According to Nick Young, this has to do with sluggish ball movement, which he says has resulted in a lack of offensive identity.
“Right now I don’t believe we have one,” Young said at Wednesday’s practice. “We have a lot of one-on-one players, including myself. I think that’s one of the major parts of why our offense is so stagnant.”
Indeed, L.A.’s players have tried to take matters into their own hands, as a league-high 10.8 percent of possessions have been in isolation. But playing outside the offense hasn’t worked for the Lakers, as they have shot just 30.4 percent (41-of-135) on those iso attempts. […] “It’s tough out there,” Young said. “We’ve got to find our identity. Like I’ve been saying, everybody’s a great one-on-one player, but we’ve got to work on team ball.”
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