Ranking Every Player in the NBA - Los Angeles Lakers

A few days ago, I began the massive undertaking of ranking every player in the NBA, breaking it up by going team-by-team before compiling all 30 teams' rankings into a huge, 450-player list. To read more about my thought process going into this, or to understand the criteria of how rankings are determined, see the first rankings here.

The Lakers haven't been good for, well...at least a few seasons now (they haven't won a playoff series since 2011-12), and injuries cost this team a bunch of minutes from key players (and Steve Nash even retired mid-season, so he's not listed below). So, it's hard to know how the roster will come together next season. One thing about this roster: down here in the NBA standings, among the lottery teams, there seem to be 2 types of roster compilation - old players holding on to primes long gone (like the Knicks/Lakers), or a bunch of too-young players with high potentials that are as-yet unreached (like the T-Wolves/Sixers). So yeah.

Now, one way to upgrade this roster in a hurry is to recruit high-dollar free agents to come and play. However, one player on the Lakers (his name rhymes with Moby and you don't have to go too far down the list to find him) has been rumored to be a little...difficult to play with. So free agents don't want to join up on Team Purple 'n' Gold, but ownership says that's okay, you're a loser and we don't want you anyway.

Jeanie Buss's message to LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, etc...

So what's the only other way to bring this franchise back to prominence? Through the long, arduous process of rebuilding through the draft. Better start calling Sam Hinkie in Philly and asking him pretty please with some sugar on top for some of his 2nd-round picks.

The List:

1. Kobe Bryant - SG 22.3ppg, 5.7rpg, 5.6apg, 1.34spg, 17.7 PER

Like with Melo in New York, don't overthink this one: Kobe is by far the best player on this team. He is a pretty good defender (or maybe he's started gambling for steals on the defensive end), and lead the team in assists/game (in the half of the season that he played). Dude can still score, too - although not at an efficient rate anymore. He takes 20 shots/game, which is double anyone else on the team not named Nick Young. Definitely one of the best guards to ever play the game, but no longer one of the elite guards in the NBA anymore. On this roster, he's still the king though.

2. Nick Young - SF 13.4ppg, 37% 3FG, 14.3 PER

Swaggy P has the coolest reason for abstaining from tattoos on his right arm, and damn does he shoot enough to make up for the lack of ink. Filling the role of "bench scorer", Young really doesn't add anything else to the game but shot attempts and shots made. But he CAN shoot, and that's valuable.

3. Jordan Hill - C 12.0ppg, 7.9rpg, 16.2 PER

Finally, in his 5th year in the league and on a team full of shot-happy backcourt players, Hill set a new career-high in rpg by adding almost 2 per game. He also took 4 more shots per game this year, which led to him setting a career-high in points as well. Not a force on the defensive end though, so if he can improve on that end as much as he has on the offensive end the past few seasons, he could go from bad-team-good-stats guy to "good player" status.

4. Ed Davis - PF 8.3ppg, 7.6rpg, 1.86 "stocks"/game (steals+blocks), 20.0 PER

Ed Davis seems to be Jordan Hill's foil - everything that Hill is (gifted offensive player, sluggish defensively), Davis is the opposite. He's always been a good defensive player, even straight out of UNC, but hasn't really ever seen his offensive game round into anything consistent.

5. Jeremy Lin - PG 11.2ppg, 4.6apg, 1.1spg, 15.7 PER

Well, it's been 3+ years since the Year of Linsanity when Lin took the league by storm for a 3-week stretch, and where are we now? Lin is still in the league (and making some good money thanks to Rockets GM Daryl Morey), still driving to the basket a bunch (he took the most driving shots on the team, almost 2x as many as second-place Jordan Clarkson), still making enough 3's to keep you honest (he's actually improved his percentages each year), and still jumping passing routes and picking pockets (he's averaged 1.3spg for his entire career). So, what can we deduce about Jeremy Lin? That what you see is what you get. And if you're the Lakers, what you get is a solid backup point guard.

6. Jordan Clarkson - PG 11.9ppg, 3.5apg, 16.9 PER

Clarkson was the breakout player of the year by far for the Lake Show, and it's clear to see why: he comes from nowhere (drafted in the second round), starts on an injury-riddled roster, and steps in capably. He shot well this season (45% from the field), had more than 2x as many assists as turnovers, and at the end of the year he had started 38 of the 59 games he played. The standards weren't set very high for Clarkson coming into this season, but needless to say he outperformed them.

7. Julius Randle - PF Injured in his 1st game, no stats (but he had a -7.5 PER, which is pretty funny)

Sad that Randle got hurt for the entire year, because his game seemed the most adaptable of the 3 intriguing rookies coming into this year (along with Andrew Wiggins, who shined, and Jabari Parker, who also shined before getting hurt). So, given the performance of the other two rookies, I assume that Randle should adapt well when he finally gets out on the court.

8. Carlos Boozer - PF 11.8ppg, 6.8rpg, 16.5 PER

The loudest screamer of "And-One!" I've ever heard in basketball, Booze is completely washed up at this point. He doesn't defend in the slightest, and his offensive game is comprised solely of 15-foot jumpers and begging the refs for calls down low. Every dog has his day, and Boozer's ended 5 years ago.

9. Tarik Black - PF 6.0ppg, 5.8rpg, 14.8 PER

Black spent time in Houston before being traded to the Lakers this season, and was a capable backup big-man. However, he hasn't shown any potential to develop an offensive game (72% of his shot were from 3ft away from the basket or closer), so this is probably his ceiling as far as potential goes.

10. Wayne Ellington - SG 10.0ppg, 37% 3FG, 11.7 PER

Ellington is an all-offense shooting guard, and this season took 100 more 3's than his previous high, while hitting a healthy percentage of them. There's a spot on a good team's roster for a 3-point specialist, but we're seeing them make a bigger imprint on the defensive end (Danny Green, for example, averaged 2+ "stocks" per game this season) in addition to the sharp-shooting.

11. Ronnie Price - PG 5.1ppg, 3.8apg, 1.6spg, 10.2 PER

Good steals numbers, but not much else from the "crafty veteran" - aka a player who sticks in the league without really giving any evidence as to why. Here's an interesting tidbit: at 6'2'', Price is the shortest player on the Lakers roster. What, there's not much to say here!

12. Wesley Johnson - SF 9.9ppg, 4.2rpg, 35% 3FG, 11.1 PER

Yet another 1st-round bust, Johnson was taken one pick before some guy named DeMarcus Cousins (sorry, Timberwolves fans). He's proven that he can shoot the 3 a little bit, and he shot a bunch of them, second only to Ellington in sheer volume this season.

13. Robert Sacre - C 4.6ppg, 3.5rpg, 10.9 PER

Robert Sacre is an energy big-man who doesn't score, rebound, or defend very well. That's not very valuable.

14. Jabari Brown - SG 11.9ppg, 37% 3FG, 11.0 PER

Yup, never heard of this guy before I started researching.

15. Ryan Kelly - PF 6.4ppg, 33% 3FG, 8.6 PER

Kelly is filling that ever-important Mark Madsen/Adam Morrison role of "white guy on the Lakers bench". For the record, since I know this is the best place to say this, I see a lot of parallels between Ryan Kelly's playing career at Duke and Frank Kaminsky's at Wisconsin. A cautionary tale for Frank the Tank.

The Houston Rockets

I never thought I'd say this, but I am beginning to be a fan of none other than the Houston Rockets basketball team in the National Basketball Association. Like, a legitimate fan. For around 12 years now, I've lived in Houston. I have been a die-hard Astros fan for each and every year of that span (dating back to the Carl Everett, Mike Hampton, and Jose Lima days), but have never really followed the Rockets very intently. Sure, I'd cheer for them or watch if the games were on, but I never made it a point to watch.

Well, that sure has changed. I've watched more NBA games this season than I ever have, and have seen nearly every game played by the Rockets this season. As for my fanhood, I'm a fan of the hometown boys, LeBron and the Heatles, and several individual players throughout the league (Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry, to name a few). With the trade deadline recently having passed, and the most exciting part of the NBA season looming on the near horizon, I figured I'd break down some thoughts on the new and (hopefully) improved Houston Rockets.

First, I like Rick Adelman. He's got a good demeanor on the court with the pacing and instructing his players. He seems to fight for his players with the referees without ever going postal and trying to make himself the focal point of the game. In the post-game press conferences and interviews, he seems to have good perspective and makes it easy for the media members to glean quotes from him for their articles and pieces. He's not the best coach in the league, but he only adds to this team and takes nothing away.

Secondly, I'll discuss GM Daryl Morey and the new arrivals/departures from the recent trades. Morey, from everything I've read and heard, seems to be a pioneer in the NBA landscape. He's very statistically-driven (even co-chairing the MIT Sloan Sports Conference, a Mensa-meeting-type feel of sports stats nuts) and seems to never accept the Rockets in their current state. It's that drive to always strive for more that I think will make the team competitive each year for as long as he's here. Will he make some mistakes? Sure, he might trade/release a guy who goes on to have a revitalized career or sign someone who was only a flash in the pan. However, the overall feel of his managerial style shows that he's got a great feel for what Adelman needs as far as tools to make this team win, and his trade moves reflect that.

For instance, trading fan-favorite Shane Battier along with Ish Smith for Hasheem Thabeet and Demarre Carroll and a first-round pick is a very pro-active move that will hopefully serve to give some worthy bench guys some minutes. Battier is an excellent player and a good team guy, but his contract is expiring and I at least would rather move him too soon than too late. Thabeet (who looks like a character straight out of Avatar - don't lie, you see it too!) is still very young, and he could be a serviceable center in the league. I mean, look at what we did with 6'6'' Chuck Hayes! Also, call me crazy but I watched Carroll in college (at Mizzou), and he's not a bad player at all. Think Patrick Patterson but a little more pass-heavy, like Pistons rookie Greg Monroe.

The other Rockets trade sent point guard Aaron Brooks to the Suns for their Slovenian backup Goran Dragic and a pick. Brooks really didn't do a whole lot for me as a fan, but that's probably because I didn't get to see him in his excellence last year and only in his conflict-ridden season this year (storming off the court and receiving a suspension for it). Dragic set the world on fire with an excellent playoff series against the Spurs in 2010, and ever since then I have been a fan of his. He has an excellent motor, isn't afraid to mix it up (as evidenced by a verbal tussle with Sasha Vujacic in last year's playoffs...but seriously Vujacic had it coming. The dude's a whimp.), and loves to drive to the lane and kick it out to a thankful 3-point shooter. Brooks will be missed, but I like the move and what it brings to starter Kyle Lowry.

I'm sorry, did someone say Kyle Lowry?! Well then, I'd love to put my two cents in. I've watched Kyle Lowry snag (and then firmly put his stamp on) the starting point guard job. He's lighting it up from 3, and brings a junkyard-dog feel to the team that I love. For all of Kevin Martin's whiny acting jobs, Lowry matches those performances with a hard and-1 to the basket or an open-court steal and bucket on the break. He has quickly become my favorite Rocket.

Other bright spots obviously include Martin, who was NBA player of the week last week, rookie Patrick Patterson who has been playing like a veteran, and severely-undersized Chuck Hayes (or The Chuckwagon, as FSN announcers Matt Bullard and Bill Worrell affectionately call him) who consistently turns out double-doubles and guards some of the toughest power forwards in the league. I love Luis Scola's offensive game, and he has recently stepped it up with some charge-taking performances on the defensive end too. Courtney Lee quite possibly is the most athletic Rocket, and I love his game on both ends. I've actually had a soft-spot in my heart for him ever since his dagger 3 in the first round of the NCAA tournament a few years ago with Western Kentucky - even though he screwed over my bracket.

Brad Miller has had better times than he's playing right now, and I wish that he'd bring some toughness along with his height to the second-team. I'm not too high on Kevin Martin actually, but like every long-time Laker fan will tell you about Kobe, you don't complain about results.

Where do I see the Rockets going? I hope they can get a playoff spot, and I think it's very possible. However, barring a crazy run or some meteoric collapses from the bottom-half of the playoff brackets I don't foresee the Rockets moving out of the first round. However, the future looks bright for this team, and I will definitely be watching intently to see how the season plays out.