Deuce McBride is the most Cranjis McBasketball IJ name among NBA players

Here's what the calf strain timeline data looks like. This is one of the wider range of outcomes for that middle 50%. I plan to use this tool to help ballpark what to expect for various injuries throughout the year. bball-index.com/injuries/

I won’t use this to predict the future, given how roster + scheme + possibly defensive roles are each changing, but I’d caution against anchoring to that raw DRtg when expectation setting. I do separately expect the groups with Kessler out there to be strong on defense. Not as much for the collective set of lineups without him.

Luka + Reaves on-court last season with LeBron off-court had a 110.7 Defensive Rating. It had a 117.3 expected Defensive Rating based on the luck-adjusted xPoints data we use at BBall Index (what we use to calculate LEBRON).

Denver ran aggressive coverages the ~same rates as Golden State the game prior. Just 1 handful of them included actual blitzing. It’s good to see different looks and put things on film to clean up in practice. It’s not really something to be upset about.

Kessler rightfully gets a lot of credit for cleaning up mistakes (& did a ton yesterday), but I want to shout out Jaden Hardy and Bronny James here. After Thybulle is beat, Kessler rotates to traps the box and we see Harden sink & get into the dump off guy's body + Bronny bust ass to get to the corner, w/Hardy then full sprint to closeout, Bronny good help & recover forr a heavy contest.

Wrong team, but this was sick

DeRozan had been cooking LaRavia all game so LA uses a lurker to provide deterring help. Help AROUND the paint = middle is open Denver runs a help beater and gets an easy bucket.

Maybe he's pressing and trying to prove his case to start, but Grimes is making a lot of dumb mistakes on both ends of the court lately

Ice + Drop from LA and Kessler signals to switch. AR recovers to Jokic, but Grimes is late to go from zoning up to his own man + is in a closed stance and gets back cut

For the letter grades it's currently baselining against last season's Lakers performances. For the ones that I can I plan to expand that to be league-wide.

Denver going 4-out 1-in with a lob threat in the short corner + deep corners running Murray/Jokic high P&R vs drop is so hard to guard. Trevon Brazile fits that dump off guy job well

I have a bunch of little tweaks to make and then will have it up! Lots of views to build out.

In Q1 LA was consistently in drop with their Centers One benefit of drop/switching (vs hedging) is your low man doesn't need to rotate each screen and you don't need to sink or fill behind it. That's supposed to limit dump off buckets like this. Luka should stay home here.

The Lakers half court offense yesterday was a bit rough A couple screenshots from the tracker I'll be sharing with the Discord's Courtside tier this year.

Of course! And I’m happy to answer questions whenever as well

If you’re interested in videos introducing concepts, showing examples, & explaining the why - I have 24 hours of recorded content available going A-Z available in my discord at the courtside tier. It’s not specific to this team but I’d bet it gets you 90% of the way there for both offense and defense, then you’ll probably notice most of it yourself live and/or as I or others call out concepts you’ll know the what & why. I also keep a tracker that shows what LA did each offensive play. I know folks will pull that up as they watch game replays so they can connect concepts to film. That’s in that same discord tier. I don’t think I’ll have time to maintain a full one, but plan to diagram at least the most common stuff and post that also for that same audience. I’m working on something in terms of a written resource. Here’s what I’d recommend at the moment: medium.com/thebasketballacti…

Help Counter Rate for the Lakers half court offense in preseason the last 3 years: 2024-25: 52% 2025-26: 14% 2026-27: 11% This is the % of plays LA attempts a counter w/cutting and/or screening when defenses are sending proactive doubles or overloading to deter drives.

The offensive rating for the organized portion of the Lakers half court offense in preseason each of the years under JJ, as well as their Scheme Score metric grade: 2024-25: 105 (C) 2025-26: 111 (A) 2026-27: 95 (D-)

Hiding things in preseason makes no sense to me. I'd rather have reps and build proficiency in various coverages, sets, tactics, etc. The regular season is more about YOU than specific matchups. If it's game 82 of the season and you're playing your locked in R1 opponent, sure.