Very Early Poor Returns: The Los Angeles "We Are Not A Team Constructed Of Great Shooting" Lakers Are On Pace For The 8th Most 3-Point Attempts Since 1999 And Dead Last In Percentage

Ezra Shaw. Getty Images.

Credit LeBron James for this: the man can self scout. After the Lakers shot 10/40 from downtown in the first game of the season LeBron flat out said "we are not a team constructed of great shooting" when asked about their three-point woes. LeBron went on to explain that if they put in the work the Lakers can still win much like Tom Brady has won using the NBA equivalent to underneath routes vs deep balls. 

I'd be interested to learn more about how a basketball team who doesn't do well at shooting - the thing that gives you points - can find another way to win games. It appears the Lakers are still not sure how to go about this either as they came out of the gates once again last night with a "fuck it, I'm going deep" mentality shooting 9/45 from three point land putting them at 19/85 after just two games. 

They shot 35% overall from the field vs the Clippers last night too which is actually pretty impressive when you realize it accounts for Russell Westbrook's traditional 0-11 absolute assault on the rim. Now sure, it's only two games - but let's have some fun here. Right now the Lakers are on pace to shoot 3,485 threes this season which would be the 8th most of any team in the regular season since the 1999/00 season. Here's how their 22.3% three-point shooting stacks up with these top-tier sniping squads:

Yeah, I think LeBron might have a point here. This team is not exactly built to shoot the ball. Not from 3-point land anyway. This 22.3% would put the Lakers on pace to be dead last out of all 685 NBA team seasons since 1999. Probably a lot further too, that's just how far back I looked. I show the 2002/03 Nuggets as current worst through 82 games at 28% from downtown, but at least they knew they sucked and only averaged shooting ten per game. 

There's got to be something else this Lakers team can do. Like LeBron said, their built for underneath routes… or whatever. Take what the defense gives you. Is this what he means?

OK, so layups might be out too. But there's more to basketball than just scoring anyway. There's passing. There's rebounding. Assists are kind of out I guess…and there's… probably other things too. Shooting just isn't the Lakers' thing. And that's OK. Whatever that thing is though…they might want to find it quick. 

Lastly before I go - I'm going to do my best to hold myself to keep track of the player featured in the final score of a loss tweet graphic going forward. 

Shoutout Kenny Beecham for discovering last year they never feature LeBron on the graphic in a loss. I think I'm betting on Russell Westbrook to come on strong and win the contest of most final score losing tweet appearances. But props to Lonnie Walker IV above for executing on a beautiful underneath route. 

- Jeffro