The Lakers Are Having a Ball

It's with the Los Angeles Lakers sitting in 11th place in the Western Conference, ten games under .500 and six games out of a playoff spot, that the 2017-18 Panini Hoops team set arrived.  This was supposed to be the year that things ticked up for the NBA's worst team over the past three years.  Magic Johnson with all his real-world experience was added to the front office.  Luke Walton, the young up and coming coach was hired.  And the youthful roster of high draft picks was supposed to be getting it's mojo together.

Lonzo Ball's rookie season has been a disappointment overall in my mind.  His points are lower than expected and his shooting percentage is awful.  He's now missed six straight games because of a MCL sprain.  He's got good rebounding and assist numbers though.  And he's popular.  We went to a college basketball game a couple of weeks ago and two players were sporting identical hairdos to the one Ball has on this card.

Brandon Ingram is in his second season and has improved in just about everything over his rookie year.  He's second on the team in scoring and is showing consistency.
Julius Randle plateaued in his second season as an average player, and that's what he'd been giving the Lakers ever since. 

Jordan Clarkson's playing time is a career low, obviously being affected by Ball's presence.  But he's still scoring at a decent clip despite fewer minutes.
Larry Nance has remained a decent player off the bench.  His playing time is the same as last year, but his scoring and rebounding are slightly up.

Brook Lopez has been a disappointment to say the least.  He'd been a 20 points per game guy most of his career.  The center position was ripe for the picking when he came to the Lakers this past offseason.  But his productivity is markedly decreased.
Another offseason acquisition was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from Detroit.  KVP's numbers have been really good, almost exactly what he put up with the Pistons the past three years.

Rookie Josh Hart hasn't been getting a lot of playing time.
But that's not the case with fellow rookie Kyle Kuzma.  He's having a great rookie season.  He leads the team in scoring.

I guess the Lakers couldn't stand not having a Bryant on their team for more than a year, so they drafted Thomas Bryant.  He's seen all of seven minutes of court time so far this year.
Ivica Zubac was supposed to be a great pickup a couple of years ago.  But he's hardly played this year, way less than last year.