All appears well in Celtics land in the midst of the team’s nine-game winning streak. Boston sits atop of the overall NBA standings with a 9-2 record and plenty of metrics are indicating that the Celtics are capable of sustaining this type of 50-plus win pace all year long, despite the absence of Gordon Hayward.
Perhaps more encouraging than the team’s stellar play is the fact that major contributions are being made up and down the roster with Boston’s youth, starting first and foremost with the pair of No. 3 overall picks in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. The crown jewels from the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett trade with the Brooklyn Nets are paying early dividends, making Danny Ainge and his staff look even smarter for leveraging the No. 1 overall pick last year into another protected first-round selection from Philadelphia, while also getting their guy in Tatum at No. 3.
Still, there has been one (minor) blip on the radar for Celtics fans and it has nothing to do with the current team. The odds of the '18 protected first-round pick from the Lakers heading to Boston next summer? It isn’t off to a great start.
The Lakers head into Wednesday night’s game with a 5-5 record, putting them closer to a playoff spot in the vaunted Western Conference than a 2-to-5 draft slot the Celtics would need them to fall into to pick up that '18 first-round pick. Otherwise, the '18 pick rolls into '19 top-1 protected first-round selection from either the Sixers or Kings (whoever has the better pick).
Given the fact that the Lakers are in town for an early season visit, the time feels right to take stock of the early “hot” start by LA and determine just how much Celtics fans should worry about the Lakers pick not making it’s way to Boston next June.
Three reasons why the Lakers might actually be decent
Kyle Kuzma is actually really good and Brandon Ingram may have figured some stuff out: Lonzo Ball may be struggling with his shot (29 percent from the field), but the Lakers’ other young talent is thriving early. Kuzma, their No. 27 overall pick in 2017, looked like the steal of the draft in Summer League and that thinking has continued during the first month of the season. He is averaging 15.4 ppg on 56 percent shooting, giving him better numbers than Tatum early on (he’s also 23 compared to Tatum at 19). Ingram has also shaken off an ugly rookie season to make some considerable strides in his own offensive game. His shooting averages (45.7% FG, 38% 3pt) are major improvements compared to his '16-17 campaign and he’s using his length better at 6-foot-9 on the defensive end. Both guys have legitimate talent on both ends and they are showcasing it plenty this year.
The Lakers have quality wins already and their point differential matches their record: The Lakers have had a team-friendly schedule early, but they’ve also taken care of business against some solid teams. They have chalked up wins over the Wizards, Grizzlies and Pistons (all over .500 teams). Outside of an opening night blowout loss to the Clippers and a road defeat in Utah, all of their losses have been by single digits, making most of their games competitive. The numbers (i.e. the point differential) say they should be a .500 team and so there is nothing fluky about their start from that perspective.
Luke Walton is a good coach and has them playing defense: What’s more surprising than the Celtics having the best defense in the league through 11 games? How about the Lakers having a top-five defense as well? Like Boston, the Lakers have plenty of length and youth all over the court right and now Walton appears to have these guys buying in. Their current rank (fifth) in defensive rating is a huge turnaround from last season (30th) and probably won’t be sustainable for the long haul. Still, if the Lakers end up being an above-average or even average defensive team, that’s a huge development and it looks like that’s very attainable right now. This group rebounds well, they don’t foul much and they’re contest shots well with their length. Given that their offense has been atrocious early (26th in NBA) and should improve, we could be seeing the makings out of a team that’s actually close to average on both ends.
Three reasons why the “hot” Lakers start is probably a fluke
Hot starts happen and they don’t necessarily mean much: The Celtics aren’t as good as their record right now (i.e. they are not a 66-win team...I think) and the same could be said for this Lakers team. The perfect example of a bad team playing above expectations early is the Brooklyn Nets in '16-17. Everyone forgets now but that group started the year 4-5 and some people were starting to worry about the Nets pick then. Brooklyn then proceeded to lose 44 of their next 49 games and solidified their spot as the worst team in the league. That type of a dropoff is not going to happen here. The Lakers have far more talent than that Nets team. However, it’s easy to not show your true colors in the first 10 games of the year and I’m not a believer in this Lakers team being a defensive juggernaut based on their total personnel.
It’s easy to start at .500 over the first 10 games when you play the most home games in the league: The Lakers have played seven games already on their home court (4-3) and that’s tied for the highest number in the league. Playing at home early comes with all kinds of added benefits. They’ve had a chance for extra practice time compared to the rest of the league and other teams they’ve faced in LA have been in the midst of long trips (Detroit, Washington) for those games as well. It’s also worth noting one of their road wins (Phoenix) came against a team that legitimately wasn’t playing defense (thanks to Eric Bledsoe). Seriously, watch this play:
I still had this in my video roll from last night, while people are praising Lonzo, my God the Suns defense is horrendous. pic.twitter.com/MsXBI9Cx69
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) October 21, 2017
