Getty Los Angeles Lakers guard Malik Monk dribbles the ball during a game against the Phoenix Suns.
A lot of things went wrong during the Los Angeles Lakers‘ latest loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. However, Malik Monk’s continued lack of sizzle offensively was especially concerning.
Following a career year in Buzz City last season, the fifth-year shooting guard has seemingly fallen off of some kind of cliff with the Lakers. Over his last four games, Monk is averaging just 0.8 points on 1-of-12 shooting and 0-for-6 from three-point range.
Needless to say, neither Monk nor the Lakers signed up for this. But if you ask Lakers coach Frank Vogel, no special steps need to be taken to light a fire under the former lottery pick. When probed about getting him going, Vogel had this to say:
We don’t need to get anybody going, we just need to move the ball better. When we move it better than we’re doing, move players better than we’re doing, the ball will find everybody. But, certainly, if we get the ball second-side more than we’re doing, he will be more involved.
Vogel Not Looking to Switch Things Up in LeBron’s Absence
Monk’s struggles aside, Vogel and the Lakers have bigger fish to fry in the form of LeBron James’ absence. The 17-time NBA All-Star missed the Thunder game with an abdominal strain and could be out of commission for a week or more.
As with the Monk situation, though, Vogel doesn’t see a great need to switch things up. For him, it’s all about building on-court chemistry and, again, moving the ball around the court.
“I don’t think we need to shift concepts, per se, you know, we have to get familiar with the guys that we have out there,” he said. “We’ve got to move the ball side to side more than we are doing.
The Lakers coach further noted the effect this had on the offense against OKC. However, he did confess that his players need to start making shots, too.
“It’s a pretty simple game, we’re just not doing it well enough. We had plenty of possessions where we did, we had open threes and we missed. It was just one of those nights, we shot 28% on open threes. But there’s plenty of possessions where the ball stayed on one side too often. That’s something we’re focusing on.”
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Follow Heavy on Lakers!Tracking the Lakers’ Ball Movement
Where total passes thrown are concerned, the Lakers currently sit in the middle of the pack. The team’s 277.3 passes per game currently rank 16th league-wide. Los Angeles also comes in at No. 16 in potential assists per game with 46.7. However, the team is in the No. 9 spot in assist points created at 61.6 per contest.
Although moving the ball from side to side has some inherent benefits, there is actually little correlation between the sheer volume of passes thrown and winning. As of this writing, the 1-8 Detroit Pistons lead the Association at 325.4. At the other end of the spectrum, the 7-1 Utah Jazz rank 28th at 259.0.
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Lakers Coach Speaks on Shooting Guard’s Big Slump