Beast or Burden: Living on the Edge

Come one month from now on March 15th, the Lakers' prospects for this season and likely the next few will be determined. It goes without saying that at this current level of play, the Lakers' prospects for making noise in the playoffs are slim. Certainly, this does not remove the possibility of this current roster playing better -- as it is wont to do as they figure out Brown's system and become more comfortable with the reads -- but the Lakers would still require an awful lot to break their way to go far. The holes on the roster at the one and the three have been well-documented, and there's a fair argument to be made that the threes have -- a notion that would have been all but inexplicable a few months ago -- eclipsed the Lakers' point guards in terms of sheer awfulness. The largest reason has been the fact that Derek Fisher's backup has finally proven that he is a better solution than the starting point, something that has eluded for years now.

Beast

• Steve Blake -- Aside from Pau Gasol on the defensive end, no player on the team has found a better home in Brown's system, as Blake appears to be liberated from the confines of the triangle in an offense that allows him to use his decent -- although not exceptional -- court vision and ballhandling skill to create off the pick-and-roll and even on penetration from time to time. As the offense basically requires those very things, Blake is a godsend, as he removes the primary ballhandling responsibilities from Kobe Bryant and makes things easier on everyone else. To call him a panacea would be overstating things -- when it comes down to it, he is essentially a very serviceable backup point -- but the utter disparity in fit and talent between Blake and Fisher only accentuates Blake's importance to the team. Of all the lineup adjustments that Brown has made this year, his decision to give the lion share of the minutes at the point to Blake over Fisher, even in crunch time situations, has arguably been his most astute. If Andrew Goudelock readjusts to playing off the ball more as the backup two guard, the Lakers could likely finally have a competent backup backcourt, something that the team has lacked since the Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic pairing in the '07-'08 season.

• Pau Gasol -- And this is mainly for the first quarter of the game against Toronto, during which he dominated the Raptors, showing his entire arsenal from the high post, on the block, and distributing to his teammates. The lifeless Pau that played the subsequent three quarters was far less worthy of praise, although Pau did finish with a very respectable 16/17/6 line and after some moderate struggles to start the season, he has drawn virtually even (21.21 PER) with Bynum (21.62 PER) statistically. That the Lakers are starting three players with a PER above 21 -- Kobe has a 25.16 PER for those curious -- is testament to the sheer level of suck that has permeated the rest of the roster and the main reason for anyone to retain any level of optimism. Add a competent -- not a world-beater, not even solid, just serviceable -- player at the one and the three and you have a championship squad. Listening, Mitch?
• Troy Murphy -- Murphy has been maligned for most of the year, most of it justified. He needs to be more proactive about looking for his shot -- although that's partly the fault of the offense for treating him more as a spot-up shooter rather than a pick-and-roll partner -- but he is offering one of the desperately needed sources of shooting on the roster. And while his struggles on the defensive end have been well-documented, he at least tries his heart out on every play. He has stone feet and gets overpowered on the block, but Brown is at least getting him to try, which is all you can really ask. Murphy is the odd exception on the roster in that his shooting percentages are fine, but his usage rate is not. It's great to have a shooter, but not so much when he has a piddling 9.8 usage rate. With two guards on the Lakers' bench capable of running the pick-and-pop with Murphy in Blake and Goudelock, it would behoove them to get him more involved in the offense.
• Honorable mention goes to Andrew Goudelock, who is figuring out how to operate off the ball alongside Blake in more spot-up situations. He remains the only guard on the team besides Kobe who is actually a threat on penetration because of his nice floater -- hey, Kobe, add that one to your arsenal -- and for a player who criticized his own defense after he was drafted, he is doing a decent job staying with opposing backup points. While Darius Morris needs some more polish on his game before he is ready for the show, Goudelock has fulfilled the role he was drafted for, proving that the faith the Lakers' FO has put into him was not misplaced.