After a 23-point loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers are now on a five-game losing streak, and have dropped to 8-15 on the season.
With both the Lakers and Lonzo Ball struggling, you already know who had takes on the situation. That's right, the world's most famous sports dad, the founder and CEO of Big Baller Brand: LaVar Ball.
LaVar joined SiriusXM NBA Radio recently, delivering a number of incredible takes, and at one point, with complete seriousness, said everyone should "drop their egos and just listen to what I'm saying." It was truly fantastic radio. LaVar, for whatever your thoughts about him, is a tremendous entertainer.
Let's get to the quotes.
LaVar's thoughts on the losing streak, and how to fix it:
The team is losing, but it's an easy fixable thing. I know everything to fix this thing. Everybody on the outside is looking at it like, 'oh no the father is telling him what to do.' No, I've been coaching him all his life, and he's been successful. Why? Cause the system that I put around him.
The thing is, if you want to run fast, you gotta take the ball out faster. The other thing is, you gotta have people in the shooting spots earlier. They can't be jogging at halfcourt with him. If Lonzo takes off, and there's four people even with him, they're not doing their job. They're not getting in the corners ready to shoot. They got two and three people taking the ball out. They should have a designated person to take the ball out to get the break started faster, so you don't have two people standing out of bounds, you don't have two people running on the same side of the lane. It's very easy. There's some buckets that need to be made down the middle of the floor, and they're not being made, because nobody's sprinting down the middle of the floor.
On why Lonzo's shooting isn't the issue, the Lakers' system is:
It's not lack of shooting. What you guys don't understand, it ain't got nothing to do with his shot. It never has been, ever since he's played, cause we get rid of the ball, we make the simple plays. But if you can make the simple plays, and you allow the people to do the same things, he's very disgusted, but won't say anything, cause he's not used to losing like this. This is a very easy, fixable thing if everybody would just drop their egos and just listen to what I'm saying.
When you put these guys out there and let him play his style of game... I had to force this issue on the high school, and when they when they finally got the picture, they went 35-0. I had to force the same issue on UCLA.
LaVar's belief that it's a Luke Walton problem:
Everybody should listen that's on the Lakers. The whole Laker thing should listen. Build it around Lonzo, you gonna be successful, but that sounds too bold.
Magic's always doing the right thing. Me and him got a nice communication. But it's the coach out there. Luke Walton is doing what he's doing, playing Lonzo in and out. Play him a few minutes here, then wonder why his legs are tore up. Cause they run him 100 miles an hour, then shut him down for 10 minutes.
Here's how much LaVar thinks Lonzo should have the ball:
That's what I'm saying, why are they sitting him down? Here's the thing. Let me ask you this: Would you say somebody is the face of your franchise and then don't start 'em in the fourth quarter? If you say, 'this guy is my franchise player,' and every start of the fourth quarter you tell me you're not gonna start him?
Go back in the archives and see the ones that he started and played all the fourth quarter. We've been trying it their way, and that's why the record is raggedy. So let's try it our way now, and watch how we be successful.
Right now, this is how they're playing. It's 40-60. They're going 40 percent Lonzo with the ball in his hands, the other 60 the other team do what they want. It's gotta turn to 80-20.
Just amazing. LaVar is giving Paul Heyman (WWE) a run for his money as the best hype man in the sports and entertainment business right now.