When the Lakers signed Matt Barnes to a contract over the summer, it was assumed that he wouldn’t play anywhere near close to the 26 minutes per game he had averaged with Orlando the previous season, or be as integral a part on the squad as he had been for any of the other 11 teams he had played for over the course of nine years.
Forty games into the season, Barnes is averaging 7.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 20.8 minutes per game for the Lakers. It’s safe to say that he’s one of the, if not the best player in terms of value on the dollar.
With his production, clearly the Lakers are getting a hefty return for their $1.7 million dollar per year investment.
That production was put to a halt after tweaking his knee last Friday during a game against the Hornets. Barnes underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee and will be out approximately eight weeks. It’s safe to say the timetable given is the minimum amount of time Barnes will be out, unless he makes a speedy recover ala Jordan Farmar, who was able to come back from the same type of surgery a month earlier than expected.
Aside from what you can gather from Barnes’ stat line, his defensive presence is among the more relentless and energetic in the league, he may not be lock-down per say, but his hustle and eagerness on defense have most definitely changed the complexion of the bench. Barnes has had to scrap to be relevant in the league and his game mimics that plight in a way. That never ending fight has left him with an edge—just what the Lakers needed coming off the bench.
Next: More minutes for Kobe? That can’t be good.
The injury to Barnes is going to hurt the Lakers most, should Kobe Bryant have to take on an additional 5-6 minutes to his current 33 minutes per game average. Last year, the main back-up to Artest was Bryant, which is why the Lakers sought out Barnes’ services in the first place. While Bryant enjoys more playing time at the wing, Jackson isn’t about to wear him down to fill the void left by Barnes, much like Pau Gasol filled the void for Andrew Bynum. We all know how fatigued Gasol was even as Bynum was steadily coming back to form. Should the same happen with Bryant, it won’t be approaching the mid-point of the season, it’ll be mid-March.
Prior to going down, Barnes was out-playing Artest, prompting some to think it would be a better idea for them to flip-flop spots on the roster.
Forward thinking for sure, no pun intended, but Phil Jackson would never give Artest the backseat to Barnes. Sure, Artest has been thrown for a loop since Barnes has been acquired. He’s played less and has found himself on the bench too often during fourth quarters. While Artest has said all season long that he doesn’t care about how many minutes he plays, he’s also expressed that he wants to remain a relevant player. He wasn’t doing that while being somewhat outshined by Barnes.
If the Lakers are to survive the injury to Barnes, Ron Artest must step up.
Artest can be effective in many ways. Defensively, he can hurt other teams. At times, he’s come through as a spot-up shooter. When he makes cuts at the basket and is aware of the other players operating in the paint, he gets easy points. Now, if only Artest would actually be more consistent in exhibiting said skills, Barnes’ absence won’t be completely detrimental to the Lakers.
For Ron-Ron, there’s no time like the present to give the team a reason to acknowledge him.
Next: Ron Artest picks up his game, others must follow suit.
To Artest’s credit, he has been playing better as of late. It looks as though he’s focused, a bit more aggressive on offense and has a spring in his step. Additionally, Bryant has demonstrated that he still trusts Artest to take and make critical shots late in the game. Artest should use this time to re-claim his spot as the main guy at small forward and hopefully carry that on once Barnes returns.
The burden to make up for Barnes shouldn’t all fall on the broad shoulders of Artest, much of the slack must also be picked up by the rest of the bench players, mainly Steve Blake, Shannon Brown and to a degree, Luke Walton.
If you’re having trouble pin-pointing Blake over the last four games, don’t bother taking an extra dose of vitamins. Your memory isn’t off, in reality Blake’s shot is off or rather is non-existent. He’s logged four points over that time span and if the Lakers are to make-up what Barnes was contributing on offense, Blake will have to do more than just one point per game. For Blake, that means actually attempting shots.
Although Walton and Barnes are listed as having the same positions, their respective games couldn’t be more night and day. Walton isn’t going to get anywhere near the minutes that Barnes had been averaging, but for the 10 or so minutes he’s out there (if that), he’ll have to be play-maker for the bench unit, take and hopefully make shots when he’s open. He’s not going to be as effective as Barnes was, he could surprise us, but it isn’t something that the team is demanding from him. The bulk of the production is dependent on Artest.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, the injury to Barnes comes just as the schedule is about to get more interesting. They still have games against Boston, Orlando, Miami, Oklahoma City and San Antonio, just to name a few.
They’ve already made efforts to pick up their defense and overall focus during games from start to finish. So long as they can weather the ripple caused by Barnes’ absence, the Lakers should come out of it okay.