Should the Lakers trade BI? Ask the GSC SYSTEM

This is just an opinion from an old timer in the nosebleed seats, about what it takes to make a champion, so take it for what it's worth. It's based on a theory I have developed over the years known as the GSC system. GSC is a method for evaluating NBA players. In many ways, it's the "Malcolm Gladwell 'Blink' theory" applied to pro hoops, and it allows me to make sweeping generalizations on the flimsiest of evidence. As a bonus, it's based entirely on subjective analysis of three key intangibles, otherwise it doesn't rely principally on stats, or history, or anything really super quantifiable, so howling criticism is not only expected, it's pretty much required.

GSC takes as a given that we are talking about top rank professionals who have already distinguished themselves as the best and most talented athletes in the world. But when you are a lifelong fan of a franchise such as the Los Angeles Lakers, which doesn't hang anything in the rafters except NBA Championship banners, all that matters is winning, so you look at things slightly differently. What you become aware of, over decades of being exposed to past Lakers champions like Magic, Kareem, and Big Game James, or Shaq, Kobe, and D Fish, are those telltale tiny, tiny differences in players and teams which may not show up in a box score, but are the X factor, the infinitesimal distinctions which separate champions from also-rans. And not just those stars, but the gritty players who held them up, like A.C. Green and B. Scott and Michael Cooper, or Pau Gasol, Robert Horry, B. Shaw, and Rick Fox.

What concerns me right now though, is the present moment, a few days after a short-handed Lakers team, without and , completely outplayed the and red-hot , lost Zo to a nasty ankle sprain in the second half, coughed up a twenty-plus point lead, and managed to lose in overtime by four points. The guys are playing hard, they're learning, the star's missing time, yadda yadda, what are we to do? Hold tight and keep the team together, or make a big move if one makes itself available?

I'm seeing and hearing and reading a lot about what the Lakers have to do, and need to do, and might do, and should do, regarding personnel this season, year 1 of the Bron Era, now that the trade deadline is lurking. It seems fairly consensus wisdom that three Lakers are considered "untouchable." Those being , , and . Based on readily available visual evidence exemplified in the recent loss to an arguably better Rockets team in the midst of a long season, I make the following pronouncement. I believe that Zo and Kooz should remain "untouchable," but I'd like to make the case here that not only should BI not be considered untouchable, he should, in fact, be actively shopped before the February deadline. And not just him, KCP as well. Why? The answer lies within my home-made GSC grading system.

First initial of the GSC systems stands for Gamer. This is the NBA, old school etymology, pre-video games usage. For those of you who, like me, grew up playing competitive team sports at a relatively high level, the concept of what a gamer is will be well-traveled ground. For those who love to watch sports but never played anything too seriously, the concept of what constitutes a gamer is easy to grasp. A gamer is the guy you always want on your team, because if he's not on your team, he is going to make your life a living hell on both sides of the ball, because of his total and complete dedication to not losing. At anything, at any time, for any reason, no matter what the score is. Notice that I did not say dedication to winning. Key to the gamer is that yes, while winning is the ultimate and only goal, it is so only due to the fact that losing simply cannot be accepted. This should be familiar to any long time Laker fan in the person of Jerry West, the patron saint of NBA gamers. As in many different ways, "the pain of losing is so much stronger than the joy of winning." Another example from the not-quite-so-distant past of the NBA was the heir to Jerry's gamer throne, (with a similar history of long-thwarted championship hopes) Kevin Garnett.

I saw KG at the Forum in his rookie year playing a game late in the season against the Lakers, Magic's last season. The Wolves were down by 20 in the fourth quarter, hopelessly out of the playoffs, with nothing to play for, and here was this thin, crazy tall kid flying all over the court, chasing loose balls out of bounds, picking up coverage at the baseline, slapping his hands on the court getting ready to D up (which would become a trademark of his), literally pouring sweat in a game they could not win. It was also the first time I'd ever seen a player swat an opponent's shot away from the hoop on a practice shot after a whistle. (A practice he started which is now pretty universal in the league). It was so petty. He took everything personally, no matter the score. I remember thinking at the time, 'damn, I wish we had a player like him coming up.' Someone who, from their very emergence in the NBA, has the scorching need not to lose imprinted in their DNA, in their soul, which causes them to compete every moment as if their life depends on it. That is a gamer. Little did I know, the very next season we would have a player like him coming up. His name was Kobe. You may ask then, so if that's a gamer, who's not a gamer? His name is . The patron saint of NBA non-gamers. A guy who likes to win, but he's not gonna stress over it if he doesn't. It's that simple.

In terms of gradations on the Gamer scale, it seems apparent in the two-plus seasons sample size we have, that , while being a promising talent, is less concerned with winning and losing than he is with other aspects of the game. This isn't to say that he doesn't care about winning, he does, just not registering, to this point, at gamer level. The feeling I get watching him play is of someone who is trying to prove something. To whom, I don't know. Maybe to the coaching staff, maybe to the world, maybe to himself, or his detractors. This isn't to say he doesn't show flashes of greatness. His play is up and down, sometimes connected and hitting, other times distracted and missing. But throughout, there is one constant during crunch time, which is generally bad decision making in terms of shot selection, playing within the offense, and taking care of the ball. I can't tell you how many times this year I've watched BI in crunch time back up the ball with 13 or 14 seconds on the shot clock, dribble around, look for a pick or wave one off, hitch his shoulders up in the air, indicate which way he's going to go, then make his move to try to get around his defender, struggle all the way to the hoop without doing so, only to miss, have his shot blocked, or lose the ball out of bounds. Even when he pulls up at the elbow or thereabouts for a decent look, he's just not a good enough shooter at this stage to be more than average there. In the most important stretches of winnable games, the Lakers have suffered empty possession after empty possession because of (among other causes too, obviously) this innate tendency of his. Not having that burning necessity of avoiding loss, at those critical times, makes him blind to what is actually the best play for the team, as opposed to the best play he feels that he can make. This is something that Kooz has shown exponential improvement with, and Zo has embodied from day one. Which brings me to GSC system's second initial: S for Sense of the Moment.

Sense of the moment is subtle, but also key. It's the understanding of game flow. It's things like realizing that while a game may not be won at certain early moments of play, it can be lost. It's the difference between knowing the necessity of stretching a lead on an inferior team from 8 to 18, or not losing touch with a better team in a game you're trailing by 5, and suddenly being down 17 and not knowing how you got there. Put simply, sense of the moment is being able to make the play, or the shot, that you need to make at the important moments of a game. Which is to say EVERY MOMENT of a game. It's a lazy layup miss that leads to a run-out 3. It's not diving for a loose ball, not boxing out with real intention, going under a screen instead of fighting over the top, it's all those things one after the other after the other. It's knowing when not to take the open 3 heat-check with 15 seconds on the clock, or not try a behind-the-back pass directly out of bounds because you're up 8 and things are rolling. A great example of what sense of the moment is not is the shot which cost the Lakers a chance to win in the overtime period of the mentioned recent loss to Houston.

With the Lakers down by one with 25 seconds left in the game, nearly 20 seconds left on the shot clock and no one in position to rebound, KCP takes the first pass of the possession, pulls up and airballs a 3. This is a classic example of having literally zero sense of the moment (as well as zero percent of GSC 3 - see below). Almost any other play would be acceptable. Faking a three, pulling it back, setting up a play, moving the ball. With no timeouts, you've still got plenty of time to get a better shot, far closer to the rim, and lead by one. It is a classic case of having no sense of the moment. And it's something which KCP has proven prone to his entire career in LA. He is great at times with on occasional dagger as a front runner when things are rocking, but he is absolutely deadly when most needed at the critical moments of close games. Now, to be fair, BI made some great shots down the stretch against Houston in that game, but both his, and KCP's lack of sense of the moment had already cost them the win before OT. Case in point, on the final Rockets inbounds play with 4.9 on the clock, KCP backs off of with his hands at his sides, and BI inexplicably stands two feet to Gordon's right side, with a 7'1" wingspan available, the clock expiring, and doesn't even get a hand up. There was zero chance Gordon was giving up that ball. BI could've blocked the shot without jumping, had he simply reacted. That is pure sense of the moment. That was winnin' time. By not being filled with that burning desire TO NOT GET BEAT, a play is not made, on we go to OT, then oops, it's losin' time.

The final initial in the GSC system stands for Clutch. Clutch is the most ephemeral of all the GSC grades, but the most critical. It is also the most difficult to quantify, and yet the easiest to identify when you see it, especially when you see it over time, embodied in the likes of Hall of Famers like Magic, like Bird, like Michael, like Kobe. It's just one of those things that a player has or doesn't have. It is the culmination of being a gamer, having a sense of the moment, and the nerve to make the single play at the moment of a game that will determine winning or losing. A crystal-clear example of clutch from the previously mentioned game is the moment when banked a straightaway three in to tie the game in the closing moments of the 4th quarter, having clawed his team back from a 20-point deficit. Everyone in the building knew that shot was going in, no matter what. That is clutch. The only most recent moment I can think of as BI or KCP coming up clutch was the dagger dunk from BI in the previous win at Oklahoma. But the clutch in that moment came, surprisingly, not from , who found himself wide open on a cut to the hoop, but Zubac, who found him cutting, after Kooz had found Zuby under the basket.

Just straight up, from the eye test, I don't find Ingram to be even semi-reliably clutch. Sometimes he makes a tough shot in a key situation, but he rarely makes a play. You may argue that he's been tasked this year, in the absence of Bron, with most of the scoring duties, and you'd be right to a fair degree. But he's made it more difficult on himself by not having those two previous qualities I've described at length above. He seems, during this period, to have taken on the onus of scoring himself as if he has to do it and can't rely on anyone else to help him, which ironically reduces the tools in his box from five to one. It's a tough league to win with five, and nobody wins with just one. As for KCP in this department, I actually have found myself openly yelling out "ACP!", as in Anti-Clutch when he touches the ball late, because, I mean, it's simply uncanny his ability to help snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. On the contrary, I've seen Zo have some bad games, disappear at the end sometimes, but before he went down, he was regularly reliable to make a key, clutch play when most necessary, often in tandem with Kooz.

Please, Lakers FO. Be willing to package BI, KCP, some picks, some of the deep benchers, if it's possible to pick up a proven star right now, (AD) to get them in place in time to work them in for a playoff run. It likely will not be possible. I like Ingram, liked him from the start, but he may never be worth more than he is right now, while still a super-talented, bright prospect brimming with promise. KCP can shoot, he can defend, he hits his free throws, he has value. But now that Magic and Pelinka have made a move to surround Bron this season with vets and gamers and tough nuts like Javale and and Lance, and up and coming gritty ballers like Kooz, Zo, and , even with all their drawbacks, and true surprises like Zubac, now is no time to take your foot off the gas.

Okay, that's my screed. If you still think it's unfair to judge players like this, don't take my word for it, but do consider the thought which engendered this post, some words from the aforementioned basketball brain, . So, now having proven to you nothing except that I have some questionable opinions backed up by a pretty strong home-made system of gradation, I look forward to your comments and, of course, reasoned eviscerations.

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