How Davis/Russell & James/Reaves Pairings Upgrade Lakers’ Rotation

Besides starting and closing with last year’s conference finals lineup, JJ Redick is also pairing Anthony Davis with D’Angelo Russell and LeBron James with Austin Reaves for the Lakers’ middle-of-game rotations.

Strategically, JJ is making the move for several reasons. First, he wants to take better advantage of the elite pick-and-roll chemistry D’Angelo Russell already has with Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves with LeBron James.
Secondly, he wants to make sure every lineup used will both be balanced and competitive. That means making sure the offense and defense balance of every lineup is sound and that lineup has the 2-way talent to compete.

One of JJ Redick’s strengths as a head coach has been his work ethic and attention to detail. Unlike Darvin Ham, Redick has a vision for the players he wants on the Lakers squad and how he wants them to play basketball.
JJ’s other strength has been his ability to make quick decisions, which is what he did with both the starting lineup and with this recent decision to pair Davis with Russell and James with Reaves for team’s middle lineups.

With a roster that brings back most of the players from last year’s team that made it to the Western Conference finals, the Lakers have an opportunity for the first time since signing LeBron to build chemistry and continuity.
JJ Redick has a chance to do in his first 5 games what it took Darvin Ham almost half a season to do, which is figure out who should be starting and closing games and who should be part of the team’s new 9-man rotation.

So let’s take a closer look at JJ Redick’s plan to create balanced and competitive middle-game lineups by pairing Davis/Russell and James/Reaves with complementary combinations of bench players.

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LAKERS 9-MAN ROTATION

The above chart displays a sample 9-man rotation utilizing only players who are currently on the Lakers’ roster and able to play. Christie, Vincent, and Hayes are likely to be replaced in the rotation at some point in time.

This Lakers rotation includes 8 different 5-man lineups. 4 of the 5-man lineups consist of starters Reaves, Russell, Hachimura, James, and Davis, who will start and close both the first and second halves of each game.
The other 4 lineups will be 5-man mixes of starters and reserves led by Davis/Russell or James/Reaves who will follow the starters and precede the closers and fill out the middle of the first and second halves of the game.

Redick’s new move ensures that the Lakers will always have one of their two superstar bigs in Anthony Davis and LeBron James and one of their two playmaking guards in D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves on the court.
By establishing two complementary middle-of-game lineups anchored by a superstar big and playmaking guard, Redick simply established a scheme by which the Lakers would always have balanced, competitive lineups.

The new scheme not only optimizes the Lakers best two pick-and-roll duos but also maximizes time on the court by the team’s five starters while minimizing it for the four reserves included in the Lakers’ 9-man rotation. One of Darvin Ham’s biggest shortcoming as a head coach was how long it took him to decide on the starting lineup that made the conference finals and how often his midgame lineups were not balanced or competitive.

Once Vanderbilt, Wood, and Koloko have recovered from their injuries, there’s a good chance they, or other players for whom the Lakers trade, will eventually replace Christie, Vincent, and Hayes in the 9-man rotation.

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STARTER/BENCH MINUTES

JJ’s new rotation also assures that the Lakers always have two starters in every lineup and 180 or 75% of the 240 minutes per game will be played by Lakers’ starters and only 60 minutes per game or 25% by bench players.

The Lakers have a bench scoring problem. They currently have the league’s best starting lineup, averaging a stunning 98.0 points per game and the league’s worst bench lineup, averaging a league worst 20.1 points per game.
So far, all five of the Lakers’ starters are averaging double figures and the team has won 4 of their first 6 games and are facing a November schedule that is much less challenging and offers an opportunity to rack up wins.

While it’s still early in the season, Redick is not likely to have too much patience with Christie, Vincent, and Hayes. Christie and Vincent have been terrible and Hayes is possibly facing a domestic violence suspension.
Hopefully, the Lakers will get Vanderbilt, Wood, and Koloko back from injury or trade for more talent to upgrade their bench to replace Christie, Vincent, and Hayes with players who play better offense and defense.

Ultimately, the Lakers are going to have to make a decision on the Reaves and Russell backcourt, which realistically is not good enough defensively to be a championship backcourt. Most likely decision is to trade Russell.
The other starting lineup change the Lakers may consider is moving Rui Hachimura to the bench to boost scoring and replacing him with a second big on the roster like Koloko or making a trade for a big like Walker Kessler.

The Lakers need to optimize minutes for their starters and minimize minutes for their bench until they get players back from injury or from a trade that will enable them to upgrade their bench offense and defense.

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LAKERS’ NEXT 30 DAYS

Last season, the Lakers finished their first 20 games of the season with an 11–9 record. Right now, the Lakers are 4–2. Over the next 30 days, they will play a dramatically easier schedule with 14 mostly winnable games.

The toughest games will be those against OKC and San Antonio and two games against Memphis. Other than those games, the Lakers should have a realistic opportunity to go 9–5, 10–4, or 11–3 over the 14-game schedule.
At best, the Lakers current team could enter December as a top-2 team in the West with a 15–5 record. At worst, they could enter December as a top-6 team in the West with a 12–8 record, slightly better than last season.

One thing that seems clear is that this year’s Lakers team is dramatically better despite essentially being the same as last year’s team. The difference, of course, has been the terrific job done by rookie head coach JJ Redick.
Redick has been a revelation who’s taken the Lakers by storm with the strength of his personality. The players have embraced his approach and vision and there’s no doubt the front office will be forced to make moves.

Ideally, the Los Angeles Lakers need a new starting point guard who’s an aggressive point-of-attack defender and a new starting center who can protect the rim and start alongside Anthony Davis in a two-bigs lineup.
The Lakers will have to look to a trade or free agency to get a new point guard but there’s a chance that Christian Wood or Christian Koloko could work out as the second big to start next to and complement Anthony Davis.

JJ Redick has shown in just 6 games that this Lakers team is just one player or two away from being a legitimate championship contender. Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka will have no choice but to be forced to make a big trade.