Rookie head coach Darvin Ham has been on a hot streak since the Lakers remade their roster at the trade deadline where every single roster move he’s made has worked out beautifully. He’s now 8 games away from a chip.
As a rookie coach, Darvin Ham has done an impressive job creating winning starting lineups and rotations as the Lakers dominated down the stretch in the regular season and throughout the first two playoff rounds. While making roster decisions, Ham has maintained an open mind both to Rob Pelinka and the Lakers’ front office and his own coaching staff. His rosters moves so far have been perfect mix of evolving and adjusting.
With the underdog Lakers opening the Western Conference Finals against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets tomorrow night in Denver, L.A. Ham has yet another opportunity to make an impactful change in his starting lineup. While Jarred Vanderbilt started 11 of the Lakers’ 12 playoff games, Darvin Ham turned to Dennis Schroder in Game 6 of the Warriors series because Vanderbilt’s lack of shooting gravity allowed Golden State to play 5-on-4.
With the Lakers needing to go big to match up with the Nuggets’ front court of 6′ 11″ Jokic, 6′ 8″ Gordon, and 6′ 10″ Porter, the time’s now come for Ham to replace Jarred Vanderbilt in the starting lineup with Rui Hachimura.
The Vanderbilt Problem
As impactful as Vanderbilt has been at times during the first two rounds of the playoffs, there have also been matchups where his skills have not been critical and his lack of shooting gravity has derailed the Lakers offense.
While Jarred Vanderbilt could probably do a good job defending Michael Porter, Jr., his lack of threat as a shooter is going to allow the Nuggets to ignore him completely and play 5-on-4 when the Lakers are on offense. Right now, Jarred is averaging 5.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.0 blocks in 17.2 mpg while shooting 40.7/25.0/66.7% for the playoffs. His playoffs plus/minus is +0.3 and playoff net rating is -0.7.
Should the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets and get to the NBA Finals, it’s possible that Vanderbilt might be a better fit against the Boston Celtics with their two big wing scorers than bigger and slower Hachimura. Ham seems to have no problem with not having a permanent fifth starter, opting to deploy a strategy that uses that last starting spot in these playoffs to better matchup with whatever team the Lakers are playing against.
The Lakers saw in Game 6 vs. Warriors how their offense was dramatically more efficient with five players who can stretch the floor and cannot be left unguarded in the corner. The Lakers cannot start Vando against Denver.
The Hachimura Solution
Rui Hachimura has been one of the Lakers most impactful bench players. He’s become a staple in the Lakers’ rotation. He’s fifth on the team in points and rebounds per game and first in field goal and 3-point shot percentage.
But the time’s now come for Darvin to replace Vanderbilt in the starting lineup with Hachimura, who has the defensive size and length to bother Porter, Jr. and offensive shot making skills to make him work hard on D. Starting Hachimura should dramatically improve the Lakers’ offensive efficiency as Rui is probably the team’s most consistent long-range and midrange shooter, hitting 57.0% from the field and 53.3% from three.
Rui does not have Vando’s quick feet and lateral mobility and is not as good a perimeter defender but he’s a little bigger and longer than Jarred and more physical in the paint. And he’s another world entirely offensively.
Rui is averaging 11.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 21.2 mpg while shooting 57.0/53.3/66.7% with +1.3 plus/minus and +1.8 net rating. The Lakers’ five top scorers are James, Davis, Russell, Reaves, and Hachimura.
Starting Hachimura dramatically upgrades the Lakers’ starting lineup because it now gives superstars James and Davis three other starters averaging double digits and capable of dropping 20 points in any game.
The Joker Defense
The Denver Nuggets will be by far the toughest opponent the Lakers have yet faced in these playoffs. They not only boast two-time MVP Nikola Jokic but also roll out a lineup with five players who can shoot the three ball.
The big question for the Lakers is how will the defend Nikola? The media consensus is the Lakers cannot allow Jokic to both be a big time scorer and playmaker. They have to take one of those away from the Denver Nuggets. Strategically, Ham and the Lakers’ #1 defense is based on Anthony Davis being free to roam and play free safety, something he won’t be able to do if he has to defend Nikola Jokic. So why not have Hachimura defend Joker?
The best solution might be to let Anthony Davis guard Aaron Gordon, the lowest volume and percentage 3-point shooter of the Denver starters. That will allow him to roam and help Hachimura defend the rim against Jokic. This game was always going to be a battle between the Lakers’ #1 playoff defense and the Nuggets’ #1 playoff offense. Having Rui Hachimura guard Nikola Jokic could be the key to the Lakers defense winning the series.
Hachimura has the size and length to be the primary defender on Nikola Jokic to free Anthony Davis to be free to roam and protect the Lakers’ paint and rim and the 3-point and midrange shooting game to boost the offense.
Rui has been waiting two rounds of the playoffs to start and the Denver series will be his coming out party. I love the idea of Rui guarding Joker with AD roaming and helping.
Looking for Darvin Ham to make another impactful roster move to start this series, which is starting Rui Hachimura and having him be the primary defender against Nikola Jokic.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1658516439266103299
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1658516641981018112
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1658516899393867776
I agree Tom, this is a better match up for Rui than the Warriors were. Rui does have the strength to absorb the Contact from the Joker. I would worry though about LeBron with his sore foot having to chase Porter Jr. They run him a lot through screens to open up 3’s. I think it might be wise to switch up coverages throughout the game to keep the Joker off balance.
I think this could work part of the time; I think that sometimes you might want to have Tristen Thompson on Joker as well when AD sits. Want to have a big body on him at all times, whether Rui, Thompson or AD. Mix it up and give him different looks. Also make him work on offense & defense. Jovic will probably guard AD, make him regret it, which will make him less effective on offense. I also think it is even more important to not give Jamaal Murray any stationary shooting looks when they try to pick and roll with Jovic.
Thanks for joining Lakerholics, Brian. Enjoyed talking with you on Twitter. Can’t wait for tonight’s game. Huge task to win a third straight Game 1 so we might have to wait until Game 2. Want to see what Ham and his staff decide to do tonight.
Thompson was an interesting addition. I still remember him doing a pretty good job defending Jokic. Don’t know if he still has anything left in the tank but I suspect he was signed because of his experience defending Nikola.
I’m eager to see what Darvin does to defend Joker. I don’t think Vando is big enough but Rue may be, even though the stats say they’re the same height and weight. To me, Rui is much bigger and longer and more physical.
Anyway, I’m still hoping for Darvin to start Rui tonight. Russell, Reaves, James, Hachimura, and Davis should be team’s starting lineup going forward.
I agree with you @
Bstonercpa. That’s exactly my thoughts too.
While Rui’s wingspan is only an inch more than Vando’s, Rui out weighs him by 20 pounds which is important when banging with Joker. Rui is built like a linebacker.
“Rui is built like a linebacker.”
Michael, you are absolutely right. Love your description.
https://twitter.com/Tim_NBA/status/1658603059323236353
I didn’t like the D-Lo Dennis starting choice at all. Too small, too many guys looking to make a pass rather than take a shot and no rebounding from the guard spot. Reaves at the 3 is too willowy, as well.
Start these guys instead and have LBJ start off defending Jokic:
D-Lo, Reaves, LW4, LBJ, AD.
I’m not convinced Rui can guard Jokic consistently and stay out of foul trouble. We can’t let Denver get into the bonus early because of some game-setting early foul calls. That look should be deployed to mix the coverage, not as the default go-to IMO. Michael Malone and Nikola Jokic are too good, and have seen this tactic already as the coach has eluded to for this to be what works consistently. We’re going to need to go full Borg and adapt as the situation demands. That starting 5, with LBJ taking Jokic in the half court sets, can cover Denver’s three point Others and take away a part of Jokic’s game.
With LW4 you get decent defense and a slasher that can finish above the rim whereas Dennis and D-Lo do not get up to finish in the paint. The float, flip and scurry. We need to be more forceful out of the gate. Faster, longer and jumping for the rebound.