Darvin’s Rotations With LeBron and Rui Playing Center Are Killing Lakers

The Lakers are alarmingly losing the LeBron James minutes and rookie coach Darvin Ham is not helping the situation by asking LeBron James and Rui Hachimura to play center versus Jaren Jackson, Jr. and Xavier Tillman.

In this new era of NBA parity, the Lakers and Grizzlies are evenly matched, which puts enormous pressure on Lakers’ rookie head coach Darvin Ham as one bad substitution or poor rotation could cost the team a playoff win.
That’s exactly what we saw last night when, with 4:10 left in the 3rd quarter and Lakers down by 1, Darvin Ham pulled Anthony Davis and went with a 5-player lineup of Schroder, Reaves, Brown, Jr., James, and Hachimura.

One minute and 29 seconds later, at 2:41, a panicked Darvin Ham put Anthony Davis back in the game but it was too late as the Grizzlies then led by 8 points and were able to increase that lead to 18 points by end of 3rd.
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident as Tayler Jenkins has often taken advantage of Darvin Ham’s using James and Hachimura as backup center by making sure Jackson, Jr. was on the court whenever AD rested.

So heading into a ‘must win’ Game 6 on Friday night, Darvin Ham needs to do a better job tightening his rotations, winning the LeBron James minutes, and getting better rim protection when Anthony Davis goes to the bench.

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Tightening Lakers’ Rotations

After losing Game 5, Darvin Ham promised the Lakers would go all out, play their superstars more, and tighten their rotations to win Game 6 and end their first round series with the Grizzlies in Los Angeles Friday night.

The above charts shows the average minutes per game for each player currently in the Lakers rotation for the regular season, the playoffs, and a recommended projected minutes per game for the rest of the playoffs.
The new rotation represents a narrowing of the rotation from 10 players to 9 players and a needed reallocation of 19.0 minutes from Brown and Beasley to James, Davis, Russell, Vanderbilt, Schroder, and Bamba.

Ham needs to narrow the rotation to 9 players, replace Beasley with Bamba who can provide both backup rim protection and floor spacing, and give more minutes to James, Davis, Russell, and other stalwart contributors.

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Winning LeBron James Minutes

Since LeBron James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, he’s consistently led the Lakers in net rating. Lebron finished the regular season with a +4.6 net rating but has seen his net rating in the playoffs drop down to a -1.5.

Part of the problem is James is still struggling to recover from the foot injury that sidelined him for 13 games. While LeBron had MVP level plays to win Game 4, he totally ran out of gas and was unable to finish Game 5.
Whether James can recover fully and soon enough to be a difference maker in Game 6 could be in question because LeBron will only have one day of rest and covery time before Friday’s game back at Crypto.com Arena.

Two things Darvin Ham can do to help win the LeBron James minutes is to not play him without at least two of Davis, Reaves, Russell, and Bamba in the lineup and not play him in a lineup with he or Hachimura at center.

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Better Backup Rim Protection

One of the more preplexing personnel decisions by Los Angeles Lakers’ rookie head coach Darvin Ham has been his decision to give the backup center minutes to power forwards LeBron James and Rui Hachimura.

Anthony Davis is playing 100% of his 38.0 minutes per game in the playoffs at center. That leaves 10 disastrous minutes each game that Darvin Ham goes small and plays either LeBron James or Rui Hachimura at center.
The Lakers are getting killed whenever AD is on the bench and LeBron or Rui plays center because Tayler Jenkins immediaetly takes advantage by making sure Jaren Jackson, Jr. is in the game when the Lakers go small.

Coach Darvin Ham needs to give Mo Bamba the backup center minutes rather than going small with LeBron James or Rui Hachimura at center for both this series and future series against teams with bigger front courts.

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How Much Can Darvin Ham Grow?

Darvin Ham has done a terrific job as the rookie head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, especially considering the complications of coaching Russell Westbrook and the chaos caused by injuries to LeBron and AD.

Slowly but surely, Ham has been able to reverse many of his early rookie decisions and has shown impressive management and leadership skills as he continues to grow and prosper as the Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach.
Word is already out that Ham and his staff are actively reevaluating their lineups with a goal of narrowing the rotation, winning the LeBron James minutes, and getting better more consistent backup rim protection.

The moves Darvin Ham and his staff make to stablize and optimize their lineups and rotations could not only put the Lakers in position to win their 18th NBA championship this season but also start building a new dynasty.