After blowing a golden opportunity to steal a second road win from the #2 Memphis Grizzlies, the #7 Los Angeles Lakers would be smart to consider starting Rui Hachimura over Jarred Vanderbilt for the rest of this series.
Hachimura has been the Lakers best player on offense, posting a gaudy 133.3 OffRtg for the two games and tying LeBron James with a team best 24.5 points per game for the series while also playing well defensively.
Rui’s ability to score efficiently from all three levels has opened up the Lakers’ offense. After leading the Lakers to the win with 29 points in Game 1, Hachimura followed up by scoring 20 points in the L.A.’s Game 2 loss.
Meanwhile, Vanderbilt has struggled offensively, especially around in the paint. Jarred reminds fans of Ben Simmons when he gets the ball near the basket. His offensive struggles were a lethal killer in yesterdays’ loss.
The Grizzlies showing the Lakers they can raise the defensive pressure to another level puts L.A. in a tough spot. The Lakers may need Hachimura’s offense more than they need Vanderbilt’s defense in this specific series.
Hachimura is averaging 24.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0 blocks in 29.5 minutes per game in the series. His advanced stats include a team best 133.5 OffRtg, 5th best 118.8 DefRtg, and 4th best +15.3 NetRtg.
Vanderbilt is averaging 6.0 points, 5.5 rebound, 0.0 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 blocks in 22.5 minutes per game. His advanced stats inclued a team worst 112.0 OffRtg, 2nd worst 120.0 DefRtg, and 2nd worst -8.0 NetRtg.
Ham has already responded to Hachimura’s superior play by giving him minutes that used to go to Vanderbilt. Hachimura 29.8 minutes per game is 5th highest on team in the series whereas Vando’s minutes dropped to 6th
The Lakers’ next step could be to replace Vanderbilt in the starting lineup with Hachimura. Statistically, Hachimura has been the Lakers’ best and Vanderbilt the Lakers’ worst offensive player so far in this series.
Ham will likely keep the same starting lineup for Game 3 with Vanderbilt knowing he needs to be aggressive and score near the rim rather than just passing the ball out. If he struggles again, Hachimura could start Game 4.
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Rui’s playing 31 minutes per game so far in this series…he’s fine.
One thing I’m noticing about Vanderbilt is that he has bad hands. He gets alotta good looks under the rim off of rebounds & passes but often fumbles the ball. Doesn’t always lead to a turnover but it causes a more difficult shot or let’s the defense catch up and force him to pass the ball out. Not sure how you fix that but he needs to work on it this summer. Is there a basketball equivalent to the Juggs machine in football?
It’s always interesting when the eye test and the analytics clash. To me, I thought Vando had a terrible game primarily because he constantly caught passes right near the basket but usually looked to pass the ball out rather than scoring. Reminded me of Ben Simmons.
Looking at just the numbers, Vando had 8 points, 7 boards, 2 steals, 1 block and a team highest +8 plus/minus. Yeah, I know, plus/minus can be wonky is small sample sizes. Anyway, here’s the oddest stat of all. The best two player lineup for the Lakers was Rui and Vando together. Only played 9 minutes but had a team high 53.7 net rating.
Ham should probably just flush it and go with the same rotations, although I would like to see Bamba get a shot at rim protector when AD is out of the game. He’s not a great matchup against the Grizzlies though watching Konchar and Tillman play, he deseerves a shot. We’re getting out pounder by the Memphis Bigs. Hell, entire team. Need to change that Saturday and regain control of this series. Hopefully, a good lesson.
Rui has scored 49 of the bench units 66 points. We need that scoring for the 2nd unit. In theory we have 4 scorers in the starting unit. We shouldn’t need Vando’s scoring. His defense has been important with that unit. He shut Bane down after he was switched onto him. AD, Reeves and DLO combined for 30. They have to do better. Just make some shots.
Rui and DLo were the only two with positive plus/minus. Biggest negative plus/minus was LeBron and the James/Davis duo played 29 minutes with a -20.4 plus/minus. We lost the game mainly because James and Davis did not play like superstars imo.
Other than missing too many 3’s, I am not putting this the 38 year old man who led team in Points and Rebounds shooting 53% overall. Where are all our youngins at? Reaves, DLO and AD folded like a tent! AD played like a paper tiger.