One of the benefits of the Lakers having a deeper and more versatile roster than last season is it gives head coach Frank Vogel and the Lakers’ coaching staff even more options to create nightmare matchups against opponents.
While training camp will finalize the Lakers’ starting and closing lineups and rotations to begin the season, we don’t have to be rocket scientists to figure out how Vogel and his staff are likely going to use their personnel.
STARTING LINEUP
The only question regarding the Lakers’ starting lineup is whether coach Frank Vogel will replicate last season’s starting lineup by substituting Wesley Matthews for traded Danny Green or start point guard Dennis Schroder.
While there was rumbling Schroder was not happy coming off the bench for the Thunder, starting Matthews gives Vogel and the Lakers a bigger, better, and more versatile defensive lineup and deeper and more potent bench. Alternating Matthews and Schroder as starters to optimize the matchups depending on whom the Lakers were playing might be a smart option but having clearly defined roles for everybody probably overrules that.
FIRST SUBSTITUTIONS
The reason for not starting Dennis Schroder is to be able to use his elite playmaking and scoring at the catalyst to unleash the awesome offensive firepower of Lakers second unit while resting LeBron and AD.
The Lakers not only want to fix the problem they had last year when LeBron or AD were not in the lineup. They want to win those minutes, which is a big reason for making the big trade for Schroder and big signing of Harrell. Schoder and Harrell averaged 18 points per game off the bench last year with Harrell winning 6MOY and Schroder runner-up. With Gasol anchoring the defense, the Lakers should dominate when LeBron and AD rest.
SECOND SUBSTITUTIONS
After starting the game with their best defensive lineup and following that with an elite offensive lineup, the Lakers should have the game in control and be able to continue to rest both LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
While the Lakers tried to always have James or Davis in the game, with the quick turnaround from last season and compressed schedule, the Lakers should deploy some load management to limit LeBron’s and AD’ minutes. This is the lineup where the Lakers really need a second modern center to protect the rim, stretch the floor, and allow Harrell to play four instead of five. That’s why the Lakers need to sign someone like Dewayne Dedmon.
CLOSING LINEUP
Like the starting lineup, the Lakers likely closing lineup is likely to resemble the lineup the Lakers ended games with during their championship run but with Wes Matthews replacing the traded Danny Green at shooting guard.
The beauty of this lineup is its balance at both ends of the court with five players who can stretch the floor shooting threes on offense and switch and rotate on defense. It’s the Lakers’ version of ‘small ball’ with a big lineup. Vogel can also add more offense or defense to this lineup depending on the situation and matchups as we saw during the playoffs. There are few teams in the league who have as deep and versatile roster as the Lakers.
The above ten man rotation is designed to spread playing time evenly among players to rely on the additions to the team to carry a bigger load and reduce minutes played by the players who just played in the Finals.
The duration or content of the four lineups can be adjusted depending on how the game is going and the players are playing. As a beginning template, the four lineups give each of the ten players two 6-minute runs each half. While that works out to 12 minutes per half or 24 minutes per game, the starting and closing lineups with LeBron and AD would likely run 7 minutes per quarter, which means 14 minutes per half or 28 minutes per game.
Again, this is just a template and actual minutes played would obviously vary depending on the score, matchups, foul problems, and who was playing well. But it’s a great blueprint for how the Lakers can optimize their roster. What it clearly shows is how the depth and versatility of the Lakers’ roster can be utilized to dramatically limit the total minutes that superstars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis and older veteran players have to play.
Putting together a rotation for this Lakers team was a lot of fun. There are just so many different pieces that can be put together in so many ways that’s it’s going to a joy watching how Frank and his staff decide who plays when and with whom.
As you can see, I’ve changed my direction from always having either LeBron or AD on the court all the time to focusing on them starting and closing halves together for maximum impact and relying on the firepower provided by Dennis and Trezz to carry the load in the latter part of the first quarter and early minutes of the second quarter without either LeBron or AD. If the Lakers want to rest LeBron and AD, then something has to give and to me it’s having them play together to start and finish rather than having one of them on the floor all the time.
Of course, that may change come the stretch run or playoffs. Right now, I think we can put a dominant lineup on the floor without James and Davis. It will be interesting to see what Frank thinks. He may decide to have one of LeBron or AD on the court all the time. I doubt but who knows. There are so many great combinations we may not see, like will we see LeBron, AD, Dennis, and Trezz on the floor together. I mean how do you defend a lineup like that? It’s scary to imagine.
Anyway, be interested in what you guys think of the four lineups in the rotations and what we’ll end up seeing once the season starts, which, by my calculation, will be in just 26 days. Go, Lakers!
Aloha Tom
While I could see your rotations working, i’m not so sure they will work out that way. during the regular season, Bradley got the starting nod over KCP because he was a better match up againsts most PG’s then KCP. I can see Dennis starting because of that and KCP slinding into Danny’s role with Matthews coming off the bench. On offense Dennis proved that he could play off the ball with CP3. We could see Lebron go out earlier in the quarter because of Dennis.
I also believe we will see center rotations that look a lot like last year. Rarely does teams rest both of their star players at the same time and i could see AD playing center with Harrel at the 4 at the end of quarters. I could see Harrel shifting to the 5 when Lebron comes back in. I do think this team will provide more rest for both Lebron and AD next year, but i just don’t see both Lebron and AD sitting out together for very long stretches.
Finally I also would like to see us sign Dedman, but i would see that primarily as an insurance policy and after investing in Harrel, I don’t know how much court time he would see. Lakers will be able to put a lot of size around Harrel when he plays the 5 and better perimeter defense than the Clippers could offer, so I don’t think any back up big we may sign will see a lot of court time. By the way I also think we need an insurance PG as well. since we can only dress 12 guys, it probably won’t be any of the name guys left. I did read something about THT possibly filling that role, but I didn’t watch many G league games this year so I don’t know how that would work out.
Aloha, Michael,
I could easily see Schroder starting at point guards instead of Matthews and there are good arguments for doing that, including keeping Dennis happy so he will want to re-sign with the Lakers, getting his offensive pnch in the starting lineup, as well as matching what we did at point last season. In the end, I went with Wes being the better defensive player. Frankly, I don’t have any issues with who Frank starts this season.
Certainly the most provative aspect of my rotations was not having either LeBron or AD playing in the middle two of the four lineups, which I think are likely to represent maybe 5 minutes each or a stretch of 10 minutes. Notice that these are the two lineups where I have Schroder and Harrell playing along with Gasol in the first set and Morris in the second set to provide extra spacing. That may change if we are able to add a quality modern center like Dedmon but until we do that, there’s simply no way to replicate the center rotation from last season.
Yeah, we do need a backup point guard but unlike a second center, whomever we sign for that position is likely to be one those ‘break glass in case of emergency’ players added as injury or foul trouble replacements. Add a center and we then have an 11 man rotation, which immediately has serious minutes issues.
The Lakers’ goal this offseason has been to limit LeBron’s and AD’s minutes to adding offensive players so we could win the minutes when our superstars rested. Considering the load LeBron and AD carried during the playoffs and the fact that we really only have one center right now tells me we’re going to rely on our new additions, specifically Schroder and Harrell, to give LeBron and AD a chance to rest. It will be fun to see how thing turn out when we get to camp. Still need to add Dedmon.
As for adding a point guard, I think that’s unlikely to happen. We just don’t have the minutes for an 11th man and may be limited to just 14 players. Unlike a second center, another point guard would be an ‘in case of emergency, break glass’ player who wouldn’t play. Adding a center will get us to a 11-man rotation, which starts to make it tough for players to play enough to get into rhythm. I’d rather have Dudley on the bench.
Good stuff LT. Here are my rotations
Starting 5: Scrodee, KCP, James/Matthews, AD/Harrel, Gasol
whike KCP did admirably in the playoffs the difference I see is that the matchups change nightly (that cpuld change this season though) and so does the game plan. Schrodee should start and James will cede the reins of the O to DS until the playoffs. I expect Matthews to start for LeBron when he needs a day or two off, same with Harrel for AD. Gasol can act as a primary playmaker when called upon to do so, as well. I honestly wouldnt be surprised if they started Harrel when Marc needs a day off, as well.
I also dont see a lot of permutations happening in the regular season. One if the things that struck me during the regular season was how, barring injuries, Vogel stuck with the same starting five. I dont see why that would change now and so I expect that the deciding factor will be what works in canp.
The othee consistent from last season was the general lack of a closing lineup. Itll be AD, James and whomever else is defending/playing well. That seemed to be the ethos from last season, maybe sonething more into it than met the eye.
Lastly, because of the great hob Rob did in bringing in talent and holding onto guys like Caruso and Kuzma there will beba redrfinjng of riles. Bit everyone is going to play every night and thats just how it’ll be. The compressed season makes it more likely we’ll see DNP coaches decisions fir guys (rather than list them as injured or load managed). Thats the reality on a championship team. There may be nore for the individuals to sacrifice for the team.
Thanks for the comments, Jamie. I don’t disagree with Schroder starting. As Michael pointed out, that could be how Frank goes because it replicates Bradley last season. I opted for Matthews because it replicated Green from last season. Personally, I would probably alternate starting them based on the opposing matchup.
I do like your LeBron and AD day off selections and think we may see a lot of these early, especially against non-playoff teams. While I think you’re right about Frank sticking with his rotations last season, I think we’ll see a lot of early experimenting because of the short preseason and the deep roster. That’s why I went with a 10 man rotation, which didn’t include THT, whom Pincus says is going to be in the rotation, or a second center, which we need.