With superstars Russell Westbrook at the one, LeBron James at the four, and Anthony Davis at the five, the Los Angeles Lakers desperately need to find starters at the two and three who can space the floor and play elite defense.
The Lakers originally hoped Wayne Ellington might start at the two and Trevor Ariza at the three but both have been injured and have yet to play. There have also been concerns about Wayne’s defense and Trevor’s health. Right now, Vogel has settled on Avery Bradley and Kent Bazemore to start at the two and three with the Lakers’ three superstars. Whether they can hold onto those jobs when Ellington and Ariza get healthy is up for debate.
With three superstars who are not elite 3-point shooters and a defense first head coach like Vogel, the challenge facing the Lakers is to find starters at the two and three who are both elite defenders and long range shooters. Whether Vogel can find the right starters at the two and three with the shooting and defense to complement James, Davis, and Westbrook from the collection of aged shooters the Lakers signed as free agents is doubtful.
In the end, the Lakers need younger, more talented starters at the two and three than Bradley and Bazemore or Ellington and Ariza. Here are two key trades that would dramatically upgrade the Lakers’ starting lineup.
1. TRADE WITH BOSTON CELTICS FOR MARCUS SMART
With Boston’s early struggles and Marcus Smart’s dissatisfaction with his role, could the Lakers lure the Celtics to trade the 27-year old shooting guard for 20-year old Talen Horton-Tucker and 23-year old Malik Monk?
Giving up two promising young stars in their early 20’s would be a high price for an elite defender and average 3-point shooter like Smart but Horton-Tucker is still two years away and Monk too expensive for Lakers to re-sign. The Lakers are in full win-now mode with the Westbrook trade and adding Smart as a lockdown defender and starter at the two would enhance Los Angeles’ chances of winning another championship in the LeBron era.
As a member of the 2019 and 2020 NBA All-Defensive First Teams, Marcus Smart could be the perfect shooting guard for the Lakers considering his elite defense. He’s not a great 3-point shooter but is not afraid to let shots fly. Smart would give the Lakers the elite defensive stopper at guard they currently do not have. While Marcus only shot 34.7% from three the last three seasons, he did still average almost 5.5 3-point attempts per game
Tempting the Celtics to trade an elite defender like Smart would be costly. Offering a package of two budding young stars in Horton-Tucker and Monk should be enough to convince the Celtics to move Marcus Smart.
2. TRADE WITH ATLANTA HAWKS FOR CAM REDDISH
With the Atlanta Hawks hesitating to give Cam Reddish an extension, the door may be open for the Lakers to offer a straight up trade of combo guard Kendrick Nunn for 6′ 8,” 217 lb 4-year veteran small forward Cam Reddish.
Since the Lakers will likely not be able to re-sign Nunn, whom they signed with their $5 million MLE this offseason, flipping him for the bigger Reddish whom they would be able to re-sign would be a smart move going forward. The Lakers’ greatest weakness is a lack of wings who have the size to defend the bigger wing scorers in the league like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Jayson Tatum, Brandon Ingram, Chris Middleton, and DeMar DeRozan.
Cam Reddish is the perfect defense first candidate to start at the three just as Marcus Smart is the perfect defense first candidate to start at the two. Both are elite defenders but high volume, low percentage 3-point shooters. Reddish has great potential defensively and if he continues to improve his 3-point shooting, he could become an invaluable starter on a championship Lakers team. For sure, he would give the Lakers an elite wing defender.
With the Hawks having issued expensive extensions to Trae Young, John Collins, Kevin Huerter, and Clint Capela, there’s a good chance the Lakers could trade Kendrick Nunn for Cam Reddish to be their starting three.
SMART AND REDDISH WOULD UPGRADE LAKERS STARTERS
Imagine a new lethal Lakers’ starting lineup for the second half of the season with Russell Westbrook at the one, Marcus Smart at the two, Cam Reddish at the three, LeBron James at the four, and Anthony Davis at the five.
Trading for Marcus Smart and Cam Reddish would give the Los Angeles Lakers a dramatic upgrade at starting shooting guard and small forward over Avery Bradley and Kent Bazemore or Wayne Ellington and Trevor Ariza. More importantly, the trade would only cost three young players, two of whom the Lakers would not be able to re-sign next summer, and allow them to keep Bradley, Bazemore, Ellington, and Ariza as valuable backups.
Having traded THT and Monk for Smart and Nunn for Reddish, the Lakers would then have 14 active players on their roster and one opening. Here is what their depth chart would look like for the second half of the season:
PG: WESTBROOK, Rondo, Reaves
SG: SMART, Ellington, Bradley
SF: REDDISH, Bazemore
PF: JAMES, Anthony, Ariza
CE: DAVIS, Howard, Jordan
Trading for Smart and Reddish dramatically upgraded the Lakers’ starting lineup, especially defensively. They essentially replaced two starting role players with two elite defenders better equipped to win a championship. The Lakers also replaced two key young players in Nunn and Monk whom they were sure to lose to free agency next summer with two tradeable young players who are better fits for what the Lakers need going forward.
Rob Pelinka knew the roster he gave Frank Vogel was a flawed roster that would have to be corrected at the trade deadline or buyout market. Right now, Smart and Reddish top the Lakers’ list of likely trade targets.
While it’s great to see the Lakers Superstar Big Three play well together, 7 points from Baze and 2 from Bradley is not the kind of role player support we need to win a championship.
The Lakers are going to need to make moves to upgrade the shooting guard and small forward starters. Bazemore and Bradley are obviously the best option we have right now. Time will tell us whether Ellington and Ariza are better options. Frankly, I don’t think any of these four players are good enough.
I’m still struggling with the Lakers serious lack of trading chips at the deadline and the reality that there is almost no way they will be able to re-sign Nunn or Monk because they lack Bird rights. The Lakers need to flip both players for guys whom they will have Bird rights and be able to re-sign.
With Vogel now committed to going small and playing AD at the five, the Lakers need much better defense from the starters at the two and three than Bazemore, Bradley, Ellington, or Ariza can likely provide. The smart move is to trade THT, Nunn, and Monk for two new starters with the other four guard/wings becoming the Lakers’ depth at the two and three.
There are and will be other potential candidates as Lakers’ starters at the two and three but right now, the best prospects are Marcus Smart and Cam Reddish. Trade for them and the Lakers will immediately be the favorites to win their 18th NBA championship and will have set themselves up for more titles going forward.
Aloha Tom, at this point I’m just interested in what we look like once we get all our guys back. THT, Nunn and Ellington should all be back in the next couple of weeks. I have a feeling we will be okay. The bigger question for me besides our lousy first half defense, was how do we get other players involved in the offense. Melo is arguably the hottest shooter in the NBA and we only managed to find him for 9 shots in 29 minutes. We ran almost no actions for him. Heck DJ got up 5 shots in 16 minutes. AD and Russ went 0 for 7 from 3. Neither are shooting well enough to be taking many 3’s. We got away with our big 3 dominating but when play better defense teams we really need to get more players involved in the offense.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Michael. Hope all is going well for you in Hawaii.
We’ll have to disagree as I’m not convinced that Bradley/Bazemore or Ellington/Ariza are good enough to start on a championship team in a non-Covid season. Seriously, are they better than KCP/Kuzma? I can say for certain that adding Smart and Reddish would be a dramatic upgrade to our starting lineup. I’m surprised you don’t see that.
While I am a firm believer that Russ will be a major upgrade over Schroder, I think the competition now that we’re not in the bubble has gotten dramatically better and winning a championship will be harder than in the bubble, even with a superstar big three.
The other issue I know we differ on is THT. While I love Talen’s game, he’ needs to improve his shooting and defense and is still a couple of years away from being a force. For the win now Lakers, we can’t wait.
Finally, there’s no way we’re going to be able to keep Nunn or Monk due to no Bird rights so it makes sense to flip them for better starters who have Bird rights so we can build a roster for longterm.
Could we trade for Smart and Reddish? I think we can but there are also other players out there who would be good fits for the Lakers. Vogel will demand they be elite defenders. I still have interest in Myles Turner and Kelly Olynyk as centers. And we definitely need a bigger (6′ 8″) defensive wing like Reddish.
Still 6 weeks before we can even entertain the notion and we haven’t even seen 3/5 of the guys who were projected as potential starters or the higher contract signees play, yet.
Smart would indeed be awesome but there’s no way Brad is trading him to us to help us pass the Celtics. Any dream deals with the Celtics are DOA, my man.
Cam would be cool, as well, maybe Atlanta wants to flip him for something but since they’d be in the same boat as us (young player, no rights, how top keep?) I think they’re really just going to let the market dictate his value next summer and be just fine with that. Maybe if we grease the wheel with a 2nd round pick but not too sure that really moves the needle and there are teams that could do better on both the player and pick front.
The issue isn’t just all the minimum deals it’s that the guys on value contracts aren’t even playing yet. Who wants to trade a proven commodity coming off an injury before they’ve seen them play at least a little. The injuries to those 2 guys specifically has set everything back until they play at least a handful of games, maybe more.
Lakers may have to make do with what’s in-house, maybe look to buyout/waive Dwight or DAJ and just be active on the buyout market in a few months.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Jamie. The easy answer is always that the Lakers don’t have what it takes to make the trade. I think the Celtics would be very interested in being able to swap Smart for THT and Monk. That’s a lot of talent for a player who’s becoming a problem in the locker room. And Nunn for Reddish is a move the Hawks would likely welcome.
The issue for me is two-fold. First, I don’t think Bradley/Bazemore or Ellington/Ariza are good enough to win a championship. They’re basically just this season’s versions of KCP/Kuzma. The Lakers need UPGRADES to the starting lineup, Jamie. Not placeholders. Smart and Reddish would be dramatic upgrades. Those are the kinds of players the Lakers need to add to the starters.
Second, I don’t want to go into the offseason with zero trading chips, which is what is going to happen to us when Nunn and Monk, two players who we don’t have any Bird or early Bird rights to be able to compete to re-sign them. We need to move them at the deadline – as well as THT – to get players to upgrade our starting lineup. This is not the bubble and we right now are not good enough to win a championship without changes. Our competition is not going to stand pat. Nor should we.
re: Smart. Brad Stevens won’t trade him to the Lakers for any reason at all. He will not be complicit in us winning another banner.
Although I did say he would be a welcome addition.
re: Cam. Hawks are big market team that runs like a small market. He’s an URFA next summer. He’s a great backup talent for them or a trade chip in February, or whenever the trade deadline is since it doesn’t even matter right now because we haven’t even hit the threshold for the contracts we signed LAST summer to be tradeable.
But, also as I said, I’d be quite pleased were he to end up as a Laker.
Rather my issue with this article is you:
A) Can’t trade any of these guys we signed this summer, yet. 3 months or 12/15. Then we can entertain these kind of notions although the number of deals made that early in the season are few and far between and almost always centered around a disgruntled player.
B) We haven’t even seen Nunn or THT play really. Talk about a lack of faith, lol.
Yeah, I wouldn’t do anything until we get THT and Nunn back healthy to see how that changes things. That hopefully will take Rondo out of the rotation.