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D'Angelo Russell

Five Reasons D’Angelo Russell Is Still a Better Fit for Lakers Than Kyrie Irving

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Since declaring they plan to re-sign D’Angelo Russell as their point guard of the future this summer rather than pursuing Kyrie Irving, the Lakers had their first opportunity to see Russell and Irving go head-to-head last night.

While it’s just one game, Kyrie Irving dominated play and his match up with D’Angelo Russell as three costly end-of-game mistakes by Anthony Davis caused the Lakers to lose a 111–110 heartbreaking buzzer-beater.
Irving posted 38 points on hot 14–23 shooting, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists with just 2 turnovers in 39 minutes. Russell posted just 11 points on poor 5–17 shooting, 2 rebounds, and 11 assists with 0 turnovers in 36 minutes.

Last night’s Mavs and Lakers game showed why the Lakers could still change their minds and decide to pursue a sign-and-trade for Kyrie Irving as their point guard of the future instead of re-signing D’Angelo Russell.
Kyrie is without doubt one of the most talented and hard-to-stop superstars in the league and performances like he had last night only make Lakers fans and even the Lakers front office more likely to rethink their position.

But the decision is not as simple as deciding between D’Angelo Russell and Kyrie Irving. It’s actually a franchise-defining decision to pursue the three-superstars model or the two-superstars and deep-and-diverse-roster model. It’s about what is the right strategy considering where the Lakers are right now as a team, what resources they have to make changes, and what kind of roster do they need to build around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

As great an offensive player as Kyrie Irving is, D’Angelo Russell is still a better overall fit for Lakers than because he adds continuity, is younger, is taller and longer, is less expensive, and is more trustworthy and reliable.

1. Russell Improves Lakers’ Continuity

The Lakers desperately need continuity after three years of one-and-done rosters. If D’Angelo Russell continues to play like he has, the Lakers need to re-sign him long-term rather than trying to trade him for a third superstar.

After turning over almost their entire roster other than superstars the past three summers, Los Angeles reversed that strategy at the trade deadline by focusing on trading for younger players who would be great long-term fits.
Based on what we’ve seen in the 9 games he’s played, Russell already is proving to be the perfect point guard for the Lakers. He’s averaging 17.9 points, 3.6 boards, and 6.4 assists in 29.8 mpg shooting 44.5/37.1/82.8%.

The Lakers think they have at least three more years of LeBron James as a superstar and building continuity by re-signing D’Angelo Russell long-term, as well as their other new additions, should be be a top offseason priority.

2. Russell Makes Lakers Younger

The Lakers would be wise to prefer the now 27-year old D’Angelo Russell over the soon-to-be 31-year old Kyrie Irving as the former gives Los Angeles four more years in the heart of his prime than the latter is able to offer.

Russell just turned 27-years old while Kyrie turns 31 years old this month, making him almost 4 years older. Essentially, Russell is just now entering what will be his prime while Kyrie could be nearing the end of his prime.
It’s fascinating to watch the evolution of the Lakers’ roster average age. In 2019–20, Lakers’ average age was 30.0 years. In 2020–21, it was 30.9 years. In 2021–22, it was 27.1 years. In 2022–23, it’s now down to 25.6 years.

Assuming the D’Angelo Russell we’ve seen is the D’Angelo Russell we get, the Lakers would be foolish to give up a budding young star just entering his prime for a superstar with questions who’s close to past his prime.

3. Russell Adds Size & Length

Some of the Lakers’ early struggles were because of the physical makeup of the roster, which lacked size and length at almost every position, especially point guard where Darvin Ham usually started the 6′ 1″ Dennis Schroder.

Aside from adding needed shooting and defense at the trade deadline, Pelinka also added critical positional size throughout the Lakers roster, including point guard with the 6′ 4″ Russell who has a 6′ 10″ wingspan.
Russell uses that size and length along with changes in pace and direction to control the speed and tempo of the game. He’s not an above-the-rim player like Westbrook or Morant. He’s a game manager with swag.

Where Russell’s size and length have really helped the Lakers has been on defense. Since he’s joined the Lakers, D’Angelo’s 103.5 defensive rating has been second only to LeBron James 98.5 for the last 14 games of the season.

4. Russell Is Less Expensive

One of the major reasons for preferring to re-sign D’Angelo Russell rather than trading for Kyrie Irving is their relative annual salaries. D’Angelo might be willing to sign for $30 million while Irving wants $47 million.

The Lakers learned first hand from the Russell Westbrook experiment how paying maximum salaires to three superstars makes it almost impossible to build a deep and diverse roster to support and complement the superstars.
There’s a good chance the Lakers could re-sign Russell to a 4-year $120 million contract whereas Irving is reportedly seeking a $47 million per year max deal. Bottom line, Irving is a superstar while Russell is simply a star.

The problem with the 3-superstars model is not having enough cap space left to build a deep, diverse roster. Re-signing a star like Russell rather than a superstar like Irving enables Lakers to build deeper, more diverse roster.

5. Russell Is More Trustworthy & Reliable

The single biggest reason the Lakers should re-sign D’Angelo Russell rather than trying to trade him for a third superstar in Kyrie Irving is Dlo’s proven to be a more reliable and trustworthy throughout his professional career.

In today’s NBA, a player’s greatest ability is unfortunately his availability. Over his eight full seasons in the NBA, Russell has averaged 72 games per season compared to Irving’s 55 games per season over his eleven seasons.
More importantly, since signing with the Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie has played in only 103 or 43% of the 236 available games for a variety of reasons ranging from injury to unvaccinated status to various personal reasons.

The Lakers need leadership from their point guard and D’Angelo has now matured and shown he can be trusted to efficiently execute a game plan, and provide solid leadership and personal reliability on and off the court.

Rob Pelinka and the Lakers made smart decisions in rebuilding their roster via trades at the deadline with D’Angelo Russell one of the critical additions that’s transformed the Lakers into legitimate championship contenders.

While last night’s loss to the Mavs was disappointing and discouraging, the Lakers are still just 2 games out of the 6th seed with 11 games to go. Their chances and confidence of making the playoffs drop with every new loss.
Whether the Lakers without LeBron James can run the gauntlet and make the playoffs is not as important as watching the team finally make smart long term decisions and build a roster with great promise for next season.

Kyrie Irving may have won last night’s lead-to-head with D’Angelo Russell but in the long run the Lakers should stay the course and understand Russell is the better fit as the Lakers point guard of the future than Irving.

Why Anthony Davis and Lakers Are A Slam Dunk to Make the NBA Playoffs

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While it’s been a frustrating injury-plagued season, Anthony Davis playing like the MVP and the new-look Lakers’ post trade deadline defense are now driving a late-season march to the playoffs that’s looking like a slam dunk.

Over the last 9 games, the Lakers have a 6–3 record, including a 2–2 over the last 4 games without LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell as Anthony Davis and their 2nd ranked defense dominated the paint and the boards.
During those 9 games, the Lakers posted the second best defensive rating at 108.9, the best rebounding rate at 49.9 per game, third most free throw attempts at 28.1 per game, and 6th most possessions for 9 games at 922.

Nagging injuries every time they appear ready to get healthy and a poorly constructed roster the front office was unable to correct until right before the trade deadline have bedeviled the Lakers at every turn this season.
But despite everything that’s happened, the contagious parity in the West and the Lakers’ stubborn refusal to quit has them positioned for the upteenth time this season to jump from lottery team to play-in team.

Let’s look at 5 big reasons why the Lakers are looking like a team that’s not only going to make the playoffs but is also going to be the team that no other NBA team wants to face in the playoffs, especially in the first round.

1. Lakers On Verge Of Making Play-In Tournament

Right now, the Lakers are tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves at 31–34. The Timberwolves get #10 and the Lakers the #11 team because Minnesota owns the tie-breaker, having already beaten the Lakers twice this season.

If the Sacramento Kings beat the New Orleans Pelicans tonight, the Lakers will take over the 10th seed temporarily with a legitimate opportunity to solidify being in the Play-In Tournament by beating Memphis tomorrow.
That would raise the Lakers win-loss record to 32–34 and give them 7 wins in their last 10 games and position them to move up to #7 or #8 seeds to get two shots at making the playoffs or #6 or higher to make playoffs directly.

The Lakers’ worst case scenario is to finish the season in 9th or 10th place, which would require them to win two play-in games to win the 8th seed and the right to face the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

2. Lakers Should Get D’Angelo Russell Back This Week

The single biggest thing the Lakers need right now is to get starting point guard D’Angelo Russell back. Russell sprained his ankle on a fluke injury on February 23rd and is day-to-day but has missed the Lakers last 5 games.

With LeBron James also out, the Lakers’ offense and playmaking have struggled with backup point guard Dennis Schröder starting and backup shooting guard Austin Reaves serving as the team’s backup point guard.
Right now, it’s looking like Russell is still feeling some pain when moving laterally so it’s likely he will miss tomorrow night’s game vs. Memphis. Hopefully, the extra two days off should have D’Angelo ready for Friday.

The good news is the Lakers should be dramatically improved beginning this Friday when starting point guard D’Angelo Russell is likely to return to the starting lineup at Crypto.com Arena against the Toronto Raptors.

3. Lakers Have 4th Easiest Remaining Schedule in NBA

The Lakers have the 4th easiest schedule in the NBA for their remaining 17 games. The only Western Conference team with a more favorable closing schedule is the Dallas Mavericks, who have the 3rd easiest schedule.

The Lakers other Western Conference competitors all have less favorable schedules than the Lakers and Mavs. The #10 Jazz, #5 Warriors, and #6 Timberwolves have the 4th, 7th, and 8th hardest schedules in the league.
The Lakers’ easier schedule could easily be worth a game in the standings against these three teams. The Clippers and Pelicans have the 15 and 25th hardest schedules, which gives the Lakers less of an advantage over them.

Having the 4th easiest schedule gives the Lakers an advantage over most of their competitors in the Western Conference. It could even be enough to save the Lakers from losing a decision due to their lack of tie breakers.

4. Lakers Could Benefit From Playing Tanking Teams

The Lakers have 9 of 17 remaining games scheduled against teams who are or should be tanking. They have single games against the Pelicans, Magic, and Thunder and pairs of games against the Rockets, Jazz, and Bulls.

One of the benefits of the crazy parity in the West is that many of the 10 teams bunched in the middle could just as easily decide to go for a 10% chance of drafting Victor Wembanyama versus going for the playoffs.
For teams who need to win every game, having a tanking team on the schedule could be a huge difference-maker when it comes to racking up enough wins to make the Play-in Tournament or the playoffs directly.

The Lakers play so many teams that are either tanking or should be tanking that making at least the Play-In Tournament is more of a slam dunk now than a long shot and making the Top-6 in the West in still very possible.

5. Lakers Are Team Nobody Wants in Meet In Playoffs.

The Los Angeles Lakers are a slam dunk to make the playoffs this season. They are either going to win enough games to win the #5 or #6 seed in the West or they’re going to win the #7 or #8 seed through the Play-In Tourney.

Should the top-4 in the West remain the same, the Lakers first round opponent if they finish 5th is the Phoenix Suns, if 6th the Sacramento Kings, if 7th the Memphis Grizzlies, and if 8th the Denver Nuggets.
The Lakers can expect heavy jockeying by teams looking to avoid having to play a potentially deadly Los Angeles squad with a healthy and hungry LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the first round of the playoffs.

Right now, the Lakers most likely path to the playoffs is by finishing #7 or #8 in the West, enabling them to have two shots at winning one game to make it to the playoffs as the #7 or #8 seed to play the Nuggets or Grizzlies.
Depending on what happens with Ja Morant, the Grizzlies could find themselves in free fall. It also remains to see whether the Mavs or Clips can put it together to make a run. Most likely Suns and Lakers in West Finals.

It will take a perfect storm of luck and health but it’s possible that the Los Angeles Lakers can not only make the NBA Playoffs but also find lightning in a bottle and go all the way to win their 18th NBA Championship.

Lakers’ Playoff Hopes Will Live Or Die With Rookie Head Coach Darvin Ham

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The Lakers’ win last night against the Oklahoma City Thunder without LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell was nothing short of a ‘must win’ game Los Angeles needed to keep their playoff dreams alive.

With LeBron James out for at least half and possibly the rest of the regular season, the Lakers’ rapidly diminishing hopes of making the playoffs and enjoying a championship run are now hanging by the thinnest of threads.
Realistically, the Lakers’ only remaining path to the playoffs is an inspired Davis taking the baton from an injured James and somehow, someway finding a way to win enough games to make the Play-In Tournament.

With LeBron’s return uncertain, the season is now in the hands of Darvin Ham. The Lakers will live or die on his ability to motivate players, play the right lineups and rotations, make the right adjustments, and win a title.
Frankly, it will take a perfect storm of good-news wins and injury-free games for Ham and the Lakers to even have a shot at making the playoffs but the parity in the West still leaves the door open for a Lakers run.

So let’s take a hard look at how Darvin Ham has grown over the past year and see if his coaching strengths as a motivator, lineup and rotation creator, and in-game adjuster have become good enough to win a ring.

Ham’s Motivational Ability?

Darvin Ham’s greatest strength and asset as a basketball coach is his ability to build strong personal relationships with his players and convince them to buy in to his vision of how the game of basketball should be played.

Earlier in the season, we saw Ham’s interpersonal skills first hand as he convinced Westbrook to come off the bench and motivated Davis and then James to elevate their games and carry the team while the other was out.
More importantly, Ham was able to motivate the players on the Lakers’ roster to play hard and compete. There were very few of the blowouts that marked Frank Vogel’s last season. Lakers were gritty bunch under Ham.

We saw more of the kind of job Darvin Ham has done integrating the six new Lakers players in the big win over the OKC Thunder last night without their top three stars in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell.
Ham played basically a 9-man rotation with a few throw-in minutes for Max Christie. The Lakers won 123–117 with Schroder, Brown, and Reaves all playing big roles and 9 of the 10 Lakers who played scoring over 5 points.

Despite six new players and missing his three best players, Darvin Ham had the Lakers ready to win last night and his ability to get players to buy in and play hard for him bodes well for the Lakers’ LeBron-less stretch run.

Ham’s Lineups and Rotations?

It’s hard to fairly evaluate Darvin Ham’s early lineups and rotations because of the flawed roster given him by Rob Pelinka and the Lakers’ front office. Having said that, Ham’s rookie rotations likely cost the Lakers a few losses.

While Anthony Davis will be the key to whether the Lakers can finish the regular season and make the playoffs without LeBron James, rookie head coach Darvin Ham’s lineup and rotation decisions will be just as critical.
The hope after the trade deadline was the new-look Lakers would be able to finish the season with a consistent starting lineup of D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, LeBron James, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Anthony Davis.

With James possibly not returning until the playoffs and no timeframe set yet for Russell’s return, Ham will be responsible for deciding who replaces James and Russell to start and close and who will be in the main rotation.
Hopefully, the new-look roster is better balanced and has more options for size, shooting, and defense at every position that Ham should find it much easier to develop a solid starting and closing lineup and related rotations.

Ham will need to shake his rookie jitters and make sound decisions on who will start and close games and be in his middle of game rotations, which should be much easier now that the roster has been completely rebuilt.

Ham’s In-Game Adjustments?

Making in-game adjustments is clearly Darvin Ham’s greatest area that needs improvement. While it is an expected weakness for a rookie head coach, it’s also what Ham needs to improve most for the Lakers to win.

It appears part of Ham’s coaching philosophy is to focus on doing what the team should be doing before giving up and changing strategy or scheme, which has been a criticism his mentor Mike Budenholzer has also heard.
Ham was justifiably criticized for waiting until the fourth quarter to try having Jarred Vanderbilt defend Ja Morant after he torched the Lakers for 28 points in the third quarter. Or for having AD stop playing drop coverage.

Lately, however, there have been some good positive signs that Ham is starting to be less reluctant to try changes to mix things up. He went to the zone against the Thunder and the players he closed with won the game.
Darvin also deserves credit for how he handled Schroder’s embarrassing quitting in the middle of a play in the closing minutes of the 4th quarter. Ham immediately pulled Dennis and got him ready to go last night.

Darvin Ham’s still going to make rookie mistakes but he’s learning fast and has increasingly shown to be capable of handling what is obviously a very challenging head coaching job. His in-game adjustments are improving.

Ham’s Chances To Win Championship?

The one thing that gives Lakers fans the most hope Darvin Ham can lead this team to the playoffs and beyond ishow hard players play for him and how they never quit, whether superstars and back-end-of-rotation guys.

Last night Lakers win over the Thunder without LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell and with five new players who weren’t here a week ago in the rotation was a tribute to the hard work of Darvin Ham.
The Lakers were not only ready to play but ready to win without their stars. Game balls to Dennis Schroder, Troy Brown, Jr., and Austin Reaves, who bounced back great after tough games in the Grizzlies’ loss in Memphis.

There’s been considerable controversy about the Lakers having Anthony Davis take a long-term planned ‘load management’ game off last night after Darvin Ham had said all of his players would play every game unless hurt.
In the end, critics thought the Lakers should have had AD sit out against the Grizzlies but play against the Thunder. The alternative, which makes more sense, is the Lakers played Davis against Denver hoping to win both games.

The Lakers are understandably moving towards more load management for James and Davis to keep them fresher and heathier. Ham’s development of the rest of the roster could be the key to the Lakers winning #18.

Four Reasons Why Los Angeles Lakers Are Now Making Smarter Decisions

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The Rob Pelinka apology train can’t add enough cars to carry all the purple and gold fans who want on after Rob surprised everybody with a series of brilliant trades that transformed the Lakers into possible title contenders.

While the Lakers face a challenge just to make the playoffs, their new-look starting lineup and rotations after the trade deadline have already made them the extremely dangerous team nobody wants to meet in the playoffs.
Frankly, Pelinka surprised everybody with a masterclass in roster building, getting six quality players who are great fits next to LeBron and AD for one lightly protected first round pick and six players the Lakers didn’t want.

But the question everybody should be asking is what’s behind the Lakers’ suddenly making smarter decisions? Is it as simple as Rob learning from the Westbrook mistake or Jeanie allowing Rob to make the big decisions?
Were the trade deadline moves isolated transactions or do they represent major changes in the Lakers’ future basketball philosophy and strategy? What’s the real story behind the Lakers making smarter decisions?

How could the front office that traded Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and #22 pick in 2021 draft for Russell Westbrook and two second round picks suddenly start making smart decisions?
The answer is Rob and Jeanie learned, adjusted, and did a better job this time, prioritizing fit, depth, continuity, and versatility rather than a third star, resetting their LeBron calendar, and embracing the modern game.

Here are four reasons why the Lakers are now making smarter decisions: Rob’s learned from his mistakes, Jeanie’s given him full authority, they reset their LeBron calendar, and they embraced the modern game.

1. Pelinka Learned From Mistakes

Whether the mistake was lusting for a third superstar, ignoring the poor fit, or not standing up to your owner and superstars, trading for Westbrook would have cost any NBA general manager other than Rob Pelinka his job.

But instead of firing him, the Lakers gave Rob a 2-year extension in June of 2022 to sync his contract with Darvin Ham to allay any fears Ham had of the Lakers hiring a new GM who would then want to hire his own coach.
Frankly, that the Lakers gave Pelinka an extension in June 2022 but did not reveal that publicly until October suggests that Jeanie Buss did not blame Rob Pelinka for the Russell Westbrook trade and trusted him to fix it.

We know that James and Davis were initially behind the Lakers trade for Russell Westbrook and that Jeanie Buss has always loved Russ and vetoed trading him to Indiana for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield before camp.
It would not be surprising to eventually find out the Rob had not been in favor of trading for Westbrook, which was why Jeanie Buss doubled down and extended him as the Lakers’ Vice President of Basketball Operations.

Regardless, there’s universal praise for the job Rob Pelinka did completely remaking the Lakers roster with three precision trades that cost six players the Lakers no longer wanted and a lightly protected 2027 first round pick.
The Lakers received starting point guard D’Angelo Russell. shooting guard Malik Beasley, and small forward Jarred Vanderbilt, plus backup shooting guard Davon Reed, power forward Rui Hachimura, and center Mo Bamba.

Rob clearly learned from his mistakes. He refused to overpay in a trade for superstar Kyrie Irving and prioritized filling the Lakers desperate need for size, shooting, and defense while not sacrificing the franchise’s future.

2. Jeanie Gave Rob Full Authority

The best professional sports franchises have owners who, while reserving the final right of approval, hire professional front office executive teams to whom they delegate the job of decision making and running the franchise.

That was never the business management model Dr. Jerry Buss followed as he built the Los Angeles Lakers into a legendary sports franchise that had won a league best 17 NBA championships and was worth over $5 billion.
Jerry Buss was a hands-on visionary who made the franchise’s basketball as well as business decisions. His son Jim tried to follow his footsteps and won two NBA championships before being replaced by his sister Jeanie in 2017.

Jeanie has now been in charge of the Lakers for five years and has won one NBA championship. She has wavered being an active owner and visionary like her father and trusting and relying on a professional like Rob Pelinka.
Jeanie deserves kudos not only for signing Rob to an extension last summer but also for giving him the authority and power at the trade deadline to go out and do whatever he needed to transform the Lakers into a contender.

Jeanie Buss is not the hands-on visionary her father was or her brother tried to be but she‘s smart enough to know she needed a trusted basketball professional manager to be the visionary the Lakers desperately needed.
This is not the same NBA in which her father was able to win 11 titles in the 33 seasons he ran the team. The landscape is completely different both on and off of the court. This is no longer her father’s NBA or L.A. Lakers.

Jeanie Buss bet the future of the Lakers on Rob Pelinka and the ghost of Kobe Bryant by giving him the extension he deserved and the power and authority to set the Los Angeles Lakers on an exciting new directionless.

3. Lakers Reset LeBron Calendar

One of the biggest benefits of Rob Pelinka’s decision to wait until the trade deadline to move Westbrook was the Lakers were able to satisfy themselves that LeBron still had another 3 to 5 years of high quality basketball in him.

Once the Lakers felt comfortable James was not going to dramatically decline in the near future, they were able to reset their clock for finding a replacement for James, which clarified the Lakers rebuilding process.
Suddenly, the Lakers were looking for an extreme roster makeover not only to give then the size, shooting, and defense needed to be win this year but also to be legitimate championship contenders over the next 3 to 5 years.

There’s no question LeBron James has committed to the Los Angeles Lakers and plans to finish his career wearing purple and gold. His signing the 2-year extension was significant proof of his commitment to Lakers.
While the Lakers did show interest when superstar Kyrie Irving demanded a trade, it’s significant that Rob Pelinka ultimately ghosted the Nets when they suggested a counter offer that the Lakers would never accept.

Resetting the LeBron calendar reduced the immediate pressure on the Lakers to find a replacement for James and emboldened them to start the extreme roster makeover before the deadline and finish it this summer.
As the Lakers continued to grow more and more confident LeBron had multiple high caliber years remaining, their makeover plans became more and more aggressive as they worked multiple deals simultaneously.

In the end, resetting the LeBron clock changed everything for the Lakers. Suddenly, they could see a window of at least 3 and maybe 5 more years of LeBron playing at a high level, which changed their entire perspective.

4. Lakers Embrace Modern Game

After decades of old school GMs and coaches, the moves by the new-look Lakers are a final confirmation that the Los Angeles Lakers have wholly and unabashedly embraced the modern NBA and the power of the three.

Much of the Lakers’ struggles the past three seasons can be linked to their lack of vision or identity, which is what happens when ownership and management are more interested in a player’s star power than skillset.
That lack of direction or vision led to wheel spinning and poor decision making on whom to sign or pursue via trade, which led to a Lakers’ front office almost paralyzed with fear of making another disastrous mistake.

Basically, the modern NBA game is about spacing and shooting, both of which the Lakers have seriously lacked the past three seasons. This season the Lakers took the 24th and made the 29th fewest 3-pointers in the NBA.
With the addition of 2 of the league’s 15 highest volume 3-point shooters in D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley, the Lakers added significant 3-point gravity to their backcourt that should unleash superstars James and Davis.

In addition to adding Russell and Beasley, the Lakers brought in Jarred Vanderbilt to be their starting small forward and defensive specialist whose job would be to shut down or slow down the other team’s top scorer.
Finally, the Lakers traded for a pair of promising young 3&D front court players in Rui Hachimura to backup superstar power forward LeBron James and and Mo Bamba to backup superstar center Anthony Davis.

Embracing the modern NBA and its reliance on 3-point shooting to create spacing to unleash superstars has enabled the Lakers to make smarter decisions on whom to pursue and how to utilize them in modern game.

Why Darvin Ham’s Starting Lineups And Rotations Could Be Big Problem

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The 26–32 Los Angeles Lakers got a potential season-saving infusion of talent before the trade deadline as Rob Pelinka pulled off four trades that brought back six new players, including five who will be in the rotation.

That means Lakers’ rookie head coach Darvin Ham must put together revised starting lineups and rotations that include Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Mo Bamba.
That could be worrisome as Ham’s questionable starting lineups and rotations, baffling preference for starting Dennis Schröder, and strange penchant for playing three-guard mini-lineups were heavily criticized.

With just 24 regular season games left in their season, the Lakers need to win almost every single game to make the play-in or playoffs and simply don’t have time to experiment with different starting lineups or rotations.
They will only have one chance to decide who starts and who is a backup. The Lakers desperately need rookie head coach Darvin Ham to make the right decisions on their starting lineups and rotations to win games.

That’s a heavy burden to put on a rookie head coach who’s already had to deal with major roster issues like talking Russell Westbrook into coming off the bench and dealing with a roster seriously lacking in size and shooting.
Ham’s won universal praise for how he handled Westbrook and for getting the Lakers to hang around without James and then without Davis but it’s up to him to construct a winning starting lineup and rotation for stretch run.

So let’s take a look at whom Darvin Ham is likely to start for the Lakers and whom is he’s likely to include in rotation as backups coming off the bench as the Lakers prepare to make one last-ditch stretch-run for the playoffs.

Lakers’ Starting Lineup

While it could change, it currently appears Lakers’ coach Darvin Ham will start Dennis Schröder, D’Angelo Russell, and Rui Hachimura alongside superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis for their final 24-games.

The criticism of Ham’s decision has been immediate and fierce because starting a non-shooter like Schröder does not help the Lakers’ spacing and forces them to use shooting guard Austin Reaves as backup point guard.
After the trade deadline moves, everybody expected D’Angelo Russell to become the starting point guard and Dennis Schröder to replace Russell Westbrook as the team’s 6th man and point guard for the second unit.

The issue is also not that Schroder isn’t capable of playing mostly off the ball as a shooting guard, it’s that there are better options that provide the Lakers with better outside shooting and spacing for James and Davis.
Starting Schroder also likely prevents starting another non-shooter like Jarred Vanderbilt, who could be the starting small forward and shut- down defender if the team started a shooter like Malik Beasley at the two.

After watching Malik Beasley catch fire and hit 6 of 12 threes in a quarter and a half, one has to wonder at why Ham would not want to start Russell and Beasley, both of whom are among the top-15 in 3-point attempts.
A Lakers’ starting lineup with a backcourt of Russell and Beasley and a front court of Vanderbilt, James, and Davis would have elite 3-point shooting and a shut-down defender to guard other team’s leading scorer.

Darvin Ham needs to rethink starting Dennis Schröder and instead consider starting either Malik Beasley or Austin Reaves so Schröder can take over Westbrook’s role as 6th man and point guard for second unit.

Lakers’ Backup Rotation

If the Lakers start Dennis Schröder, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis, their backup rotation would be Austin Reaves, Malik Beasley, Troy Brown Jr, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Mo Bamba.

Basketball is not hockey where coaches sub out an entire lineup. In other words, Lakers fans should never expect to see Reaves, Beasley, Brown Jr, Vanderbilt, and Bamba on the court together, except under Darvin Ham.
For some reason, Darvin Ham is not a strong believer in staggering his two superstars and two point guards to make sure the Lakers have always have a superstar and point guard on the court for all 48 minutes of the game.

The Blazers game was a perfect example of what happens when a coach doesn’t set some simple rules for rotations such as always have a superstar, point guard, rim protector, and three shooters in the lineup at all times. With 3:20 left in the first quarter, Ham went with a lineup without Davis, Russell, and Schröder just as Dame re-entered the game. The result was the Blazers immediately turned a 3-point edge into a 15-point halftime lead.

Schröder and Ham have a long-time relationship and talked about the former playing point guard for the latter if were ever on the same team. That doesn’t mean Dennis should start, especially if not best for the team.
There’s been speculation in the media that Pelinka may have promised Schröder a starting point guard job to get him to sign like he did with Drummond last season. If so, time has come to break that promise.

If Darvin Ham insists on continuing to start Dennis Schröder at point guard, the Lakers’ starting lineup and rotations will struggle and their chances of winning enough games to make the playoffs will disappear

Do Starting Lineups and Rotations Matter?

Whenever fans complain about their coach’s starting lineups and rotations, there’s always clapback that who starts doesn’t matter or who closes is more important. The truth is lineup building is as much art as science

First and most important, lineup building is about optimizing the potential synergy five players could have on the court together while making sure each lineup iteration was comprised off the critical mandatory elements.
For the Lakers, that means building 5-player lineups with one superstar, one point guard, one rim protector, and three 3-point shooters. It also means knowing that at least a fourth of the game will depend on subs.

It’s obvious head coach Darvin Ham’s inexplicable preference for starting Dennis Schröder this season is an eerie doppelganger of Frank Vogel’s equally inexplicable preference for starting Avery Bradley last season.
At some point, Ham has to realize that his trust and loyalty to Schröder cannot result in not putting the best possible team on the court to win. Otherwise, he’s likely to end up at the end of the year just like Vogel.

The All-Star break could not have come at a better time for the Lakers than right now as Darvin Ham desperately needs time and guidance on who to start and what rotations to make when the team makes its stretch run.
Hopefully, Rob Pelinka and other members of the front office will work with Ham over the break to get him to understand that starting Schröder at point guard is not the best strategy to build a championship rotation.

Starting Schröder could cause the Lakers to miss the playoffs and Ham to lose his job. Darvin and the Lakers need to make sure to get their starting lineup and rotation strategy right to make a run after the All-Star Break.