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Montrezl Harrell

Does Jordan Signing and Gasol Trade Change Whom Lakers Start at Center?

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After signing DeAndre Jordan and trading Marc Gasol, the Lakers are faced with a major potential season-defining decision whether to finally start Anthony Davis at the five or one of a pair of washed career backup centers.

Now that smoke is clearing, Jordan has been signed, and Gasol traded, who will start at center for the Lakers becomes the big question. Do the Lakers start Howard or Jordan like McGee in their 2019–20 championship run? Many observers believe replacing Gasol with Jordan signals the Lakers are going to reprise the center strategy from their championship run in 2020 and have Howard or Jordan start games and second halves like McGee.

Personally, I believe the Lakers’ decision to replace Gasol with Jordan had more to do with their strategy to have elite shot blockers at center all game rather than simply trying to replicate their championship center rotation. For me, the trades to bring in Russell Westbrook and move Marc Gasol confirm the news before free agency that Anthony Davis was willing to start and play major minutes at the five to make room to start two shooters.

This will all be resolved in training camp, which starts on September 28th, and preseason games, which begin October 3rd. So let’s take a look at the Lakers’ three options to start at center when the new season kicks off:

1. THE LAKERS START DEANDRE JORDEN AT CENTER

While there’s been Twitter chatter the Lakers might start Jordan, the idea they would start a player who was just waived by their major rival in the East whose value is now the league minimum seems like a long shot at best.

We’re not talking about the 2015–18 DeAndre Jordan who made 1st team All-NBA once, 2nd team All-NBA twice, and 2nd team All-Defensive once. We’re talking about the 32-year old version who couldn’t start for the Nets. Gone are the ‘Lob City’ days of 2.5 blocks per game, 1.0 steals per game, and 250 dunks per season. Today’s DeAndre Jordan would be lucky to average 1.5 blocks, 0.5 steals per game, and 100 dunks for the season.

The big problem with having DeAndre Jordan play JaVale McGee’s role as the team’s starting center for the first six to eight minutes of each half is it uses one of the critical two starting spots available for elite 3-point shooters. Since James, Davis, or Westbrook, are not high percentage 3-point shooters, the Lakers logical move would be to dedicate the two empty starting slots alongside of their three superstars to proven veteran 3-point shooters.

DeAndre Jordan would have to show the Lakers that he still was the vertical force on offense and defense as he was in his prime to be seriously considered as the Lakers’ starting center when the 2021–22 season starts.

2. THE LAKERS START DWIGHT HOWARD AT CENTER

Frankly, the arguments against starting Dwight Howard at center are the same as those against starting DeAndre Jordan. They limit the number of 3-point shooters the Lakers can play to create spacing for their superstars.

Like with DeAndre Jordan, the version of Dwight Howard the Lakers will get this season is nowhere near the superstar center who was 1st team All-NBA five times from 2008-2012 and the DPOY three times from 2009–2012. While Dwight was ultimately played off the floor in the Lakers’ bubble championship run, he still was an important defensive factor against Nikola Jokic as the Lakers dominated the Denver Nuggets in five games.

There’s no question having JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard eat up minutes at center allowed Anthony Davis to spend 60% of his time at his preferred power forward position to avoid the physicality of playing center. Frankly, it doesn’t make sense for the Lakers to copy that strategy now that they have Westbrook playing at the one and desperately need 3-point shooters on the floor when LeBron, AD, and Russ play together.

The expectation is Dwight Howard, who’s already familiar with the Lakers’ offensive and defensive strategies, is a better fit for the Los Angeles’ center rotation and will be the primary backup at center over DeAndre Jordan.

3. THE LAKERS START ANTHONY DAVIS AT CENTER

The fact that the Lakers are heading into training camp with just DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard as the only two centers on the roster is clear cut evidence Anthony Davis is going to be playing major minutes at center.

The Lakers finished last season with three centers — Andre Drummond, Marc Gasol, and Montrezl Harrell — on the roster besides Anthony Davis. That led to Davis playing center 10% in regular season and 20% in playoffs. That was a strategy that backfired badly as none of the Lakers’ three centers were able to protect the rim defensively or provide a lethal vertical threat offensively. As a result, the Lakers did not bring back any of those centers.

Instead, the Lakers prioritized bringing in a ‘difference-making playmaker’ in Russell Westbrook, which exacerbated the team’s desperate need for better 3-point shooting but also gave Los Angeles the third superstar they coveted. The seeds for the Westbrook trade had been planted during a meeting between LeBron, AD, and Russ at James home in Los Angeles where all three superstars agreed to make sacrifices to make the Superstar Big Three work.

Anthony Davis supposedly agreed during that meeting that he would play a lot more at center in order to enable the Lakers to play two volume 3-point shooters to create spacing alongside their trio of rim attacking superstars.

4. DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHO STARTS AT CENTER?

Aside from AD’s claims that playing center makes him prone to injuries, the other criticism from those who want to start Dwight Howard or DeAndre Jordan instead of Davis at center is it simply does not matter in the end.

They point to the fact the Lakers’ starting lineups the last two years did not include Anthony Davis but still posted their best 5-man lineup net ratings. The McGee and Gasol starting lineups had superior 12.6 and 13.2 net ratings. The argument we won a championship with McGee as the starting center is compelling but ignores differences in the composition of the Lakers’ roster as well as changes in the quality of competition to be faced.

While starting DeAndre Jordan or Dwight Howard at center could work during the regular season since the Lakers with LeBron, AD, and Russ are likely to be a juggernaut, it clearly will have to change come the playoffs. Frankly, having to change starting lineups and style of play for postseason is one of the main arguments to start Anthony Davis all of the time. In other words, use the regular season to practice what you will do in the playoffs.

The Nets’ Big Three has raised the bar to win a championship and the Lakers need to start their best five players on the court from the opening tip. They cannot be deceived by thinking who starts doesn’t matter. It does.

While training camp and preseason should provide more information about the Lakers center rotation plans, the moves the Lakers have made and the roster they have built seemingly point to Anthony Davis starting at center.

Since teams already pack the paint to prevent LeBron James and Anthony Davis from getting to the rim, rolling out a starting lineup with only one quality 3-point shooter would be playing right into the defense’s hands. LeBron, AD, and Russ are all subpar 3-point shooters, which means the Lakers’ top priority in creating their starting lineup and rotations is to make sure to always have at least two elite 3-point shooters on the floor.

The only way the Lakers can achieve that goal when they play all three of their superstars is to have Anthony Davis play center so they can dedicate the shooting guard and small forward position to proven 3-point shooters.

The Los Angeles Lakers Cap Dilemma: Accept Hard Cap or Pay Luxury Taxes!

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The Lakers road back to championship contention depends on whether they chose to accept a hard cap by pursuing sign-and-trades for other team’s free agents or opt to pay luxury taxes by re-signing all of their own free agents.

There are advantages to being hardcapped, namely being able to sign-and-trade for other teams’ free agents and being able to use the full $9.5 million Mid-Level and the $3.7 million Bi-Annual Exceptions to sign free agents. But being hardcapped has consequences. The team’s total annual salaries cannot ever exceed $143 million, which greatly limits the trade and free agency opportunities the team can take advantage of during the season.

Declining to be hardcapped has advantages in that teams can go over the cap to re-sign their own free agents using various versions of Bird rights. That’s critical for the Lakers who have numerous free agents of their own. For big market teams like the Lakers with strong local revenues, going over the cap allows them more freedom to create deep and versatile rosters with the only penalty being a brutal luxury tax that could cost $25-$50 million.

So let’s take a look at the Lakers’ salary cap situation to see what roster building options they have should they decide to accept being hardcapped or commit to paying the luxury taxes and re-signing their own free agents.

1. The Los Angeles Lakers’ Options If Hardcapped.

LAKERS TRADE KCP & KUZMA FOR KYLE LOWRY

Adding a third superstar like Kyle Lowry, whom the Lakers tried to trade for during the season, to go with LeBron James and Anthony Davis might be a sign-and-trade the Lakers might accept though it would hardcap them.

Let’s look at the Lakers’ salary cap numbers after the above proposed trade to see the impact of being hardcapped on their roster. Accepting Lowry in a sign-and-trade would hardcap the Lakers at $143 million for the season. The key is how much they have to pay for the third superstar. Paying Kyle Lowry $22.0 million per year for three years still allows the Lakers to keep everybody on their roster but Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell.

After trading Kuzma and KCP for Lowry, the Lakers would have four players under contract — James, Davis, Lowry, and Gasol — for $101.2 total salary, leaving them with $41.8 million under the hard cap to build out the roster. That’s enough to cover $10.0 million to re-sign THT, $9.0 million of the full MLE, $5.0 million to for Caruso, $1.9 million for McKinnie, $1.6 million for the #22 pick, $5.0 million for Deng, and $9.3 million for 6 roster spots.

LAKERS $143 M ILLION SALARY CAP SPENDING UNDER A HARD CAP

Signing-and-trading Kuzma and KCP for another team’s free agent earning less than $22 million per year would enable the Lakers to bring back their own free agents other than Schroder and Harrell and pay minimal taxes.

2. The Los Angeles Lakers’ Options If Not Hardcapped.

LAKERS TRADE KUZMA, KCP, HARRELL, MCKINNIE, & PICK FOR ROZIER AND HIELD

The Lakers might opt to avoid pursuing other teams’ free agents and being hardcapped and instead look to upgrade their roster by bringing back their own free agents and trading for players under contract with other teams.

Not being limited to total annual salaries under $143 million would allow the Lakers to go over the salary cap to trade for players under contract to other teams and to award deserved raises to re-sign their own free agents. The Lakers would have no limit to how far they go over the cap to re-sign key free agents of their own like Schroder, Horton-Tucker, and Caruso. The only penalty they would face would be an expensive luxury tax bill.

Here’s a breakdown of how the roster would look after the above proposed trade of Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and Alfonzo McKinnie for the Hornets Terry Rozier and the Kings Buddy Hield. The Lakers total salaries for adding Rozier and Hield and bringing back everybody but Shroder or Harrell would be $157.0 million, which would cost $33.3 million in luxury taxes and a total payroll of $190.3 million

LAKERS $157 MILLION SALARY CAP SPENDING UNDER SOFT CAP

So letting Schroder and Harrell walk and focusing on trades for players under contract rather than sign-and-trades for free agents could also enable the Lakers to build a championship roster but would cost $50 million more.

The availablity of the ‘right’ player will determine whether the Lakers opt to go after other teams’ free agents and be hardcapped or re-sign their own free agents, trade for players under contract, and incur major luxury taxes.

The Lakers would be wise to eschew pursuing sign-and-trades for other teams’ free agents unless the player is a legitimate third superstar who earns less than $22 million per year to complement LeBron and AD. Otherwise, they would be smart to look to trade for high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting guards and bring back most of their own free agents even if it cost them $190 million rather than $143 million in salaries and taxes.

The competitive landscape of the league has changed dramatically since the Lakers won their Bubble Championship. The Lakers woud be smart to avoid chasing other teams’ free agents and becoming hardcapped at $143 million.

Four Sign-and-Trade Deals Involving Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell

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The only way the Los Angeles Lakers can upgrade their starting point guard, shooting guard, and center positions is to find trading partners able and willing to sign-and-trade for Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell.

Otherwise, the Lakers simple don’t have the trading chips to do more than fill one of those three starting positions. Right now, the Lakers’ only major tradeable contracts are Kuzma’s and KCP’s $13 million annual contracts. Finding trading partners to pay Schroder the $25 million and Harrell the $15 million they’re seeking will be challenging but would give the Lakers the additional trading chips they need to rebuild their starting lineups.

So let’s take a look at which NBA teams could be interested in sign-and-trade deals for either Dennis Schroder or Montrezl Harrell and who also could have a player or players who would be good fits on the Lakers.

1. Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors

The Lakers should obviously revisit the failed Schroder and Caldwell-Pope for Lowry deal that fell through at last season’s trade deadlline because the Lakers would not include young star Horton-Tucker as part of the package.

In retrospect, the Lakers and the Raptors both could have second thoughts about not going through with this deal as both teams’ seasons ended on a low note. The question is what would a resurrected trade look like today. The Lakers are in a pure win-now mode but aren’t willing to invest over $20 million per year on Dennis Schroder while the Raptors want to do right by Kyle Lowry but could benefit by swapping him for a younger point guard.

While the original deal is no longer viable, a straight up double sign-and-trade of Schroder for Lowry could make sense for both teams and prevent them from losing a star point guard to free agency with nothing in return.

2. Buddy Hield and Sacramento Kings

Another deal discussed last season the Lakers should revisit was the trade of Kyle Kuzma for the Kings’ Buddy Hield. The Lakers have long coveted Hield for his 3-point shooting while the Kings have long had their eyes on Kuzma.

Buddy Hield’s high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting is exactly what the Lakers need offensively while Kyle Kuzma enjoyed his best season ever playing under Kings’ coach Luke Walton when he coached the Lakers. With the emergence of rookie Tyrese Halliburton as the Kings’ starting shooting guard, Sacremento is looking to get off Hield’s big contract and could also use a quality scoring big to back up Richaun Holmes at center.

A trade of Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell for Buddy Hield would give the Lakers the elite 3-point shooting two guard they need while giving the Kings two elite role players who would upgrade their bench and roster.

3. Russell Westbrook and Washington Wizards

Russell Westbrook’s a mediocre 3-point shooter, only averaging 30.5% from deep for his career, and a turnover machine, averaging almost 5 per game, but he’s also a walking and talking triple-double averaging 22.2/11.5/11.7.

It’s hard to fathom what the Washington Wizard’s game plan is going forward but there’s a point where they need to trade Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook and begin the long term task of rebuilding their roster. The win now Los Angeles Lakers need an upgrade a point guard over Dennis Schroder and Russell Westbrook would give them an elite triple-double point guard to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Trading Dennis Schroder, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for Russell Westbrook could give the Lakers the third superstar they need to compete against the Brooklyn Nets and their Superstar Big Three.

4. Devonte Graham and Malik Monk and the Charlotte Hornets

The Los Angeles Lakers are looking for high volume, high percentage 3-point shooters and the Charlotte Hornets need more front court size and diversity and showed interest in trading for Kuzma and Harrell last season.

With the emergence of LaMelo Ball as starting point guard, Terry Rozier has moved to starting shooting guard and the Hornets have a surplus of good 3-point shooting guards to be traded for more front court size and diversity. Charlotte needs upgrades at both the starting power forward and center positions to balance their guard and wing heavy roster. Kuzma would slide right into the starting power forwar slot while Harrell would be 6th man.

Trading Harrell and Kuzma for Graham and Monk should be a win-win for both the Lakers and the Hornets. The Lakers get desperately needed 3-point shooting in the backcourt while the Hornets get great depth at the 4 and 5.

Five Major Mistakes That Doomed the Lakers’ Hopes to Repeat as Champions

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Anthony Davis’ injury killed the dream but five major mistakes revamping the roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis will be real reasons the Los Angeles Lakers’ quest to repeat as NBA champions will ultimately fail.

It’s easy to look in the rear view mirror and see what went wrong but in retrospect the Lakers not only ignored flashing red warning signs all season long but also doubled down on two late season major personnel mistakes. They traded for the wrong point guard, signed centers who were poor fits, failed to draft or trade for a volume 3-point shooter, declined to trade for All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry, and signed center Andre Drummond.

Besides dooming their chances of repeating as champs, these five major mistakes may also have derailed the Lakers’ opportunity to fix the problems this summer as the threat of free agency losses and luxury taxes loom.

1. Trading for point guard Dennis Schroder.

The Lakers first mistake was trading Danny Green and their first round pick for point guard Dennis Schroder. The Lakers hoped Schroder could be their point guard of the future and help LeBron James with playmaking duties.

Aside from the fact that Schroder turns the ball over too much, only shoots 33.3% from three, and has a barely acceptable 2.1 assists-to-turnovers ratio, Dennis wants more money and a bigger role than the Lakers have to offer. Since Schroder’s an unrestricted free agent, the Lakers will have to either dramatically overpay him to convince him to stay or pull off some form of a miracle sign-and-trade to prevent losing him for nothing to another team.

The ultimate irony of the trade is Danny Green had a great season with the Sixers and shot over 40% on 6.3 threes per game while Schroder reverted to being a below average 3-point shooter and inefficient starting point guard.

2. Signing centers Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell.

The second big mistake the Lakers made was not trading for a modern center like Myles Turner who could protect the rim on defense and stretch defenses on offense rather than signing rent-a-centers Harrell and Gasol.

Trading defense for offense is essentially what the Lakers did when replacing McGee and Howard with Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell, but the moves left the team defensively challenged without rim protection. The result was a poor fitting Lakers center tandem that featured an over-the-hill stretch five in Gasol who could no longer jump or dunk and an undersized small ball, low post center in Harrell who could not defend.

With Davis relegated to playing the five less than 10% of the time compared to over 25% of the time last season, the Lakers production from the center position, especially when it came to rim protection, took a big step back.

3. Failing to draft, sign, or trade for 3-point shooters.

For whatever reason, the Los Angeles Lakers continue to ignore the longtime acknowledged formula for winning with LeBron James, which is to surround him with elite high volume, high percentage 3-point shooters.

Last year, the Lakers ranked 23rd with 11.0 made threes on 30.6 shots per game for 34.9% vs. league average of 34.1%. This year they ranked 25th with 11.1 made threes on 31.2 shots for 35.4% vs. league average of 34.6%. The Lakers’ 3-point shooting has taken a major step backward in the playoffs as they rank second worst in the league with just 9.3 made threes on 31.8 shots per game for 29.1%, a fatal drop from last year’s 35.4% in the playoffs.

The Lakers continued rejection of the importance of high volume, high percentage 3-point shooting and abject failure to fix the problem when building this year’s rosters is one of the team’s biggest mistakes.

4. Declining to trade for point guard Kyle Lowry

The biggest major mistake was failing to add a third superstar so they could not only weather the injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis but also have enough firepower to match the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA Finals.

That’s the decision that left the Lakers without the star depth to survive the injuries to LeBron and AD and left them vulnerable to what’s looking more and more like a possible first round flame out to the upstart Phoenix Suns. We saw how important a third superstar was for the Brooklyn Nets whose superstar Big Three with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving allowed them to overcome significant injuries to all three superstars.

The Lakers blew an opportunity at the trade deadline to land veteran point guard Kyle Lowry, who would have given the Lakers a third superstar and allowed the team to weather the current injuries to LeBron and AD.

5. Signing free agent center Andre Drummond

After declining to trade for Kyle Lowry and failing to make any moves at the trade deadline, the Lakers made their fifth and final fatal mistake by signing the enigma center Andre Drummond from the buyout market.

A seriously talented but flawed 27-year old center who had never played for a winning team, Drummond proved to be the Laker final fatal roster mistake, throwing the team’s center rotation and team chemistry into total turmoil. Worse, the addition of a third center left Frank Vogel without enough time to integrate Drummond into the Lakers style of play, especially defensively, with the result that signing Andre was subtraction by addition.

The result was lineup and rotation chaos as the Lakers tried to integrate Drummond while re-integrating James and Davis returning from injury as the team prepared to defend their championship in the playoffs.

While these roster mistakes will likely cost the Lakers the chance to repeat as NBA champions, the bigger issue is how the mistakes have acerbated the challenge the Lakers will face this summer to repair the damage.

The Lakers have a serious cap space issues next season. They are likely to lose Andre Drummond, Montrezl Harrell, and Dennis Schroder to free agency and could even lose fan faves Alex Caruso and Talen Horton-Tucker. They will also only have the $5 million taxpayer MLE to use to pursue free agents and, should they lose to the Suns in the first round, could turnover the entire roster except for superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

The Lakers are just one game away from facing their first elimination playoff game in the last two years. Suddenly, they’re facing a first round flame out that will be more embarrassing than the Clippers departure last year.

Why Are the Lakers So Obsessed With Andre Drummond Starting at Center?

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What’s the story behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ fascination with Andre Drummond ? Do Pelinka and Vogel really believe Drummond at center is the best strategy to take advantage of LeBron James and Anthony Davis?

The Andre Drummond experiment up to this point has been a bust as every key stat clearly demonstrate the Lakers are a better team on offense and defense with Marc Gasol or Anthony Davis at center than the Big Penguin. Frank Vogel continues to ignore the stats that say Davis and James play, shoot, and defend better without Drummond and claims Andre just needs more minutes to learn how to play alongside the Lakers’ superstars.

You can almost see the wheels working in the background as Pelinka and Vogel continue to believe Drummond not only could help the Lakers win the championship this year but might also re-sign with the team long term. Their obsession with a possible James, Davis, and Drummond Big Three has apparently blinded them to Andre’s poor footwork, subpar court presence, low post inefficiency, and inescapable poor fit next to LeBron and AD.

Meanwhile, Frank Vogel has become increasingly defensive about Andre Drummond’s performance, pointing out Andre has not had the benefit of camp and the regular season to develop chemistry for the scheme to work. That’s an argument better made during the regular season than the start of the first round of the playoffs while the Lakers try to re-integrate superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis back from long injuries into the rotation.

What drives me crazy is Vogel not realizing traditional centers change how the Lakers play offense and defense. Andre’s lack of offensive spacing and lack of defensive mobility limits the team’s play at both ends of the court. The Lakers established a gold standard of what to expect during last year’s successful championship run with Anthony Davis playing more than 50% of his time at the five. That’s a proven winning formula you can’t discard.

So what’s really going on here? Do the Lakers really believe Drummond at the five is a championship scheme? Did Andre receive a promise he would be the starter in the playoffs when he signed his free agent contract? Alternatively, have the Lakers decided to dramatically reduce Anthony’s minutes at the five to accommodate his preference for playing power forward? That’s a move they clearly made during the regular season.

Or is the obsession with Drummond just an example of an old school coach like Frank Vogel stubbornly refusing to give up the idea of traditional low post center being the best scheme to anchor the team’s offense and defense. It’s hard to fathom what’s going through Frank Vogel’s mind right now as the Lakers trail the Phoenix Suns 0–1 and could be in danger of suffering a devastating first round loss rather then repeating as champions.

Unfortunately, the time has run out and Frank Vogel needs to abandon his obsession with Andre Drummond and either start Anthony Davis or Marc Gasol at center immediately or risk losing the opportunity to win #18.