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Why Jarred Vanderbilt Is The Missing Puzzle Piece to Top-5 Lakers’ Defense

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Jarred Vanderbilt couldn’t have asked for a better venue to showcase to the basketball world why he’s the missing puzzle piece to transforming the Los Angeles Lakers languishing defense back to a top-5 squad in the NBA.

In an electrifying performance, Vanderbilt showed why he could be the steal of the trade deadline as his dominating defense on Luka Doncic and energizing hustle and aggression fueled the Lakers’ monster comeback.
Vando’s 15 points, 17 rebounds, and 4 steals were at the heart of every run the Lakers put together to bounce back from their 27-point deficit early in the second quarter and stun the Dallas Mavericks with a 111–108 victory.

More importantly, Vanderbilt’s game saving performance cemented how impactful he has become for Lakers defensively with his elite hops and rebounding and combo of defensive quickness, physicality, and length.
There has only been one instance in the history of the NBA where a team that was not a top-10 defensive team was able to win the championship. Vando could be the player who transforms the Lakers to a top-5 defense.

Since trading for Vando, the Lakers have gone 4–1 and are currently on a 3-game winning streak and their defense, which ranked in the bottom third of the league before the trade, has been the league 3rd best since the trade.
Whether the Lakers’ new look roster gells soon enough to make playoffs or they have to wait until next season to make a run for #18, the Lakers know they now have found the key player they needed to revitalize their defense.

So let’s take a closer look at why Jarred Vanderbilt has been such a great fit in the Lakers’ starting lineup and why he could be the missing puzzle piece to transforming Los Angeles’ languishing team defense into a top-5 unit.

Vanderbilt Gives Lakers Elite Wing Defender

The Lakers biggest defensive weakness the past three years has been the lack of a 6′ 8″ wing defender who could shut down or slow down the bigger guard and wing scorers in the West like Luka Doncic and Paul George.

Credit to someone in the Lakers organization who had the vision to think outside the box and find a better solution to a wing defender than spending all of their valuable trade capital for an elite option like O.G. Anunoby.
The answer was the brilliant 3-team trade where Pelinka got the defensive wing they desperately need in Vanderbilt and the necessary high volume, high percentage 3-point gunners in Russell and Beasley to make it work.

Pairing an elite wing defender who can’t shoot with two high volume 3-point gunners with good size was an inspired solution to the Lakers’ desperate need for a wing defender while still improving their spacing.
Vanderbilt has been the difference maker the Lakers’ defense needed, giving them an elite versatile defender who can defend all five positions. Teams now have to game plan for Vanderbilt when playing the Lakers.

Vanderbilt showcased his defensive stopper capabilities to the max against the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring. Luka went 0–3 and turned the ball over 5 times when defended by Vanderbilt.
Visibly frustrated by Vanderbilt, Luka struggled to maintain his usual control over the game pace as Jarred’s quickness, physicality, and 6′ 8″ size and 7′ 1″ wingspan forced him to speed up his game and make errors.

Thanks to outside-the-box front office thinking, Jarred Vanderbilt now gives the Lakers an elite 6′ 8″ wing defender with size, length, quickness, and physicality to shut or slow down the West’s bigger wing scorers.

Vanderbilt ‘Completes’ Lakers’ Front Court

Jarred Vanderbilt is also the perfect fit as third member of what could be the NBA’s best defensive backcourt. His size, length, quickness, athleticism, savvy, and physicality complement and ‘complete’ the Lakers’ front court.

Finally, after three full years of watching the small forward position being poorly manned by shooting guards, the Lakers have finally given the small forward position back to the front court through 6′ 8″ Jarred Vanderbilt. What Vanderbilt does is create an almost interchangeable front court trio with James and Davis that can defend all three front court positions and has versatility to switch in the front court. No more small ball for Lakers.

Vando ‘completes’ the Lakers in that he provides everything their two superstars need in a third front court player: great defender, cutter, rebounder, and passer who does all of the little things that matter.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis have never had a third front court member as impactful as Jarred Vanderbilt. He could make this Lakers front court even better than the 2020 championship front court in the bubble.

Vanderbilt is only 23-years old and has two years left on his contract with an annual salary under $5 million, which means he’s likely to become a staple alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis for the next three years.
Finding that third front court member who complements and completes the Lakers front court was a huge plus for the Lakers’ chances to make the playoffs this season and emerge as a consistent contender going forward.

With a towering, long, and athletic front court trio with 6′ 8″, 6′ 8″, and 6′ 10″ size 7′ 0″, 7′ 1′, and 7′ 6″ wingspans, the Los Angeles Lakers have what could become the best defensive front court in the league the next few years.

Vanderbilt Helps Lakers Backcourt Defense

The key to balancing the Lakers’ starting lineup to include a non-shooter like Jarred Vanderbilt is starting a pair of volume 3-point gunners D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley, who together take over 15 threes per game.

Since the Lakers traded for Russell, Beasley, and Vanderbilt, who all played together on the Minnesota Timberwolves before being traded to the Jazz as part of the Rudy Gobert deal, their backcourt defense has been excellent.
In fact, during the Lakers current 3-game win streak, the three Lakers players with the best individual defensive rating were surprisingly D’Angelo Russell at 83.5, Malik Beasley at 88.3, and Jarred Vanderbilt at 93.7.

The combination of having Vanderbilt defend the opposing team’s leading scorer, who’s often a guard, and having three elite rim protectors in James, Davis, and Vanderbilt in the front court helps L.A.’s backcourt defense.
That Russell, Beasley, and Vanderbilt have played together before on the Wolves also had to help them get off to a good start in purple and gold. There were moments when the Laker defense was rotating on a string.

D’Angelo Russell is 6′ 5″ with a 6′ 10″ wingspan and Malik Beasley 6′ 4″ with a 6′ 7″ wingspan, which makes the Lakers backcourt bigger. With Schroder moving to the bench, the Lakers suddenly have a bigger starting lineup.
That positional size and length advantage translates into more rebounds, dunks, layups, blocks, and steals throughout the game. After suffering from being undersized, watching the Lakers bully ball other teams is fun.

Having D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley post the best defensive ratings on the entire Lakers team for the current 3-game win streak is encouraging since both guards were brought in for their offense, not their defense.

Vanderbilt Makes Lakers Top-5 Defense

NBA history is studded with great players like Ron Artest,Dennis Rodman, and Draymond Green who found ways to become championship players despite not being shooters. The Lakers think Jarred Vanderbilt is another.

In the 5 games since the trade deadline, the Lakers have a 4–1 record and a team defensive rating of 106.8, which 3rd best in the NBA for that period. During the recent 3-game win streak, they had an even better 104.2 rating.
One of Rob Pelinka’s goals at the trade deadline was to improve the Lakers’ defense as well as their offense, which is why Rob demanded Vanderbilt be part of the trade and why they pursued Bamba in the end over Bogdanovic.

Pelinka knows defense wins championships and the current roster needed help on the defensive side and the offensive side. Before the trade, the Lakers had #19 OffRtg at 113.1, #20 DefRtg at 114.3, and #24 NetRtg at -1.1.
For the 5 games after the trade, the Lakers had #21 OffRtg at 112.4, #3 DefRtg at 106.8, and #7 NetRtg at 5.6. While the deadline trades have not yet helped the Lakers’ offense, they’ve definitely given L.A. a defensive boost.

The Lakers simply need to play like a top-5 defense for the 21 games left on their regular season schedule. That means posting a defensive rating below 110.0 for the rest of the regular season, which L.A. should be able to do.
The challenge for the Lakers is going to be to stay healthy. We already heard that James and Russell will both miss tomorrow night’s game against the Grizzlies. Hopefully, they’ll both be ready to play Wednesday night.

With Vanderbilt becoming their shut down wing defender, ‘completing’ the Lakers front court, and helping the backcourt defend better, the Lakers have a chance to enter the playoffs with a dominant top-5 team defense.

Why NBA Playoffs Will Be Slam Dunk If Lakers Win 75% of Last 22 Games

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The Lakers making the playoffs seems like a pipe dream with 7 teams standing between them and a top-6 finish and guaranteed playoff seed in the west but it’s actually a slam dunk if they can win 75% of their games.

Right now, the Lakers are in 13th place, 1.5 games out of 10th place and the Play-In Tournament and 3.5 games out of 6th place and guaranteed playoff spot but fortunately have 13 games against 8 of the 9 teams above them.
Lakers’ head coach Darvin Ham says the team does not want to participate in the Play-In Tournament and is focused on winning a top-6 seed in the Western Conference playoffs by winning 16 of 23 or 70% of the games left.

When you look at how many teams are between the #13 Lakers and the #6 seed in the playoffs, it’s easy to wonder if it’s simply just too late for Los Angeles to make a serious run at getting into the top-6 teams in the West.
Earning 7th or 8th place in the West to get two shots at winning a playoff spot in the Play-In Tournament is certainly a more realistic and achievable goal for the Lakers to have with so far to climb and just 22 games to do it.

But this season has seen a plague of parity the likes of which the Western Conference of the NBA has not seen for years and the Lakers are fortunate that this situation has given them an unexpected chance to win a ring.

Current Western Conference Standings and Records

With Denver, Memphis, and Sacramento holding the top three spots in the West standings, the battle for the remaining three guaranteed playoff spots and the four available spots in the Play-In Tournament will be ferocious.

Right now, the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers, and Dallas Mavericks have solid but small leads on the #4, #5, and #6 seeds. All three teams have winning records for the season as well as for the last 10 games they played.
If the Lakers want to avoid the Play-In Tournament, they’re going to need to climb over seven teams including one of the Suns, Clippers, and Mavs to jump from 13th to 6th seed, a formidable challenge with just 22 games left.

Frankly, the more realistic target for the Los Angeles Lakers is to finish in 7th or 8th place so they would get two shots at winning a Play-In game to secure the favorable #7 or #8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Fortunately for the Lakers, most of the teams with whom they would be competing in the Play-In Tournament do not have winning records for the season or for their last 10 games, which gives Los Angeles an advantage.

Here are current Western Conference standings and win-loss records for the 10 teams separated by 3.5 games between 4th place and 13th place plus the teams’ win % last 10 games and games still remaining against Lakers:

PLAYOFFS:
#4 PHX 33–28, 70%, 2 games
#5 LAC 33–29, 50%, 1 game
#6 DAL 32–29, 60%, 2 games

PLAY-IN:
#7 MIN 31–31, 40%, 2 games
#8 NOP 30–30, 40%, 1 game
#9 GSW 30–30, 40%, 1 game
#10 UTA 30–31, 50%, 2 games

#11 OKC 28–31, 40%, 2 games
#12 POR 28–31, 50%, 0 games
#13 LAL 28–32, 50%

Projected Western Conference Standings and Records

If the Lakers want to avoid the Play-In Tournament and enter the playoffs as the #6 team in the West, they’re going to have to do it by stealing the Clippers’ top-6 playoff spot and kicking them down to the Play-In Tourney.

The unprecedented parity that’s infected the Western Conference of the NBA shows no signs of breaking with 15 teams competing for 6 guaranteed playoff spots and 4 postseason spots in the new Play-In Tournament.
The bad news is the Lakers have to climb over 7 teams just to avoid the Play-In Tournament. The good news is they still have 10 games against the seven teams directly above them in the Western Conference standings.

One way to project the win-loss records for the ten teams fighting for the remaining 7 postseason spots is to apply their win % last 10 games to the games remaining on their schedules to project their final win-loss records.
That would give the Lakers 11 wins and a 39–43 record, which probably means missing the Play-In. Winning 75% or 17 games, on the other hand, would elevate the Lakers’ projected win-loss record to 45–37 and #5 seed.

Here are projected Western Conference standings and win-loss records if team’s win % last 10 days is applied to the remaining games. For Lakers, we used 75%, their record since deadline, rather than 50% win % last 10 days:

PLAYOFFS:
#4 PHX 48–34
#5 LAL 45–37
#6 DAL 45–37

PLAY-IN:
#7 LAC 43–39
#8 UTA 41–41
#9 POR 40–42
#10 MIN 39–43

LOTTERY:
#11 NOP 39–43
#12 GSW 39–43
#13 OKC 37–45

Why Every Remaining Lakers Game Is ‘Must Win’ Game

While winning 75% or 17 of their remaining 23 games would essentially guarantee the Los Angeles Lakers make the playoffs, their margin for error is razor slim with every single remaining game being a ‘must win’ game.

Another way of showing how thin the Lakers chances of making the playoff are is to consider how many losses would eliminate them from top-6 seed, 7th or 8th in the Play-In Tournament, or 9th or 10th in Play-In Tournament.
If Lakers lose 7 games, they probably aren’t making playoffs as top-6 team. If they lose 9 games, they probably aren’t making 7th or 8th in the Play-In Tournament. If they lose 11 games, they’re at risk of missing the playoffs.

That means the Lakers have to view every single one of the 22 remaining games on their schedules as ‘must win’ games. They need to come out and dominate every game from the start and not allow teams to hang around.
The Lakers don’t have any margin for error to suffer a loss because they allowed an opponent to hang around and then heroically pull out a win with a great play by their star player or a blown call by one of the refs.

The Lakers’ last two dominating wins were perfect templates for what they need to do every single game. Every Laker has to come out and play like every game is the most important regular season game of their careers.

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.

Darvin Ham’s New Look Lineups Have Lakers Poised For Championship Run!

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Everything’s suddenly coming up roses for the Lakers as the first preview of head coach Darvin Ham’s new look starting lineup and rotation powered Los Angeles to a dominating 120–102 coast-to-coast win over New Orleans.

Two days after proclaiming Schröder and Russell as his starting backcourt, Darvin Ham reversed course and unveiled a new innovative starting lineup for Wednesday night’s game that could change everything for the Lakers.
Darvin Ham’s surprising new Lakers’ starting lineup has D’Angelo Russell at point guard, Malik Beasley at shooting guard, Jarred Vanderbilt at small forward, LeBron James at power forward, and Anthony Davis at center.

The new lineup addresses the Lakers’ two greatest needs: a pair of volume 3-point shooting guards with gravity to create spacing and a bigger wing defender who can guard opposing team’s leading scorer at all three levels.
Russell, Beasley, and Vanderbilt played together on the Timberwolves, which made their first integration with James and Davis smoother and easier as the Lakers suddenly looked like a potential playoff juggernaut.

Right now, the 27–32 Lakers have 23 games remaining on their regular season schedule, that restarts next Thursday against the Warriors. The Lakers need to win almost every single game to make the playoffs.
To finish 10th and make the play-in, they need to win 14 of 23 for a 41–41 record. To finish 8th, they need to win 16 of 23 for a 43–39 record. To finish 6th and make the playoffs, they need to win 18 of 23 for a 45–37 record.

After watching their new lineups, the Lakers’ long-shot path to the playoffs suddenly looks more like a slam dunk. Barring injury, the Lakers are about to become the nightmare team that nobody wants to face in the playoffs.
The Lakers were a doomed team last week, their front office questioning whether to even make a move to save the season. That now appears to have been all posturing as Rob Pelinka and the Lakers won the trade deadline.

Ham’s new lineups now have the Lakers looking at bigger targets than just making the play-in tourney or the playoffs. The Lakers believe their new lineups and rotation have them potentially poised for a championship run.

Rob Pelinka Finally Shows His Royal Flush

Sometimes, the best opportunities to redefine who you are, reestablish an identity, or create a new vision for the future happen after a team has made a horrendous mistake that threatens the viability of the franchise.

That’s exactly what happened with the Los Angeles Lakers this season. After struggling to figure out how to get out of the hole in which the Westbrook trade had left them, Rob Pelinka found a vision to embrace.
Westbrook caused the Lakers to rethink everything. Three superstars vs. two superstars? Cap space vs. tradable contracts? Win now vs. build for the future? The value of draft picks. How to make a third superstar work?

As the trade deadline approached, Pelinka knew the Lakers needed more than tweaks not only to give the team a shot at making the playoffs and winning #18 but also to position them to be a major player this summer.
Pelinka knew the Lakers needed an extreme makeover and set a goal to swap six players, all but one on expiring contracts, and one protected first round pick for three new starters and three new primary backups.

But before Pelinka could execute his bold trade deadline plan to rebuild the Lakers, Kyrie Irving turned the NBA world on its head by demanding a trade from the Nets with the L.A. Lakers as his preferred destination.
This was the ultimate test for Pelinka. Could a last minute trade for a third superstar once again derail Lakers’ plans to build a deep, diverse roster? This time Rob resisted the Nets’ crazy demands and returned back to plan.

The trades Pelinka had lined up had already produced Hachimura, Russell, Beasley, and Vanderbilt when Rob reportedly gave up trying to trade Beverley and Walker for Bogdanovic and instead traded for Mo Bamba.
Rob solved the Lakers’ need for size, shooting, and defense with six bigger, younger, better players, including two new starting guards and one starting defensive wing plus a backup shooting guard, forward, and rim protector.

By keeping one of the picks, trading for younger players with more upside, and negotiating strong top-4 protection on the pick that traded to Utah, Pelinka was able to protect and actually enhance the Lakers’ future.
Should the Lakers make the playoffs and be fortunate enough to win their 18th NBA Championship, those observers, including myself, who thought the Lakers were the biggest trade deadline winner will be vindicated.

Bottom line, while trying to find a way out of the Westbrook disaster, Rob Pelinka’s ended up finding an innovative vision he could embrace for a new and different Lakers’ team that’s built to win both today and tomorrow.

Darvin Ham Embraces New Look Lakers Lineups

After being mercilessly trolled for his earlier starting lineups and rotations, Darvin Ham is now receiving universal praise for the new look Lakers’ lineups that he previewed against the Pelican last Wednesday night.

There’s been no behind-the-scenes reporting on how and why Darvin Ham suddenly changed his mind two days after declaring Dennis Schröder and D’Angelo Russell would be his starting backcourt for the foreseeable future.
Whether it was his own decision or whether he was following counsel from Rob Pelinka or others, Ham clearly made the right decision and the Lakers’ performance Wednesday night clearly validated his new look lineups.

The decision by Rob Pelinka and the front office to completely rebuild the Lakers’ starting lineup and rotation with just 23 games left was a complete surprise considering the franchise’s inaction the past two trade deadlines.
It was also a strong vote of confidence in rookie head coach Darvin Ham, who had been specifically included in the trade deadline strategy meetings and was closely involved as the Lakers’ final trade deadline plans evolved.

While I’ve been a strong Darvin Ham supporter, I’ve also been highly critical of his lineups, rotations, and substitutions. What drives me crazy about Darvin is he won’t set rules to help manage his lineups and rotations.
The Lakers have two superstars, two point guards, two rim protectors. Every single Lakers lineup that sets foot on the court should have one superstar, one point guard, and one rim protector as part of its fivesome.

There’s no question some of those earlier lineups were probably the best Ham could do with what Pelinka had given him. Fortunately, the new look roster is deeper, bigger, and more diverse than Darvin’s earlier roster.
The key will be can the new look Lakers lineups defend. Based on last Wednesday’s preview, the signs are promising. The Lakers starting lineup has two defenders who can defend all five positions at all three levels.

The Lakers took a huge risk in hiring a rookie head coach like Darvin Ham but he’s held up well in face of serious challenges in getting Westbrook to accept coming off the bench and dealing with James’ and Davis’ injuries.
Now Darvin will get a chance to coach with a roster that’s deep and diverse and a perfect fit for LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And with his new look lineups, Ham’s ready to go with the right players in the right positions.

With 23 games left in the season, this Laker are now firmly in the hands of rookie head coach Darvin Ham, who’s finally going to have a chance to coach the quality of team we expected to when he was hired by the Lakers.

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.