Three Moves To Give Lakers Size & Length Advantage At Every Position

No gesture says more about on-court domination without a technical for taunting than offensive players making the ‘too small’ gesture after taking advantage of their size and length to easily score on a smaller defender.

While the Lakers hope to improve their 3-point shooting, their strength is their ability to win the points-in-paint (PIP) and made-free-throws (MFT) battles by more than they lose their negative 3-point shooting differential.
That’s the formula the Lakers used to make the conference finals last season after a poor 2–10 start but have struggled to execute this year until they went big and started 6′ 8″ Cam Reddish at shooting guard for 6 games.

Before the inserting Reddish in the starting lineup for Reaves, the Lakers were generating only +9.9 points per game from PIP and MFT, which did not cover their -12.0 points per game negative 3-point shooting differential.
With Reddish starting at shooting guard for 6 games, the Lakers outscored their opponents by +15.8 points per game from PIP and MFT, which easily was enough to beat the -10.5 points per game 3-point shooting differential.

The Lakers under Rob Pelinka and Darvin Ham have a unique opportunity to build a deep, talented, defense-first roster that possesses legitimate, actionable size, length, and physicality advantages at all five positions.
Pundits have long visualized the ‘ultimate’ NBA starting lineup as five 6′ 8″ to 6′ 10″ long, athletic players who could dominate the paint and glass at both ends. That may be exactly what Ham and the Lakers are trying to do.

Here are the three roster moves Lakers’ coach Darvin Ham needs to make to create a Lakers’ version of the ‘ultimate’ starting lineup that possesses dominating size, length, and physicality advantages at all five positions.

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1st Move — Start Jarred Vanderbilt Next to Cam Reddish

The first move Ham should make to improve the Lakers’ positional size is starting 6′ 9″ Jarred Vanderbilt at the three once healthy and pairing him with 6′ 8″ Cam Reddish to create a starting duo of elite wing defenders.

While Vando’s been approved to begin physical contact and ramping up to return to the team’s rotation, there’s a growing consensus he will replace Taurean Prince as the starting small forward sometime in the near future.
With Cam Reddish starting at shooting guard and Jarred Vanderbilt at small forward, the Lakers would essentially have two elite wing starters with the size and length to ably defend opposing high-scoring guards and forwards.

Starting 6′ 8″ Reddish and 6′ 9″ Vanderbilt would represent Darvin Ham and the Los Angeles Lakers doubling down on their identity as a defense-first team who dominates paint and glass with elite positional size and length. While there’ll be pressure on Reddish and Vanderbilt to be able to shoot a respectable percentage from three, both should be able to take advantage of their superior size and length to dominate smaller defenders offensively.

Turning Reddish and Vanderbilt into an elite point-of-attack perimeter defensive pair who can slow down the bigger high-scoring guards and wings that dominate the West is a championship development for L.A.
Cam and Vando give the Lakers a defensive duo to match up with the top offensive duos in the league like the Mavs’ Luka and Kyrie, Suns’ Booker and KD, Warriors’ Steph and Klay, or Pacers’ Haliburton and Mathurin.

The Lakers are excited about the idea of having their two best perimeter defenders in their starting lineup alongside Anthony Davis. It’s a huge move that doubles down on their identity for defense and physicality.

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2nd Move — Start LeBron James at Point Guard

Starting Cam Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt gives the Lakers positional size advantages at shooting guard and small forward and also opens a unique opportunity for the Lakers to go big at point guard with 6′ 8″ LeBron James.

The only reason the Lakers don’t start James at the point guard is they don’t want him defending smaller and quicker point guards, an objection that’s easily eliminated by having Reddish or Vando defend the opposing guards. While many Laker lineups already have LeBron playing point on offense and small or power forward on defense, the next step is embracing starting James at point guard to create positional size advantage at that position.

The NBA is a guard and wing driven league and most offensive firepower is focused on the point guard, shooting guard, and small forward positions since they play on on the perimeter and have the ball in their hands more. Few NBA teams have high-powered scorers at all three of these positions, which mean the Lakers could have Reddish and Vanderbilt defend the opponent’s two best scorers while James defends their weakest scorer.

Starting 6′ 8″ LeBron James at the one, 6′ 8″ Cam Reddish at the two, and 6′ 9″ Jarred Vanderbilt at the three would give the Lakers an advantage in perimeter size, length, and athleticism for all three positions at both ends.
The James/Reddish/Vanderbilt starting lineup could force opposing teams to go big or risk being dominated by Lakers’ size, length, and athleticism. Teams could find it hard to score upon or stop this lineup from scoring.

While the Lakers have been trying for three years to reduce the playmaking workload on LeBron James, the smartest thing the Lakers could do right now could be to go super big and start 6′ 8″ LeBron James at point guard.

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3rd Move — Start Christian Wood Next to Anthony Davis

Now that L.A. has gone big at both the guards and small forward positions, Darvin Ham needs to finish the big starting lineup makeover by moving Anthony Davis to power forward and starting Christian Wood at center.

Moving LeBron James to point guard, opens up a starting spot to pair a second big with Anthony Davis. Because Reddish and Vanderbilt are not proven dead-eye 3-point shooters, the Lakers need a stretch second big.
The two candidates with the size and length and 3-point shooting gravity to be the Lakers’ second big are 6′ 8″ Christian Wood and Rui Hachimura. Wood has produced the 2nd best plus/minus on the team and is best fit.

Christian Wood also has a team best +7.6 NetRtg playing next to Anthony Davis. Much of the team’s success early in the season was the result of complementary two-bigs lineups with Chris Wood and Anthony Davis.
Wood is also part of four of the five top rated Lakers’ five-man lineups that have played together for more than 10 minutes this season. The stats and the eye test both say Christian as the ideal second big to play with AD.

As the Lakers approach December 15, there’s also a chance Pelinka will trade some of the Lakers 12-deep roster to upgrade their 10-man rotation and improve their chances of finally winning their 18th championship.
Pelinka will certainly be watching how the Pacers, Timberwolves, and Jazz do since Myles Turner, Karl-Anthony Towns, or Lauri Markkanen would be perfect upgrades over Christian Wood, whom L.A. will lose to free agency.

Wood’s ability to shoot from all three levels creates spacing for Davis to offensively dominate in the paint and at the rim while his elite length and mobility enable him both to protect the rim and switch on the perimeter.

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Why Lakers’ Super Big Lineup Could Be Juggernaut

The Lakers’ super big starting lineup boasts five tall, long, and athletic players from 6′ 8″ and 6′ 10″ with wingspans greater than 7′ whose size and length advantages can dominate the paint and glass at all five positions.

What the Lakers super big lineup provides is three difference-making enhancements over the team’s current starting lineup: LeBron James playing point guard, two elite wing defenders, two elite big scorers.
Each improvement alone represents a major upgrade of the Lakers’ starting lineup. Combined, they represent a transformation that could turn the Lakers new super big starting lineup a juggernaut at both ends.

Remember when LeBron James kept telling Darvin Ham that he could play the point? With Cam and Vando defending the opposing team’s best guards and wings, the Lakers can literally unleash LeBron James to play the one. Surrounding James with elite 3-point shooters was the old school solution to optimizing the King. The Lakers’ new school path to optimizing LeBron is surrounding him with championship size, length, and athleticism.

Offensively, the Lakers’ super big starting lineup will be heavily dependent upon LeBron James’ and Christian Wood’s 3-point shooting but should be totally dominant when it comes to winning the key PIP and MFT battles. Defensively, teams are going to find it very difficult to score on the Lakers’ new super big lineup, whose size, length, and physicality is going to shrink the court and make it very difficult for offenses to create spacing to shoot.

The Lakers have a unique opportunity to create a championship caliber super big starting lineup with five 6′ 8″ to 6′ 10″ players who would have size, length, and physicality advantages at all five positions on the court.