There was a little bit of confusion when it got here to Darvin Ham’s beginning lineup on Monday. Throughout his pre-game press convention, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin requested the Los Angeles Lakers’ coach in the event that they had been going again to final season’s beginning lineup of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt, D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves. Ham confirmed that was the plan “for the foreseeable future,” however that group in the end did not even begin the sport. Ham would later clarify to McMenamin after the press convention that he had misheard the query and that Taurean Prince, not Vanderbilt, could be the staff’s fifth starter.
It was a considerably becoming sequence of occasions for a Lakers staff that has been outlined by its incapability to decide on a beginning lineup. The Lakers, who rank twenty ninth within the NBA with a minus-12.8 first-quarter internet score, have now used 11 of them on the season, and on the evening during which they had been anticipated to return to the lineup that took them to the Western Convention Finals final spring, they as a substitute returned to the 5 they used on opening evening. It labored in a 112-105 Lakers win over the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, however the group as a complete has had blended outcomes this season.
That unit performed a significant position within the Lakers setting information for first-quarter futility early within the season, however do not count on it to go wherever any time quickly. Ham once more confirmed that he plans to stay with this group shifting ahead, and he is already shared his beliefs on the topic this season. “You’ll be able to’t simply preserve, on a whim, altering,” Ham said after a Dec. 20 loss to the Bulls. “That is a giant deal whenever you change your beginning lineup at this stage.”
In fact, Ham wound up altering his lineup once more three days later, when the Lakers confronted the Thunder. As they did on Monday, the Lakers defeated Oklahoma Metropolis. However for quite a lot of causes, they’ve so far been unable to keep up continuity of their beginning lineup.
Whereas Ham famous that the goal of Monday’s lineup was to place “as a lot ability and shot making round our two captains as doable,” it is price noting that the absence of former starter Cam Reddish, who’s coping with a knee harm, seemingly performed an element within the change. Reddish has began 24 of the final 25 video games he is performed in.
Reddish is not the one notable harm to deprive the Lakers of beginning lineup consistency. Final 12 months’s beginning group has performed solely 9 whole possessions collectively this season, and Vanderbilt’s absence when the season started is a part of what prompted the transfer to Prince within the first place. Vanderbilt is again now, and the choice to return to that group —which outscored opponents by 37 factors in 77 whole regular-season minutes a 12 months in the past— has been obtainable to Ham. He nonetheless hasn’t gone to it, and it is nearly the one lineup he hasn’t but used.
The Lakers initially moved off of this group for defensive functions. Reaves and Russell are each below-average defenders, and with out Vanderbilt to guard them defensively, Reddish was inserted in Reaves’ place to offer theoretical steadiness. The Lakers have spent the season attempting and largely failing to attain that steadiness, with the offense most frequently struggling because of this. Russell particularly has seen his minutes yanked round. He is performed 77 within the final two video games, however averaged simply 22.8 within the seven video games that preceded them.
After which there’s the matter of the commerce deadline, now lower than a month away. Russell has been concerned in nearly each Lakers rumor. His $17 million wage will probably be wanted for nearly any commerce of notice, notably people who contain a guard. The Lakers have been closely linked to Zach LaVine and Dejounte Murray, each scoring guards in Russell’s mildew. Any important deal would additional destabilize the Lakers’ starters, however as they discovered final season, that may not be the worst factor.
The Lakers are 20-21. If there was an answer to their issues so simple as “revert to the opening evening lineup,” they seemingly would have landed on it earlier than the midway level of the season. They landed on an answer to the particular issues that the Thunder posed on Monday. Their very own latest historical past means that the answer is nearer to short-term than it’s to being everlasting.
