Gilbert Arenas has been very critical of some of the role players on the Los Angeles Lakers over their struggles when it comes to shooting the ball. Arenas took to Instagram on Thursday night, to show why the offense struggles so much, by pointing to Jarred Vanderbilt and Cam Reddish.
“I don’t know what play they calling, but it’s going to be a bad one,” Arenas said. “You got two non-shooters in the corner. You got Vando, can’t shoot, you got Cam over there, can’t shoot. So that means Suns is gonna help. So you come off the pick and roll, how you gonna get anything open? Look at that, sagging. Look at that, help.”
Arenas says teams would never tell their players to leave someone open in the corner, but because Vanderbilt and Reddish aren’t great shooters, opponents can afford to do it. He then proceeded to wildly roast the duo.
“They like atmosphere on the court,” Arenas continued. “The damn referees is playing more offense than the goddamn Laker corner guys… Look (Bradley) Beal just sitting in the middle. He got Vando, so he just gonna sit. Man, rough out there.”
This was always going to be the problem whenever the two of them were on the court together. Teams just get to double-team the ball handler or clog the paint because they are willing to allow Reddish and Vanderbilt to take three-pointers.
Vanderbilt is shooting just 11.1% from beyond the arc this season while Reddish is at 34.1%. The problem for head coach Darvin Ham, though, is that they are two of the best defenders on the team. When one of the two is out, the defense suffers a bit, so he has to strike the right balance there.
Striking that balance might not be something he has to worry about for a while. Reddish exited the game shortly after the clip Arenas showed, due to left knee soreness, and did not return. His status moving forward is unclear as of now.
Reddish’s exit certainly didn’t help the Lakers, however. They were down 32 points to the Phoenix Suns at one point and ended up losing 127-109 to fall to 19-20 on the season.
L.A. now has an offensive rating of 112.0, which ranks 23rd in the league. They also rank 22nd when it comes to three-point percentage at 35.6% and are 29th in threes made per game at 10.9. In today’s NBA, that is not a recipe for success.
Darvin Ham Had Criticized Vanderbilt And Reddish
In case you were wondering how on earth Ham can’t understand the issues that come with having Reddish and Vanderbilt on the court, the answer is he does know about them. After the team struggled when they were in the starting lineup together earlier in the season, Ham criticized Vanderbilt and Reddish.
“I just think not allowing it to stagnate us,” Ham said. “If they’re trying to play off, Cam has got to step up shooting with confidence or eat up that space on the drive. Collapse the defense once he touches the paint and try to find the open man.”
“Same thing for Vando,” Ham continued. “The ball hits him, you just can’t hold it and be confused. You just gotta move on to the next thing, whether it’s a pitch ahead and hit to its teammates, (dribble handoff), or shot goes up and they’re off of him, go hunt down an offensive rebound, get us some extra possessions. Just playing fast, man. Trying to be in rhythm, making quick decisions, and doing things with force.”
He wants the two to either shoot it or make the defense pay by attacking the rim and then dishing it out to an open shooter. It isn’t something that Vanderbilt or Reddish have done on a consistent basis, however.
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