Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham made a change to his starting lineup last week, opting to go with LeBron James, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Anthony Davis. That lineup struggled against the Boston Celtics, though, and Ham was asked if a Reddish-Vanderbilt wing pairing was viable.
“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.”
Ham then stated that both Vanderbilt and Reddish can’t just hold the ball and be confused. He wants them to make the defense pay in different ways if they are being left open.
“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.”
(starts at 4:55 mark):
Reddish and Vanderbilt making quick decisions when they get the ball in space would certainly help matters, but it is hard to see how this pairing works in the long run. When the two of them are on the court along with Davis, the Lakers have three below-average three-point shooters on the court.
Reddish is the best of the lot, having shot 32.0% from three in his career, while Davis is at 30.2%, and Vanderbilt is at 26.7%. When they are on the court together, their opponents get to pack the paint, which has quite a negative impact on the Lakers’ biggest strength, scoring in the paint.
For the season, the Lakers rank fifth in the league with 54.3 points in the paint per game. When we just take the last two games into account, that number drops to 48 per game, which ranks 23rd in that time, as per the NBA.
The New Lakers Starting Five Had A Net Rating Of -55.3 In 8 Minutes Against The Celtics
I mentioned previously that the new group struggled against the Celtics, but that was a bit of an understatement. That Lakers starting lineup would be the worst in the NBA, as they had a net rating of -55.3 in the eight minutes they were together on the court. They had a woeful offensive rating of 94.7 and a defensive rating of 150.0.
If we include the first game where this starting lineup was introduced, which was against the Oklahoma City Thunder, things do get better, but not by a lot. They have been together on the court for 18 minutes in total in those two games and have a net rating of -20.0, as per the NBA.
Their offensive rating is just 105.0 while the defensive rating is 125.0. For some context, the San Antonio Spurs have the worst offensive rating this season at 106.7 while the Washington Wizards have the worst defensive rating at 121.3.
That tells you just how bad things have been. It is a small sample size, of course, but I imagine Ham will eventually be forced to make another change at some point. If he doesn’t, then his job might end up being in jeopardy.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
