The Los Angeles Lakers are still trying to find their touch in the 2021/22 NBA season. The Californians have taken advantage of LeBron James’ recent sweet run, orbiting between the 6th and 7th seed in the Western Conference, leaving more doubts than certainties among their fans.
With Anthony Davis sidelined, Frank Vogel has made some changes in the lineup, stumbling into a perfect small-ball lineup with LeBron James playing at center. This has been a good idea for the Purple and Gold and the head coach announced they won’t stop using it once Davis returns from an injury.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Vogel explained the plan for the Lakers when Davis is active again. The Brow will play a lot of time at the five, with LeBron replacing him when he’s on the bench (9:05).
“Well, I think you’re going to see Anthony playing a lot at the five and, when Anthony’s out, we have the lineups that we’ve been playing right now with ‘Bron basically playing point center,” Vogel revealed when asked how Davis’ return would impact his strategy.
“It’s a direction that I think we’re going to land with this group towards the second half of the season and one we’re seeing obvious benefits for right now that we feel like we’re gonna be even more enhanced when Anthony comes back.”
The Lakers have found some success with the small-ball lineup and will continue using it. LeBron has exceeded as a point center and fans are really enjoying the 4x NBA champion going against big men.
This could be the key to unlocking success for the Lakers. They have added some pieces that have underperformed this campaign. If that trend continues, more changes will come. Even though they haven’t been as dominant as many people expected, don’t sleep on the Lakers. The season isn’t over yet and they have big chances to avoid the play-in tournament.
