Rotation going forward?

[Pythagoras]

Rui is not a starting guy for this team.. He can't shoot the 3 well nor defend. You can't have both those things right now in a starter.

And with Russell/James/Davis starting, and possibly even Beasley if you prefer him to Reaves...he's not gonna get enough touches to make a difference if he starts.

We need a garbage man who does the dirty work if you start those 4. There is only one basketball around.
Vanderbilt is the perfect glue guy. Guy who will defend and rebound and who doesn't ask for touches offensively.

Rui is better suited off the bench with Schroder, providing a spark scoring wise when either Lebron or Davis sit.

You can't play 5 offensive guys at once and then have none on the bench when they take a breather.



In other news, Will Barton is resolving a buyout with the Wizards. I would absolutely love to sign him, he's 6'6 with some length, we need a good wing who can hit the 3 and defend.

I wouldn’t mind Barton, but this team is already going to have a lot of guys looking for minutes once the new guys get here:

Lebron
AD
DLo
Reaves
Schroeder
Beasley
Vanderbilt
Rui
Walker
Bamba
Gabriel

Thats 11 guys who are legitimate rotation players. I’d imagine Gabriel is going to be the guy mostly frozen out once we’re at full strength.

Christie has also flashed signs, I’d like to see some more out of him but I don’t see where he gets any minutes. If Kevin Love secures a buyout I’d like to grab him and push Bamba down the ranks a bit.

Rotation is starting to get crowded, but that’s not a bad problem I guess.

[TJM217]

Rui is not a starting guy for this team.. He can't shoot the 3 well nor defend. You can't have both those things right now in a starter.

And with Russell/James/Davis starting, and possibly even Beasley if you prefer him to Reaves...he's not gonna get enough touches to make a difference if he starts.

We need a garbage man who does the dirty work if you start those 4. There is only one basketball around.
Vanderbilt is the perfect glue guy. Guy who will defend and rebound and who doesn't ask for touches offensively.

Rui is better suited off the bench with Schroder, providing a spark scoring wise when either Lebron or Davis sit.

You can't play 5 offensive guys at once and then have none on the bench when they take a breather.

1000% agree here. Great points. Vandy taking the wing assignment. Bron at 4 and AD at 5 will erase Dlo defense. I don't know much about Beasley but I think I prefer Reaves in that line up. With a second unit of Dennis and Rui a shooter like Beas would be helpful

[tamaraw08]

Man, the Lakers are actually… Deep. I can’t remember the last time I could say that. Plus potentially adding Kevin Love via the buyout market, we may actually have a team that doesn’t completely crumble whenever Lebron or AD aren’t out there.

Would you guys say that the pressure now is on Darvin Ham to do a great job creating schemes and make the best adjustments for the next 25 games or so?

[SK21209]

Vanderbilt is not a very good fit with AD at the 5. He's started shooting 1 or 2 corner threes per game but he won't be guarded out there. If you want a "glue guy" in the starting lineup, its Reaves. He's a great connector on offense and can handle some point of attack assignments to cover for DLO. Give Rui some time with his shot, he's only been with us for 8 games. Now that we have better shooters in DLO and Beasley, I think we can limit Rui's looks more to corner threes where he's solid. I'm intrigued by Bamba at the 5 next to AD and subbing out quickly like we would do with McGee, but I don't think that's going to happen.

DLO / Schroeder
Reaves / Beasley / Walker IV
LeBron / Brown Jr. / Christie
Hachimura / Vanderbilt
AD / Bamba / Gabriel

Approaching this from the perspective of which pairings work well together, I think Vanderbilt is a much, much better fit with Bamba at the 5 than AD at the 5. His defensive effort and versatility are exactly what Bamba lacks. In the backcourt, I think Reaves is a much better backcourt partner for DLO than Beasley. Beasley is already comfortable in a 6th-man role and I love the idea of a Schroeder/Beasley/LeBron/Vanderbilt/Bamba unit where LeBron and Schroder have plenty of spacing to penetrate.

[Pythagoras]

Man, the Lakers are actually… Deep. I can’t remember the last time I could say that. Plus potentially adding Kevin Love via the buyout market, we may actually have a team that doesn’t completely crumble whenever Lebron or AD aren’t out there.

Would you guys say that the pressure now is on Darvin Ham to do a great job creating schemes and make the best adjustments for the next 25 games or so?

Definitely. The roster is no longer an excuse IMO.

[Pythagoras]

Vanderbilt is not a very good fit with AD at the 5. He's started shooting 1 or 2 corner threes per game but he won't be guarded out there. If you want a "glue guy" in the starting lineup, its Reaves. He's a great connector on offense and can handle some point of attack assignments to cover for DLO. Give Rui some time with his shot, he's only been with us for 8 games. Now that we have better shooters in DLO and Beasley, I think we can limit Rui's looks more to corner threes where he's solid. I'm intrigued by Bamba at the 5 next to AD and subbing out quickly like we would do with McGee, but I don't think that's going to happen.

DLO / Schroeder
Reaves / Beasley / Walker IV
LeBron / Brown Jr. / Christie
Hachimura / Vanderbilt
AD / Bamba / Gabriel

Approaching this from the perspective of which pairings work well together, I think Vanderbilt is a much, much better fit with Bamba at the 5 than AD at the 5. His defensive effort and versatility are exactly what Bamba lacks. In the backcourt, I think Reaves is a much better backcourt partner for DLO than Beasley. Beasley is already comfortable in a 6th-man role and I love the idea of a Schroeder/Beasley/LeBron/Vanderbilt/Bamba unit where LeBron and Schroder have plenty of spacing to penetrate.

Man, I completely forgot about Troy Brown Jr. The more I think about it, the more stunning it is to me that they didn't look to move Walker.

[SK21209]

Vanderbilt is not a very good fit with AD at the 5. He's started shooting 1 or 2 corner threes per game but he won't be guarded out there. If you want a "glue guy" in the starting lineup, its Reaves. He's a great connector on offense and can handle some point of attack assignments to cover for DLO. Give Rui some time with his shot, he's only been with us for 8 games. Now that we have better shooters in DLO and Beasley, I think we can limit Rui's looks more to corner threes where he's solid. I'm intrigued by Bamba at the 5 next to AD and subbing out quickly like we would do with McGee, but I don't think that's going to happen.

DLO / Schroeder
Reaves / Beasley / Walker IV
LeBron / Brown Jr. / Christie
Hachimura / Vanderbilt
AD / Bamba / Gabriel

Approaching this from the perspective of which pairings work well together, I think Vanderbilt is a much, much better fit with Bamba at the 5 than AD at the 5. His defensive effort and versatility are exactly what Bamba lacks. In the backcourt, I think Reaves is a much better backcourt partner for DLO than Beasley. Beasley is already comfortable in a 6th-man role and I love the idea of a Schroeder/Beasley/LeBron/Vanderbilt/Bamba unit where LeBron and Schroder have plenty of spacing to penetrate.

Man, I completely forgot about Troy Brown Jr. The more I think about it, the more stunning it is to me that they didn't look to move Walker.

Apparently they were working the phones right up until the deadline but didn't find the right trade. I think they were hoping to trade Lonnie but weren't able to get another wing like Royce O'Neal for the right price. I don't mind holding onto Lonnie and preserving the option of paying him like 120% of his current salary I think if we wanted to decline Beasley's team option for some reason.

[Pythagoras]

Vanderbilt is not a very good fit with AD at the 5. He's started shooting 1 or 2 corner threes per game but he won't be guarded out there. If you want a "glue guy" in the starting lineup, its Reaves. He's a great connector on offense and can handle some point of attack assignments to cover for DLO. Give Rui some time with his shot, he's only been with us for 8 games. Now that we have better shooters in DLO and Beasley, I think we can limit Rui's looks more to corner threes where he's solid. I'm intrigued by Bamba at the 5 next to AD and subbing out quickly like we would do with McGee, but I don't think that's going to happen.

DLO / Schroeder
Reaves / Beasley / Walker IV
LeBron / Brown Jr. / Christie
Hachimura / Vanderbilt
AD / Bamba / Gabriel

Approaching this from the perspective of which pairings work well together, I think Vanderbilt is a much, much better fit with Bamba at the 5 than AD at the 5. His defensive effort and versatility are exactly what Bamba lacks. In the backcourt, I think Reaves is a much better backcourt partner for DLO than Beasley. Beasley is already comfortable in a 6th-man role and I love the idea of a Schroeder/Beasley/LeBron/Vanderbilt/Bamba unit where LeBron and Schroder have plenty of spacing to penetrate.

Man, I completely forgot about Troy Brown Jr. The more I think about it, the more stunning it is to me that they didn't look to move Walker.

Apparently they were working the phones right up until the deadline but didn't find the right trade. I think they were hoping to trade Lonnie but weren't able to get another wing like Royce O'Neal for the right price. I don't mind holding onto Lonnie and preserving the option of paying him like 120% of his current salary I think if we wanted to decline Beasley's team option for some reason.

I like Lonnie too, and I think he fits well with the re-made roster. I don’t think the rotation is going 12 deep though, so either him or Troy Brown are going to struggle to find minutes I would think.

[Kilroy]

Yes I believe the rotation will go forward to start (clockwise)... But then maybe they try a reverse rotation in the playoffs.

[tamaraw08]

Man, I completely forgot about Troy Brown Jr. The more I think about it, the more stunning it is to me that they didn't look to move Walker.

Apparently they were working the phones right up until the deadline but didn't find the right trade. I think they were hoping to trade Lonnie but weren't able to get another wing like Royce O'Neal for the right price. I don't mind holding onto Lonnie and preserving the option of paying him like 120% of his current salary I think if we wanted to decline Beasley's team option for some reason.

I like Lonnie too, and I think he fits well with the re-made roster. I don’t think the rotation is going 12 deep though, so either him or Troy Brown are going to struggle to find minutes I would think.

I think everything will depend on who has the grit to defend and who is “ locked in”, not making a ton of mistakes on rotations etc. Lonnie has struggled and was the main reason why he’s not playing more minutes the past couple of weeks.

[stan francisco]

My rotations in the sig.

Competition at every position. Given that LBJ and AD are sufficient playmakers, the six guards I’m listing are practically interchangeable based on what defensive strategy opposing guards demand.

Mistake to avoid: don’t make D Lo a starting PG. He’s better at SG. We have LBJ for playmaking. D Lo should start or his fragile ego will make the ice in his veins melt, but he should start at SG so he relaxes.

At SF we have so many options: LBJ, Rui, Reaves, Christie, Brown Jr, even AD and Lonnie could hold down the three for spot minutes.

At PF we have the options AD, LBJ, Rui, Brown Jr, Gabriel, Vanderbilt, Bamba

At C: Bamba, AD, Huff

[heezyo2o]

are there any needs that the Lakers want in the buyout market now. Danny green might be waived. Not sure how much he has left

[zuju]

Rui is not a starting guy for this team.. He can't shoot the 3 well nor defend. You can't have both those things right now in a starter.

And with Russell/James/Davis starting, and possibly even Beasley if you prefer him to Reaves...he's not gonna get enough touches to make a difference if he starts.

We need a garbage man who does the dirty work if you start those 4. There is only one basketball around.
Vanderbilt is the perfect glue guy. Guy who will defend and rebound and who doesn't ask for touches offensively.

Rui is better suited off the bench with Schroder, providing a spark scoring wise when either Lebron or Davis sit.

You can't play 5 offensive guys at once and then have none on the bench when they take a breather.



In other news, Will Barton is resolving a buyout with the Wizards. I would absolutely love to sign him, he's 6'6 with some length, we need a good wing who can hit the 3 and defend.

All are great points.

We have enough fire power with AD, James and Dlo out there. Ham will definitely continue to play AD at the 5 full time. What I hope is he does not put the small 3 guards line up on the court anymore. Most of our guards are traffic cones on defense.

Venderbilt to me is not a power forward or a small ball 5 for this team. He is the BIG WING guarding the perimeter against the best scorer for us. Gabriel shall be given more minutes with his hustle to do the dirty works too.


My line up would be like this:

Starting Unit
C AD
PF James
SF Venderbilt
SG Dlo
PG Reaves

This starting unit you have 2 great / good 3 point shooter to give the spacing for James and AD to operate in the paint. You have a great defender in Venderbilt to cover for Dlo. Reaves can hold his own most of the time. James will be the primary ball handler. this way, the starting unit is balanced between Offense and Defense.


2nd unit
C Mo Bamba
PF Rui / Gabriel (depending on match up and needs for Rebounds/Defense)
SF Brown / Reed (Competition)
SG Beasly / Walker (depending on whose defense is better)
PG Schrolder

Reed is a good defender. We may need him more than we think.


With Westbrook gone, we can play slower and less fast break. Dlo and Beasly could open the floor for our 2 superstars. We can actually play bigger.

A very big line up would be

C Bamba
PF AD
SF Venderbilt
SG Dlo
PG James

This way, you still have some great 3 pt shooters around AD and James. But then, we have to have one more big/ Big Wing to the roster.

[SlimShady83]

One thing I'm not going to like ... Is Wenyen not going to get minutes, I think players who already been on Lakers deserve minutes over players who just coming until proven other wise.

And the way I see ham coaching small ball game, he not going to get much and he a fav of mine, last few games his energy/hustle style of play could have been useful

Dlo Is the exception In this case - not a fan but he fits And maybe Bamba because C spot looking thin

Line up

Bron
Dlo
Reaves
AD
Bamba?

[fteru6uhre54ew]

Bron Reaves Hachimura Vanderbilt AD

Or Russell or Schröder as a starting guards for Hachimura. Mostly Russell for the outside shooting.

But with AD at the 5 Vanderbilt and Lebron It has to be a changing defense so the smaller guys who can stay with the big ones should be in the starting lineup. If Russell can stay changing with the bigger players he should be the starting if not Hachimura.

[Ball so hard]

Schröder / Lebron / Dlo
Dlo / Beasley / Walker IV
Reaves / Brown Jr. / Christie
Lebron / Hachimura / Vanderbilt
AD / Bamba / Gabriel

Starting unit will need some guys that care about playing defense. Dlo and Lebron are poor defenders… adding someone like Rui/Beasley to the starting unit would only compound the issue. If Bamba proves he play solid defense in the middle, you can move Schröder to the bench, Bamba at the 5, and everyone else in the lineup above can go to their natural positions.

[Pointgod]

Gonna be ad at the 5 for sure. Ham isn’t deviating from that, he’s fixated on it.

That leaves

Russell
Beasely
Lbj
Hachimura/vandy
Ad

I think the only toss up is at the 4 bw those two guys and ham might even switch it based on defensive vs offensive needs. I lean Hachimura bc I haven’t seen Vanderbilt play tbh and I like the spacing Hachimura gives us from the mid range. Beasely absolutely has to start. He’s an elite 3 point shooter who can defend. He should be on the court when lebron is on the court.

Bench is gonna be
Schroeder
Lonnie /reaves
Tbj
Hachimura/vandy
Bamba

I think this is it but I’d replace Beasley with Reaves (3 point shooting/hustle/off ball action or Brown (wing defence) in the starting lineup. We need Beasley as our offence off the bench. Let him run wild with the second unit, Vanderbilt is the **** it up guy off the bench, energy and hustle while having Bamba to stretch the floor compensates for his lack shooting.

The reason I believe Rui needs to start is that he provides some flexibility on the perimeter defense and he’s the type of guy that needs to see the ball and be kept involved in the offence lest he loses interest. I don’t see him as a spark plug off the bench the same way Beasley can be. Rui and D-Lo can be options 3A/3B on offence which leaves the SG position as a defensive specialist (Brown Jr) or 3 point threat (Reaves). Our bench should be high energy guys that can hustle, push the pace and shoot. This is how you hold leads and make comebacks which is something we didn’t have before. I see our closing lineups as AD/Bron/Reaves/Beasley/D-Lo

[Karmaloop]

PG: D'Angelo Russell / Dennis Schroder
SG: Malik Beasley / Austin Reaves / Max Christie / Davon Reed
SF: LeBron James / Lonnie Walker / Tony Brown Jr.
PF: Anthony Davis / Rui Huchimara / Wenyen Gabriel
C: Mo Bamba / Jarred Vanderbilt

I think your two-deep roster is your rotation for the most part. I think when the rotations tighten, Lonnie Walker and Jarred Vanderbilt are likely the odd men out. If the Lakers want to go small, I think you'll see Beasley, LBJ, and AD slide down and you'll see Reaves inserted into the lineup.

[SK21209]

So at least for tonight, Ham is starting Schroeder and DLo together in the backcourt. Really **** dumb IMO. We have 4 pretty good SGs in Reaves/Beasley/Walker/Christie and we start none of them.

[Ball so hard]

So at least for tonight, Ham is starting Schroeder and DLo together in the backcourt. Really **** dumb IMO. We have 4 pretty good SGs in Reaves/Beasley/Walker/Christie and we start none of them.

Have to disagree with you here. Schröder is one of the few guards we have that isn’t a traffic cone. You absolutely cannot start a poor defender next to Russel. And I’m also not seeing starting material from Rui. He does almost nothing well.