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As the Lakers continue to try to find effective ways of using Gasol-Howard inside (space the floor geniuses), a thought occurred to me. Could L.A. switch the defensive personnel based on matchup? Dwight would guard PFs, Gasol would guard Cs. If the team plays a stretch 4, MWP would come into the game and Gasol would come off the bench.

Playing against high post PFs may also give Dwight the chance to get some weak side blocks he's not accustomed to getting out of nowhere much like Ibaka does. Gasol is effective as an anchor.

Most PF's today have at least a mid range jumper which would draw Dwight away from middle. Dwight's best attribute (and what he was brought in for) is altering everyone's shots in the paint, which Gasol can't do very well. If he commits to getting weakside blocks, it'd be a nightmare defending against Bosh, West, Lee, Garnett, Milsap, etc. who the guards can just kick it to.

alex_fortress wrote:Most PF's today have at least a mid range jumper which would draw Dwight away from middle. Dwight's best attribute (and what he was brought in for) is altering everyone's shots in the paint.

That's overrated, i'd rather have a balanced defense than Dwight in the middle covering everyone's else mistakes.

iserp wrote:That's overrated, i'd rather have a balanced defense than Dwight in the middle covering everyone's else mistakes.

It's not overrated. Those attributes are what made the Magic a top 5-7 defense virtually every season since he started peaking, despite having some pretty below average perimeter defenders around him.

More importantly, man-to-man defense is not his strength. It's not like he's Ben Wallace who could lock down PF's with quickness and in-your-face defense. Therefor, having him defend PF's, which would negate his (and the entire defense's) greatest attribute, which is his rim protection, would not make sense.

Some matchups, I might agree with, but in general it is not a smart move.

No one said it's ideal but at the end of the day I'd much rather have Howard who has enough speed to hedge and recover on the P and R against a PF do that job, then watch the defense break down because Gasol can't do it at all. All you need is a good defense, is it perfect? No, but I'd rather have Gasol at his defensive best with Howard still very good, as opposed to Gasol useless against PFs with Howard at his best.

Given where the Lakers are at, I believe they need to be open to multiple position/rotation adjustments. Pulling Dwight further away and leaving Pau low is not ideal, but it would free D12 up to roam.

A curious thought.

To me there's no reason Pau/Howard can't be a superior version of Sampson/Hakeem.
I think Pau is a hybrid Sampson/Hakeem, and Dwight is too... But I think essentially, Pau=Sampson, and Dwight=Hakeem. Pau needs the low post on offense and Dwight can be slightly farther out faced up.
Defensively, I think maybe the roles reverse, but I think Dwight has better close-out speed to challenge shooters.
It's about those 2 guys working together to figure out how they can compliment each other, and the coaching staff facilitating it.

Kilroy wrote:To me there's no reason Pau/Howard can't be a superior version of Sampson/Hakeem.
I think Pau is a hybrid Sampson/Hakeem, and Dwight is too... But I think essentially, Pau=Sampson, and Dwight=Hakeem. Pau needs the low post on offense and Dwight can be slightly farther out faced up.
Defensively, I think maybe the roles reverse, but I think Dwight has better close-out speed to challenge shooters.
It's about those 2 guys working together to figure out how they can compliment each other, and the coaching staff facilitating it.

ill give you one reason: mike d'antoni