Is Davis With Westbrook Part of the Problem?

[Eric Bieniemy]

Could it be possible that Davis and Westbrook should almost never share the floor together?

Maybe their better by themselves or with James but not together.

Would a Davis/Westbrook platoon help this team?

Davis could come off the bench to spell Westbrook and whoever is having the better game plays down the stretch. Their minutes would be drastically reduced, but maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

[Pythagoras]

The problem isn’t Davis and Westbrook, it’s who they’ve had to share the floor with. Those two have played together ~720 minutes this year.

In a little over 20% of their minutes they’ve shared the floor with DAJ, who is not only awful, but a spectacularly disastrous fit next to those two.

They’ve played nearly 30% of their minutes with Bazemore and THT. Bazemore has been so bad he’s completely fallen out of the rotation. THT has struggled massively and is a terrible fit next to Westbrook.

When Davis gets back, the starting lineup should be:

Davis-Lebron-Stanley-Monk-Westbrook

That’s a functional lineup, unlike some of the joke lineups Vogel was forcing those two to be part of earlier in the season.

[Eric Bieniemy]

The problem isn’t Davis and Westbrook, it’s who they’ve had to share the floor with. Those two have played together ~720 minutes this year.

In a little over 20% of their minutes they’ve shared the floor with DAJ, who is not only awful, but a spectacularly disastrous fit next to those two.

They’ve played nearly 30% of their minutes with Bazemore and THT. Bazemore has been so bad he’s completely fallen out of the rotation. THT has struggled massively and is a terrible fit next to Westbrook.

When Davis gets back, the starting lineup should be:

Davis-Lebron-Stanley-Monk-Westbrook

That’s a functional lineup, unlike some of the joke lineups Vogel was forcing those two to be part of earlier in the season.

I don't know. Davis has always fancied hinself as a shooter, and it seems to be exacerbated while playing with Westbrook. Vogel mayhave started guys like Jordan and Bazemore, but during rhe course of the game they've played with more reliable guys to equally awful results. Generally speaking, thise two were horrible together when James was injured. They lack synergy.

[euphorbus]

In the two-man lineups, minimum 12 games, Davis is:

.8 with Reaves
.7 with Monk
.3 with James
0.0 with Anthony
-.3 with Ellington
-.7 with Howard
-1.0 with Horton-Tucker
-1.2 with Westbrook
-1.3 with Jordan or Rondo
-1.8 with Bradley

So basically, Anthony Davis has not played well with anyone this season. He is -1.8 overall. He needs to be in a lineup that works, with an offensive and defensive strategy that works. So far, the coaching staff has not made that happen, although things were starting to look up when he was injured.

The Big Three are doing all right at +1.5 in the three-man lineups, shooting 48.6%, but those rankings are right in the middle for the Lakers as a whole. Believe it or not, the three-man team that does best is James, Westbrook, and Bradley, at +4.8 and shooting 51%.

This far along in the season, the +- stats do have analytical value, and I am using them as a shorthand for success on the court.

[zimpy27]

Westbrook was bad for the first 11 games of the season and he played a lot with Davis then. There's no logical reason for Westbrook/Davis not to work. There was concern that Westbrook and Lebron wouldn't work but they've been fine.

The problem with the Lakers isn't the top 3 players, it's the rest of the roster. Stanley Johnson has been kicked around the league and he's looked better than most of the other Lakers role players. I think Monk, Melo, Howard, Reaves, Bradley have been ok. Ariza and Nunn haven't really played yet. The rest don't seem playable.

[Pythagoras]

Westbrook was bad for the first 11 games of the season and he played a lot with Davis then. There's no logical reason for Westbrook/Davis not to work. There was concern that Westbrook and Lebron wouldn't work but they've been fine.

The problem with the Lakers isn't the top 3 players, it's the rest of the roster. Stanley Johnson has been kicked around the league and he's looked better than most of the other Lakers role players. I think Monk, Melo, Howard, Reaves, Bradley have been ok. Ariza and Nunn haven't really played yet. The rest don't seem playable.

Yep. THT and Bazemore being as bad as they have has hurt a lot in particular, because those guys have been the primary wings for much of the season. Stanley Johnson hasn’t even been great, he’s just been functional. Having a functional wing has been a tremendous boost for this team.

[zimpy27]

Westbrook was bad for the first 11 games of the season and he played a lot with Davis then. There's no logical reason for Westbrook/Davis not to work. There was concern that Westbrook and Lebron wouldn't work but they've been fine.

The problem with the Lakers isn't the top 3 players, it's the rest of the roster. Stanley Johnson has been kicked around the league and he's looked better than most of the other Lakers role players. I think Monk, Melo, Howard, Reaves, Bradley have been ok. Ariza and Nunn haven't really played yet. The rest don't seem playable.

Yep. THT and Bazemore being as bad as they have has hurt a lot in particular, because those guys have been the primary wings for much of the season. Stanley Johnson hasn’t even been great, he’s just been functional. Having a functional wing has been a tremendous boost for this team.

Yep, it should be obvious with how much praise Stanley has had for being functional or how desperate Lakers were for old man Ariza to play. Lakers need 6'6 to 6'8 guys that can defend and be willing to be low usage on offense while setting screens/cutting and making the occasional shot when wide open