Why don't the Lakers use a 8-man rotation?

[gmurray8]

Currently the Lakers use 9 players... why don't we drop Vlad Rad from the rotation..

Fisher/Farmar
Kobe/Sasha
Ariza/Sasha/Odom
Pau/Odom
Bynum/Pau

Sasha and Odom are both better players than Radman and are losing minutes to him... I don't dislike Radman as a player.. but Odom playing less than 30 minutes a game and Sasha playing 1 quarter a game is ridiculous..

[Dr Aki]

because vlad is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG

hes 6'10" which is the same height as lamar

the way the lakers play aggressive strongside traps and weakside defensive safeties, hes perfect for:
1. hedging ball handlers towards big men help
2. has long enough arms to disrupt passing lanes

another good reason is that ariza is playing really damn well with the second unit, its tempo suits trevor to a tee whereas the first unit is a slow, methodical tall lineup

thirdly, lamar seems to have made a seemless transition into the second unit with its uptempo pace, this way the lakers are still conceivable running a, allstar, sub-allstar big man trio all game (if need be) and pund opposition frontlines relentlessly

theres a method to the madness...

answer ur question?

[dockingsched]

season is long. no reason to wear them out more than needed.

[Sofa King]

Vlad stretches the floor so players have to watch out for him instead of loaded up in the paint.

I love how posters still insist on what the Lakers should do when the Lakers are undefeated.

[gmurray8]

Vlad stretches the floor so players have to watch out for him instead of loaded up in the paint.

I love how posters still insist on what the Lakers should do when the Lakers are undefeated.

Sasha stretches the floor just as well.. and I'm not insisting on anything.. I'm curious as to why they signed Sasha to a 5mil contract to play him 12 minutes a game.

As to the other post..
Odom has played 30 minutes or more once this year and has an awful season thus far production wise... I don't see the seemless transition you're referring to.

Maybe I'm just bitter I drafted Kobe, Pau, Bynum, and Odom in my fantasy league and Odom is getting 28mpg =)

Anyway.. its a great problem to have too much talent!

[iamworthy]

Right now I love the rotation. For the most part Phil is keeping either Bynum or Gasol on the floor at all times. I would even like to see Luke and Mihm get more minutes, because at the end of the day we will need everyone to accomplish what we want to accomplish. Regular season is just practice for the playoffs....

[Sofa King]

k well Sasha is too fragile to play SF. He'll get pushed over even more at that position.

Sasha got paid for his shooting. Can't blame him for the contract that he was given. Even Phil thought he got too much. *shrugs*

[dockingsched]

Odom has played 30 minutes or more once this year and has an awful season thus far production wise... I don't see the seemless transition you're referring to.

if you are going to go by stats to judge how the lakers' players are performing, you'd come to the conclusion that everyone is having a sub par season.

[LLcoleJ]

The "contending" Suns a few years back was a limited rotation both all season and in the playoffs. How well did that work ?

[iamworthy]

Odom has played 30 minutes or more once this year and has an awful season thus far production wise... I don't see the seemless transition you're referring to.

Huh? having a 9 man rotation means everyones stats will be down but hopefully wins will be up. LO, Ariza, Farmar and Bynums stats do not show how much they are worth to this team in the capacity that they play.

[Anklebreaker702]

The deeper the better, if someone gets hurt (crossing fingers) you need as many able bodies as possible. Not just warm bodies

[salmahayek]

Depth is one of the many strengths of this team. I wouldn't be playing anyone over 36 minutes on this team, even/especially Kobe and Gasol.

They played all the way into The Finals last season and logged a lot of minutes in the Olympics.

I think less regular season minutes will mean for a better playoff squad.

[lakersfanatic]

like what was mentioned... if we compare the stats.. we basically even out across the board. Which i think is a good thing. We've matured from a one man team to actually being a very solid first and second unit. I think phil designed to be a slow high rebounding first team and then a "wearing you down" fast second team.

So picking them for fantasy might not be a good idea hehe..

[joe.linnen]

I like it the way it is. Its also working so lets not fix it. This kind of remind me of the Navy to some point. One of our so call motos is " IF IT AIN'T BROKE FIX IT UNTIL IT IS". I'm for leaving it the way it is. I like the way me play. Fisher/Bryant/Radmanovic/Gasol/Bynum and then Farmar/Vujacic/Ariza or Walton/Odom/Powell or MihM. Were fine the way we are.

[Erik Eleven]

Because it's too early in the season to do so?

[andykeikei]

Never sold on the idea that only play 8 men on the roster,
especially given how fragile our players are, we need everyone to contribute on this team.
To be honest I rather lose some games now due to bad rotation than lose in the playoff because nobody has playing experience.