Injuries have severely hurt the depth of the Los Angeles Lakers this season and made it impossible for head coach Darvin Ham to stick with a consistent rotation. It has also forced him to turn to different lineup combinations at certain points, one of which was a three-big lineup with Anthony Davis, Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes sharing the floor at the same time.
While the lineup was only brought out thanks to a lack of available bodies, the results were positive with the Lakers going on a run. Overall size is one of the advantages this Lakers team does have, especially when healthy, and Ham isn’t opposed to the idea of trotting out bigger lineups, believing that the skillsets on the roster make it possible.
“It could be,” Ham said when asked if playing big is in this team’s DNA. “Because all of our bigs, Jaxson could definitely make a 3 but his strengths are running, blocking shots, rebounding, screening and rolling hard down hill. But outside of that, all of our guys are really highly capable 3-point shooters. So with that size and athleticism, all of them can move, that could very well be the case.
“As you mentioned, we’ve had some success early on with those lineups but we’ll keeping chipping away at it. We’ve had different pieces in and out of the lineup so I don’t want to get too far ahead of our process, but at the end of the day, if the numbers are favorable with those lineups, we’ll continue to explore them.”
Because of the versatility on both ends of Davis, Wood and Hayes, playing two or even three at once is something that could be feasible. Wood’s ability to stretch the floor opens things up on offense and Davis is able to operate from anywhere. Defensively, all three are capable of switching on the perimeter and protecting the rim.
The Lakers are finally on the road towards getting healthy as Rui Hachimura is back and Jarred Vanderbilt is progressing toward his return as well. Once that comes to fruition, Ham can really get a good look at what works for his team and whether big lineups are something that could be featured regularly.
Darvin Ham not worried about Lakers’ 3-point shooting issues
Of course with a big lineup like that, one question most would have would be whether it would compromise the Lakers by not having enough shooting to space the floor. And as a team, the Lakers are already struggling mightily as one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the NBA.
But Ham is not concerned with the Lakers’ woes from deep. “Nah. Guys are still figuring out their rhythms in terms of the synergy with one another, each other’s tendencies and habits,” Ham said. “We’re encouraging our guys, if you are open, shoot it. If there’s a better play to be made then make that play. But that’ll come, that’ll come.”
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