With the Los Angeles Lakers struggling, head coach Darvin Ham decided to make a change to the starting lineup. Defensive ace Jarred Vanderbilt was inserted with struggling point guard D’Angelo Russell moved to a reserve role. The question now is whether the new Lakers lineup better supports LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
One certainty is the Lakers have a far more defensive-focused lineup as Vanderbilt and Cam Reddish are the team’s two best perimeter defenders. That pair combined with Davis patrolling the paint gives the Lakers a potentially outstanding defense. And after two games, Davis likes the change.
“It’s good, because we’ve been tested against two of the top teams in the league,” Davis said following the Christmas Day contest against the Boston Celtics. “So it’s good for us to kind of see what we can do with it, what we need to improve at. So I like to change so far.”
The concern with the lineup is how it can affect floor spacing as the Lakers basically have two non-shooters in Reddish and Vanderbilt. Davis feels the team will figure it out, however.
“I think with the lineup change, just trying to find ways to be effective on the offensive end,” Davis said. “We know that teams are probably not gonna try to guard Vando, so just using him in actions or, like tonight, they put [Kristaps] Porzingis on him, and had him setting the ball screens and keeping him in actions. But I think overall, just trying to figure it out.”
The big man also pointed to the transition game as being their best offensive weapon, and that can’t happen without getting stops on defense. “But when we’re not defending, it’s tough to get to our bread and butter, which is that transition and we play off of that. So even with that lineup change, we’ve looked really good defensively. We just got to be able to get some stops.”
Davis made it clear that regardless of the starting lineup, the Lakers hang their hats on the defensive end, so being elite on that side of the floor is always the goal, and everything else will work out.
“I think we just need to be elite defensively regardless,” Davis noted. “It’s not because of the way teams are playing us offensively, I think just in general, the team that we want to be, we lay our hats on defense, and when we’re not defending, then we’re a totally different team.
“But when we defend and buckle down and get into people and rebounding and just being pesty and feisty on the ball, diving on the floor, things like that and activated on the defense end, then the offense will be fine.”
The Lakers have the ability to be top tier defensively and when that occurs, they look like the championship contenders they expect to be.
Anthony Davis feels Lakers need to ‘buckle down’ defensively
The focus on defense is something Davis is continuing to harp on. While many continue to focus on the Lakers’ offensive struggles, Davis continues to stress the need for the Lakers to lock in defensively.
“We just got to buckle down defensively, Davis said. “And obviously the lineup change and we’re not really a switching team. But now we’re getting to it because of our lineup. We are able to do that. Sort of miscommunication is kind of there, but I think just buckling down defensively. Offense, I think we can be fine. But we got to do a better job on defense.”
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