Sunday, September 21, 2014

Lakers Potential Starting Lineup

With just over a week until training camp the NBA season is slowly inching closer.  For hoops heads like myself the off-season feels incredibly long, especially in a season in which the Lakers didn't make the playoffs.  Sure the FIBA World Cup proved to be a minor distraction but it still doesn't scratch the itch for Laker basketball.

Fortunately things should be picking up shortly.  Before we know it the preseason will have started and this season's edition of the Lakers will provide plenty to talk about.  In fact, Byron Scott got things off to a bit of an early start with his recent comments about how he sees the starting lineup at this point.

According to Scott, he currently has this starting lineup in his head:

PG: Steve Nash
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Wesley Johnson
PF: Carlos Boozer
C: Jordan Hill

Ouchtown.  Population: Lakers fans.

Looking over the Lakers roster it's clear that there isn't a sure-fire starting 5, or at least not one that would make any of the 29 other teams in the league cower in fear.  However most fans (myself included) expected to see Jeremy Lin listed as the starting point guard instead of the rapidly aging Steve Nash.  Nash is a legend but at this stage in their careers Lin is simply the better player.

There may well be method to the madness though.  While Nash clearly isn't the player he used to be the Lakers have opted to pick up his full $9.7 million contract for the 2014-2015 season rather than waive him via the stretch provision and pay him just over $3 million for the next three seasons.

  After Carmelo Anthony took the money to stay with New York the Lakers were left with several options on the free agent market that they decided weren't the caliber of player they are looking for.  The decision to not pursue Lance Stephenson or Isiah Thomas is still a head scratcher, as both would have made the team into something resembling a playoff team.  For whatever reason Mitch Kupchak, Jimmy Buss, and the rest of the Lakers decision makers decided that it would be better to hold off on a major free agent signing until next summer.

As such it makes sense to bite the bullet and get Nash's contract paid off now to clear up more space next summer when there may be more attractive free agent choices.


                                               Gasol Version 2.0?  Yes please

One of the other benefits of eating all of Nash's contract in one season is that also gives the Lakers the opportunity to get whatever they can out of Nash's final season.  Offseason reports suggest that Steve is in fantastic shape and feels like he has finally healed from the assortment of issues that plagued him last season.  Then again nearly every player claims to be in great shape during the summer when they aren't going through the grind of an 82 game NBA season.



                                       Well, except Raymond Felton.  He just feels hungry.  


Assuming that the Lakers are going to try to squeeze whatever they can out of Nash then starting him actually makes some sense.  At this stage in their careers Lin matches up better against other starting point guards in the league but when players get older it becomes more difficult to warm up.  Time needs to be spent stretching aging muscles to prevent stiffness while younger players find it easier to just step on the court and play.  If Nash were to go through a full warm up and then sit on the bench for 20 minutes before going in he very well may tighten up and have a more difficult time getting going.

We know Nash can't play many minutes anymore but if he plays for say the first 8 minutes of each half, using pre-game and half time to get loosened up, then he might be able to stay on the court more this season.  That would keep his minutes at about 16 per game, leaving 32 minutes remaining at the PG position for Lin and occasionally Jordan Clarkson.        

If this strategy works and Nash can at the very least not be a negative on the court then his expiring contract just may have a little bit of value around the league at the deadline.  It's unlikely, but with Mitch at the helm you never know what kind of deal he is going to be able to pull off.  Turning Nash's expiring contract into one with positive trade value would be a much-needed stroke of good luck for the most snake-bit team in the league.  

The other questionable decisions in the Nash/Kobe/Wesley/Boozer/Hill starting 5 come from the small forward and power forward spots.  Most assumed that Nick Young would receive a starting spot at Small Forward after he received a 4 year deal during the summer.  However, Swaggy P seems to do his best work as an instant-offense player coming off the bench, so his absence from the starting 5 isn't necessarily shocking.

No, the perturbing part is Wesley Johnson sitting in as the Lakers starting SF.  While Johnson does have impressive athleticism and can shoot the ball fairly well he also appears to coast through games,  His athleticism would suggest that he would be a strong defender but his play on the court has yet to show that (Johnson's defensive rating last season of 110 suggests that he was well below average as a defender).

He is the type of player who would appear to perfectly fit in Mike D'Antoni's system and yet he still struggled in the "Shawn Marion-lite" role.  He's also 27 years old, which means that his upside is limited.

On the plus side Johnson has been reportedly working hard with Kobe this off-season, but again, all off-season reports have to be taken with a grain of salt.  If anyone can get some fire and hustle out of Wesley Johnson it's Kobe, and maybe playing together in the starting lineup will help, but to assume that the switch is going to suddenly flip to "On" at this point in his career is overly optimistic.

There was some hope that Xavier Henry, a.k.a. the guy who killed Jeff Withey, would get the starting nod but it's looking like he won't be up to full speed by the time training camp starts due to knee and wrist surgeries he underwent this summer.  With Young playing better off the bench and Xavier not quite healthy Johnson essentially falls into a starting role by default.

Carlos Boozer getting the starting spot over Julius Randle also raised some eyebrows, as Randle is the most talented young player on the roster and it was assumed that he would be given plenty of minutes to develop while the Lakers aren't contending.  Upon reflection though it's tough to complain much about this move.  Rookies need to be brought along slowly, and while it would be great to see Randle step on the floor and dominate from day 1 it's just not realistic.

The team is better off setting him up for success by letting him learn the NBA game and get his feet wet playing off the bench and running against opposing bench players.  Throwing him in against the likes of Duncan, Griffin, Love, Dirk, etc would be asking for him to do too much too soon.

***The development of Julius Randle just might be the most important storyline of the season for the Lakers, along with Kobe's health of course.  Randle's full potential is something of an unholy Chris Webber/Charles Barkley hybrid, and while it may be  a long shot that he ever reaches that level it's going to be tons of fun to watch him grow.  It's also going to be interesting to see how many times Bill Macdonald shouts "Can't handle Randle!" during Lakers broadcasts.  I sense a drinking game coming on...

While the Nash/Kobe/Johnson/Boozer/Hill starting lineup might not be one that will set the world on fire, it does mean that the Lakers bench will be very, very interesting.  Check out this lineup coming off the pine:

PG: Jeremy Lin/Jordan Clarkson
SG: Nick Young
SF: Xavier Henry
PF: Julius Randle/Ryan Kelly
C: Ed Davis/Robert Sacre

Now that's an exciting lineup.  Every person on that list is capable of producing highlight-reel plays through a combination of skill, hustle, athleticism, and in the case of Nick Young, mountains of swag.  That's a high-energy second unit that should give opposing team's all they can handle and then some.  The case can be made that some bench players will have more success than the starters from time to time, which means that Byron Scott will have the luxury of mixing and matching his lineups based on who is hot that night.  It's terrible for fantasy squads, but a great thing for the Lakers and their fans.


In a perfect world Nash, Kobe, and Boozer will use their veteran wiles to control the pace of the game, slow things down, and find efficient shots.  When the reserves come in the pedal goes to the metal as Lin, Young, Randle,and the rest fly up and down the court in full attack mode.  It's a little reminiscent of the Farmar/Sasha/Walton/Odom/Bynum "Bench Mob" (yeah yeah technically Bynum was a starter) that used to terrorize the league during the 2010 championship season.  Ah memories.

***I recently re-watched game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals (thanks NBATV).  It was one of the uglier games that I can remember but there were so many iconic moments.  Pau's hanging in-the-air, maybe he traveled maybe not put back, Kobe slamming Rasheed Wallace into retirement, Ron Artest tangling with Paul Pierce early in the game and then blowing kisses to the crowd after sinking the three with 2 minutes left, Lamar Odom playing out of his mind but still looking like he was coasting, Sasha's clutch free throws....good times.  Let's hope it isn't too long before the Lakers are back where they belong, winning championships again.     

Of course that's not to say that this coming season is going to be all Showtime and string music, because it's not.  It's going to be a grind and there will likely be more low points than high, but if nothing else they will be entertaining.  I can't say I agree with all of Byron Scott's picks for his starting lineup, and they may very well change over the course of training camp.  For the time being though the most exciting thing about the Lakers starting 5 is the bench, and that may not be a bad thing.  

Follow me on twitter @16ringsNBA for updates on all things Lakers!

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