The Lakers have already shaken up the backcourt once this season, but Byron Scott must do it again now
The second half of the 2015-16 NBA season offers the Los Angeles Lakers the opportunity to correct some of the more problematic aspects of the team that came to light in the first half of the year. While that could include making moves at the Feb. 18 NBA Trade Deadline, it could also include simply mixing up the deck with the pieces already in place.
Fans have not soon forgotten the decision by head coach Byron Scott to demote both D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle from the starting lineup to bring the rookie point guard and second-year forward off the bench. That inserted Larry Nance Jr. into the starting power forward role and left the starting backcourt featuring Lou Williams and Jordan Clarkson.
It’s that backcourt rotation that has been largely problematic for the Lakers, especially outside of Williams’ brief run of getting hot and scoring out of his mind. The demotion of Russell has proven to be unbeneficial to everyone involved, from the trio of guards to the team as a whole.
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Since making the decision to demote Russell on Dec. 7 against the Toronto Raptors, Williams and Clarkson have played 452 minutes together. When those two guards are on the court together as the starting backcourt, the Lakers have been an even more wildly blazing dumpster fire than they normally are.
The Lakers have a net differential of -19.1 points when Williams and Clarkson are occupying the backcourt together, backing up what is obvious to the eye that they are atrocious defensively while also playing unsightly, isolation-heavy offense. The look of the offense with Williams and Clarkson on the floor is backed up statistically as well with the two-man lineup having an assist percentage (percentage of the team’s field goals that are assisted when the two players are on the court) of 47.9 percent.
Those numbers are bad on their own accord, but look even worse in comparison to either guard when on the floor with Russell. Russell and Clarkson when on the floor together have actually been mildly impressive in the context of how bad the Lakers overall have been, posting a net differential of only -4.7 and with that assist percentage climbing to 55.7 percent. The combo of Russell and Lou is slightly worse than that, but still far better than Williams and Clarkson with a net differential of -5.9 and a 55.2 percent assist percentage.
It seems asinine to try and reason with the stubborn head coach in Los Angeles at this point in regards to the young players on the Lakers roster as he is stuck in archaic thought patterns in regards to development. However, the need to shake up the backcourt rotation right now goes beyond development as it also puts the team in the best position to succeed.
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Though there are still plenty of (wrong) people questioning the 19-year-old point guard in Russell through his first half season in the league, the Lakers are better when he’s sharing the backcourt with either Clarkson or Williams. How Scott and the coaching staff haven’t seen this or acted accordingly is perplexing in itself, but something needs to be done about it and soon.
Note: All stats are per NBA.com