Los Angeles Lakers: How Luke Walton could approach rotations

With a renewed team, assembled in an unorthodox way, it is now up to coach Luke Walton to make things work for the Los Angeles Lakers.

No news how these latest incarnation of the Los Angeles Lakers is considered a bad mix of dysfunctional veterans and too young (sometimes overrated) players.

Although these kind of statements may contain bits of truth in some capacity, people deliberately choose to keep their eyes closed on the positive this group brings and just look at the worse there is in the bad, judging the team a failure before even giving it a chance.

Luke Walton, entering his third year as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, will be assigned with the task to handle such a diverse and troubling group of players. Luckily, the LeBron James’ draftmate amassed some experience on how a successful team works, thanks to his time spent as a player in Los Angeles and as an assistant coach in Golden State.

Since the Lakers decided to exploit this upcoming transition season building an experimental team, founded on versatility and toughness instead of shooting, with players on one-year deals, Walton might decide to handle the situation in a different way as well. Taking a different approach.

Following Phil Jackson’s predicaments, one of his mentors and greatest influences in his career, a wide rotation might be among the options. As Jackson used to do in CBA.

"I wanted to create a team in which selflessness–not the me-first mentality that had come to dominate professional basketball–was the primary driving force. […] I divided them into two five-man units–the first and second teams–and rotated them into the game as units in eight-minute intervals. For the last eight minutes, I’d use a unit made up of the players who had the hottest hands that day (Phil Jackson, Hugh Delehanty, “Sacred Hoops Revisited” (New York: Hachette Books, 2006), p. 63)."

Obviously, with matchup issues and much more to take in consideration, we are far from considering such a Utopian managing plausible in NBA. Even the Zen Master could not approach it way he did in the Continental League, but he managed to keep every player on the roster involved.

Walton could at least try to get as close as possible to the idea. The Lakers have 11 players able to provide NBA-quality minutes, plus two valuable rookies. If Luol Deng experiences an improbable resurgence, he might be one more body to throw in the rotation.

Sure, young guys are hungry and veterans always think they deserve more (especially if on one-year deals, in need to showcase themselves for the next contract) but if everybody is really committed to win and buys into the concept in the name of a greater good, we could witness the emergence of a resourceful, tireless, versatile team. If the Lakers expect to play at one of the highest paces in the league, a deep roster will be of major use, granting a wide turnover with a lot of rest for every member, thus allowing to keep a high rhythm.

If the experiment fails and generates discontent, no big deal. Many of the players are not going to come back next season anyway.

The strategy would also provide James more rest than he typically receives and take some burden off the 15-year veteran, allowing him to concentrate a little bit more on defense, and getting fresh to the playoffs.

In a year full of uncertainties and low expectations, coach Walton does not have much to lose. Such an experiment, especially in the first part of the season, is a high-risk high-reward situation worth to be explored and implemented, with enough time to make the necessary adjustments and find the right combinations, or to abort everything and try something else if it proves a failure.