The Los Angeles Lakers are razor-thin at center with JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard the only centers (that’s willing) on the roster. Here’s why Dwight Howard should start in the middle.
Now that the Los Angeles Lakers have started practices to prepare for their six preseason games, it will be interesting how Frank Vogel and the coaching staff deal with the potential elephant in the room this season.
That “elephant in the room just happens to reside in the middle for the Lakers. It’s the center position where the Lakers are not deep, to say the least.
Most Lakers fans (and Lakers management for that matter) see the obvious solution. If push comes to shove, place Anthony Davis in the center spot and run the opposition off the floor with the fast break. This just in to Lake Show Life, these individuals are absolutely right.
Looking at Davis’ statistical numbers in New Orleans, the Pelicans actually were better around Anthony Davis when he played center. Conveniently when he played with Rajon Rondo a couple of years back, Davis might have had the best run of his career. Lakers fans should be drooling over that potential happening again.
The problem here is that people are really missing the signs. Anthony Davis does NOT want to play center. He doesn’t want to deal with banging bodies with Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert or Joel Embiid on the east coast. He’s been very clear on the position he wants to play for the Lakers. The man said it in his introductory press conference.
But on media day, which is similar to politicians shaking hands and kissing babies, Davis said that he’s willing to do what is best for the team via Silver Screen and Roll.
"“Me and coach have had conversations and I said, ‘Coach, listen here. It’s not that big of a deal. I played the five in New Orleans for several years and whenever you need me at the five, I’m ready to play. Because, if you look at it now in this game, there’s not a lot of traditional fives. The fives are the fours, so that doesn’t make a huge difference. But I think I’ll be better at the four and that’s why we got JaVale (McGee) and Dwight (Howard).”"
Not a big deal? When DeMarcus Cousins and Rondo was not re-signed by the Pelicans after the playoff run, Davis had his bags packed then. Sure Rich Paul will be blamed for Davis wanting to leave, but no. Cousins was Davis’ ticket to the position he wanted to play.
Anthony Davis is starting to remind me of another player on the roster last year that helped float options of playing center in spots during the season. Remember when LeBron James was supposed to do the same thing in the positionless scheme last year? That lasted about 25 games.
What does this all mean?
Announcing to Los Angeles Lakers fans worldwide, your two centers are JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard!
Now the subject turns to who will be in the starting lineup for the Lakers on opening night against the Los Angeles Clippers. Will it be the incumbent starter in JaVale McGee or the flashy choice in Dwight Howard.
It’s really not a hard choice. There only one that makes sense.
It’s Dwight Howard. Lake Show Life breaks down why.
People forget that Dwight Howard can play because of his mouth and antics.
Right now the Los Angeles Lakers are considered as Jared Dudley eloquently put it on media day, “Last Chance University” for Dwight Howard. Yes, all of this was done by Howard’s total disregard at times for professional courtesy throughout his career.
That being said, Dwight Howard was a freak of nature until his back issues started.
Remember even though Howard is less than seven feet tall, he was considered one of the best centers in the NBA? Remember Howard’s leaping ability playing off the pick and roll for dunks and more importantly on help defense for blocked shots?
Where did things go wrong? He had back surgery the summer before coming to the Lakers back in 2012-13. He lost his explosiveness and athletic ability. Then he played the entire season with a torn labrum.
Even with all of the injuries he played through, Howard tallied 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. Pretty impressive for a guy that should not have been on the floor in the first place.
Dwight Howard mentioned that he regretted coming back so early in a recent interview with Graham Bensinger. He believed that his injury along with Kobe Bryant‘s Achilles and Steve Nash‘s broken leg doomed the Lakers championship aspirations that year.
JaVale McGee was the center last year for the Los Angeles Lakers
Seems simple enough, JaVale McGee was the starting center last year. For about 10 games into the season last year, McGee was the early favorite for NBA’s Most Improved Player award. It seemed that he was the only one in the starting lineup that was interested in playing consistent defense.
When he sat down before Tyson Chandler signed, opposing teams had layup lines going to the basket.
Sure, JaVale McGee was benched by Luke Walton in favor of Ivica Zubac until the trade deadline. But let’s take a close look at a couple of reasons why it happened.
The first reason was because JaVale caught pneumonia at the turn of 2019. That illness had him in the hospital for about a week. Looking back, he made a huge mistake playing in the Charlotte Hornets game with what was believed was flu-like symptoms at the time.
By the time McGee returned to the lineup, his condition was not up to par (Hello! we’re talking pneumonia here!) and the perimeter mistakes McGee was covering up was not a luxury anymore.
Then there was that Luke Walton thing. See JaVale got a little tired of being posterized because of bad defense by teammates.
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1111110832962879494
After Donovan Mitchell kept catching JaVale on the same high pick and roll play, McGee called out Walton’s defensive schemes. After the media took his quotes to Walton, McGee saw the pine.
After Zubac was traded, McGee returned to the starting lineup and finished the season strong. When the Lakers shut down Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and LeBron James, McGee anchored the young players and dominated the opposing big men.
Then there was the Brooklyn game.
JaVale scored a career-high with 33 points and 20 rebounds (12 on the offensive end). He also rim protected well enough to block six shots. He joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal as the only Lakers centers to have that type of stat line.
Dwight Howard is a career starter that will provide starter’s dynamics.
Last year was a wash for Howard considering he only played nine games. Back surgery ended his season. For Los Angeles Lakers fans, this should be something to be excited about. Howard actually had time to rest from this surgery. Plus he lost 25-30 pounds which will help his mobility and speed on the basketball court.
Even with a bad back at the time, it didn’t stop Howard from dropping 25 points and 17 rebounds on the Brooklyn Nets before eventually shutting it down.
Sidebar to Los Angeles Lakers fans. Circle the Brooklyn Nets on the calendar! They can’t stop either of the centers on the roster it seems.
The year prior, Dwight Howard played well on a flawed Charlotte Hornets squad. Take away Kemba Walker who was an All-Star performer and Dwight Howard, who broke Larry Johnson‘s season double-double record at 53, it’s a lottery team.
Most importantly here is Howard has spent his entire career in the starting lineup. The Lakers don’t have time to waste trying to get him adjusted. The Lakers have already scared him straight with a non-guaranteed contract for the veteran’s minimum. Trust, Howard will easily average a double-double. Why?
He wants to stay in the NBA in 2020. He has no choice.
JaVale McGee is a career backup that was a starter last year by default.
Before Lakers fans start to think of this a slight, think back to last year when the roster was constructed. Wasn’t McGee brought in as a part of the “Meme team”? Nobody saw JaVale as nothing more as cap space to chase after Anthony Davis at the trade deadline and Kawhi Leonard in the offseason.
That was the plan. He was on a one year deal coming off the back-end of the bench for the Golden State Warriors title teams. He was more famous for his feud with Shaq for being on Shaqtin A Fool segments every week on TNT.
The plan was to renounce his rights to get two superstars to play along LeBron James. Nobody saw the best run of his career happening last year. Plus with his experience in Golden State, he can seamlessly play a bench role better than Dwight Howard.
If JaVale McGee can come off the bench with the same energy he played with last year, he can bolster the Lakers bench which is considered suspect by many NBA pundits. Also at the end of the season last year, he played very well with Alex Caruso and those two can anchor the second unit and be very effective against the opponent’s backups.
Convinced yet? Now let’s discuss a narrative only true basketball players know.
Los Angeles Lakers fans remember when Kurt Rambis started over James Worthy right?
Come on, you remember Kurt Rambis? He was the guy that spent most of his 14 seasons in the NBA with the Lakers, winning championships in 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988 as part of the famous “Showtime” teams.
The overachieving underdog and ultimate team-player that endeared real and casual fans alike. Magic Johnson was known for electrifying crowds. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was known for the skyhook. Byron Scott would dunk on you while Michael Cooper was the lockdown defender.
Rambis was the effort player willing to do the “dirty work” while his teammates flew down the court on the fast break grabbing the headlines and accolades.
Then there was James Worthy. The No. 1 pick out of the University of North Carolina. All the talent in the world with a baseline spin post move that no one in NBA history could match.
Worthy was more talented, more athletic and was just plain better than Rambis.
Guess who started for the majority of the seasons the two played together? Spoiler alert, it wasn’t Worthy.
Kurt Rambis was in the starting lineup for many years before Worthy eventually took over as the starter when Rambis got older. But you better believe that Worthy finished the games in crunch time.
NBA fans get caught up in who starts the game when they should be focused on who plays in crunch time. Dwight Howard struggles at the free throw line. If he can’t knock them down, sit him. If JaVale McGee misses key defensive rotations, tell him to have a seat next to Lionel Hollins so he can get the riot act.
It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of training camp, but when the season starts, it makes sense for Dwight Howard to start.