The Los Angeles Lakers’ crunchtime lineup:
- PG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
- SG: Danny Green
- SF: LeBron James
- PF: Kyle Kuzma/Markieff Morris
- C: Anthony Davis
This lineup, with Kyle Kuzma playing and not Markieff Morris, is the 10th-most-used lineup by the Los Angeles Lakers this season and has really good results when it is out on the court.
In 42 minutes, this lineup scores 30.5 points more than the opponents (per 100 possesions), makes 13.2 more field goals, shoots 15 percent better, gets 17.4 more assists and has a rebound percentage that is eight percent better.
The only other lineup that has a better scoring margin over 100 possesions is Rajon Rondo, Alex Caruso, LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma and Dwight Howard, which probably won’t be used as much with LeBron being on the court more and thus negating more of a need for Rajon Rondo.
That lineup will be used, but it is not the crunchtime lineup, this should be.
This gives the Lakers several things. First, having Davis operate as the center opens the door for another scorer on the court in Kyle Kuzma. Now, we said Kyle Kuzma OR Markieff Morris and that will depend on how Morris plays in the eight games prior to the postseason.
Vogel should put Morris in a few of these crunchtime lineups and determine what helps the team more: Morris’ defense or Kuzma’s scoring.
The team has two great backcourt defenders in KCP and Green that will help in that regard and depending on who they play, LeBron will either guard the opposing teams small forward or power forward.