Los Angeles Lakers: 3 things to watch from the guards vs. Mavericks
By Jason Reed
3. Is Dion Waiters taking over as the second facilitator?
During the NBA hiatus, one narrative surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers was whether or not the team would utilize Dion Waiters over Rajon Rondo when the team eventually did return to action. Laker fans have been getting frustrated with Rondo all season long and Waiters seemed like a perfect candidate to replace him.
Waiters has shown that he can facilitate the basketball as a non-traditional point guard and that could be utilized as the team’s secondary facilitator instead of Rondo. Better yet, Waiters is a lot better off-ball than Rondo, so the fit alongside LeBron James, on paper, was much better.
That was all speculation, however, we will see if that actually is in the cards with Rondo being out 6-8 weeks. Someone is going to have to step up and take the ball down the court while LeBron is resting and Waiters very well could be that guy.
This is a case where the scrimmage actually is very useful to figure out information. LeBron James is probably not going to be playing in this scrimmage as much as he would a typical game, giving more time for the team more opportunities with him off the court to answer this question.
The first thing we are going to need to observe is whether or not Frank Vogel even trusts Waiters in this role or if he will simply have Alex Caruso or even Quinn Cook take the ball down the court as the point guards.
Then, if Waiters is given some chances to do so, it will be interesting to see how the offensive operates and how effective the team is in facilitating the ball with Waiters leading the charge.