Los Angeles Lakers: 3 things we want to see in scrimmage vs. Wizards
By Jason Reed
2. J.R. Smith taking a lot of threes
This game does not matter. The Los Angeles Lakers are playing arguably the worst team that was invited to the Orlando bubble in a game that will absolutely mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. The importance of this game is figuring out roles and rotations for the seeding games and playoffs.
With that in mind, the Lakers can do things in this game that they might not otherwise do, such as feed the ball to J.R. Smith at the three-point line. That is exactly what the team should do as I would like to see them throw caution to the wind and just let J.R. shoot a high volume of threes in this game.
Smith’s role on the Lakers is going to be reserved to a depth wing that comes in the game, alongside LeBron James, in most cases for depth purposes. His role on the court is going to be that of a spot-up shooter and we need to see just how well his shot looks.
Smith did not take a single three-point shot in the scrimmage win over Orlando, although he did take four against Dallas, mostly in garbage time at the end.
I would like to see Frank Vogel draw up some dedicated plays to get Smith the basketball and allow him to shoot 6-8 threes in this game. This will give the team a good barometer of just where his shot is and how much he can actually be relied on in the playoffs.
I have been very pessimistic about the Smith signing but I would still like to see how his shot looks across a larger sample size. This is a game where the Lakers can afford to do that.