The Los Angeles Lakers’ lack of bench scoring and how they’ll help
The Los Angeles Lakers ranked 12th in the league in bench scoring this season. That does not seem bad off first glance, but they rank behind a handful of teams they could play in the beginning of the playoffs like Memphis, Oklahoma City and Dallas. They also need to keep pace with their biggest competition out West, the Clippers, who rank first in the league in points off the bench.
Smith and Waiters will help the Lakers out most by scoring off the bench because the Lakers guard that did most of the scoring off of the bench was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who will now be in the starting line up.
With KCP no longer coming off the bench the Lakers guard with the next best scoring average is Rajon Rondo (out with an injury), and then it is Alex Caruso with only 5.4 points per game.
Just as recently as last season, Waiters was able to average 12 points per game playing almost half of his games coming off of the bench for the Miami Heat. Even though Smith is a little longer in the tooth than Waiters, he still averaged 8.3 points per game in his last full season appearing off the for the Cavaliers in 2017-18.
Even though much was made about how Waiters and Smith will once again be playing with their former teammate LeBron James, they will likely be staggering their minutes with the King, especially Waiters. His ability to get in the lane and get others involved off the dribble is why he will likely help run the second unit.
So far this season, third-year forward Kyle Kuzma has been the go-to scorer for the Lakers second unit, and really the only guy that can create his own shot off the bench. That is where Waiters and Smith come in, and could be guys to help facilitate offense either through isolation or pick and roll with the ball in their hands.
The Lakers also rank in the bottom half of the league in bench 3-pointers made per game with 4.4. That number could dramatically increase, with both Waiters and Smith being decent 3-point shooters throughout their career. Smith will be counted on more in this category, and even has the ninth most made 3-pointers in playoff history.
If the additions of Waiters and Smith will help at all down the stretch, it will be from providing a spark offensively either hitting shots or getting teammates involved coming off the bench. The Lakers relied heavily on AD and LeBron to handle the scoring for much of the season, and if they can help alleviate some of that pressure it will be a major win for the Lakers and their new additions.
It is clear they have both come into the bubble in great shape and ready to play and can still score on the NBA level. Waiters said it best when he wrote in the Players’ Tribune this April:
“Even when I was fat, was still getting buckets, you feel me?”