Los Angeles Lakers: Players that should replace Danny Green as a starter

Danny Green might need to be replaced in the Los Angeles Lakers’ starting five.

The Los Angeles Lakers lineup definitely needs tinkering now that Avery Bradley is not longer participating in the NBA bubble. The Los Angeles Lakers need to make changes in the starting lineup. Danny Green is the fall guy. Lake Show Life discusses some players that could (Check that should!) replace Green in the starting lineup.

Now that the Los Angeles Lakers have officially clinched the West’s top seed with a win over the Utah Jazz on Monday for the first time since 2010, now that the Lakers and their fanbase can celebrate.

But the celebration has to be short-lived with the playoffs starting on August 18th. Now over the next five games leading to the postseason, the question now for Frank Vogel’s coaching staff and the players is…

Now what?

The Lakers are 2-2 in the bubble after an Oklahoma City Thunder thrashing, but there are many questions that have to be answered over the next couple of weeks.

LeBron James has had his moments, but overall his play has been a mixed bag. Outside the bump in the road against the Toronto Raptors and a disappearing act last night, Anthony Davis has been on another planet, destroying the Clippers and the Jazz. Surprisingly the bench has done very well at times in the bubble. Frank Vogel for the most part has not been shy using the bench.

• Vogel used 12 players against Utah. The 34 point contribution was very important especially during the 19-5 run to end the 3rd quarter.
• The Lakers bench outscored the Toronto bench 50-15 on Saturday. The reserves were the only bright spot in a very ugly performance.

While the bench (Most notably Kyle Kuzma!) was supposed to a problem spot for the Lakers roster, that has not been the case. Actually, the starting lineup is becoming the weak spot since the team made its way into the bubble. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has struggled at times, but not to the point that fans are clamoring for results, YET!

JaVale McGee has been particularly bad, but with only two centers on the roster and Anthony Davis’ reluctance to play center for extended periods, JaVale McGee will always be in the rotation. Frank Vogel is not going to live and die with the two center scheme that was dominant at times this year, but it’s a strong enough option not to be scrapped.

Danny Green is a totally different story. He is expendable and the Los Angeles Lakers have four games to figure out if a $14 million contract is enough to justify a spot in the starting lineup come playoff time.

Honestly, Danny Green has been a nightmare from the 3 point line in Orlando. In the three seeding games, Green has made just two of his 13 shots from distance going into his game against the Thunder (He shot 2-7 in the OKC game).

The low point of the Green experience was on Saturday night against the Raptors. He scored nothing and missed all 7 shots from the field (0-6 on his 3-point attempts) and both of his free throws.

It’s nothing new he matched that futility on Dec. 11 against Orlando). He didn’t scratch at all against his own team earlier this season as well.

Performances like these don’t slide by the Lakers Nation on Twitter. Things got so bad after the Toronto games, a song was put together in Danny Green’s honor. Wanna hear it? Well hear it, here it goes.

Danny Green’s garbage time minutes in the Toronto game and Caruso’s emergence as the closing guard as of late was not in the Lakers plans considering the “CaruShow” didn’t get the two-year, $30 million deal last summer that Green got. They probably didn’t expect Caruso to take the job of slowing the opposing team’s best guard after Danny Green got torched either.

Danny Green is known more now for his quote that the Portland Trail Blazers was the team the Lakers least likely wanted to face on his podcast.

"“I wouldn’t say that we fear anybody, but if we were to choose to have a first round matchup, I think we’d probably lean away from Portland… They have more experience, they have Dame (Lillard), they have C.J. (McCollum)…They have a lot of threats and they have a lot of experience."

As bad as the Los Angeles Lakers are shooting these days, he might be right. Lake Show Life already has concerns about why Portland could be a problem.

• Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Reasons why the Blazers can win a playoff series!
• Los Angeles Lakers: Barkley is right, Blazers can beat LA!

Frank Vogel expressed his support for Green and downplayed any shooting struggles he has had in the bubble thus far via Silver Screen and Roll.

"“We believe Danny’s going to make shots,” Vogel said. “You know, he’ll have nights like that from time to time in his career, but he’s a proven, professional shooter, you know what I mean? I’m sure he’ll bounce back next game.”"

To his credit Green played better in Monday’s win against Utah (Could he really play worse though?) scoring 8 points on 4-7 shooting. Taking a closer look with the eye test, not much better.

• He still struggled on defense. The Utah guards, Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley had huge games.
• One of the baskets was a leak out.
• No 3 point shots. 

We’ll save Green’s performance against the Thunder for Lake Show Life Lessons that is also up on the site. But spoiler alert, it wasn’t good. 

Danny Green apologists will say his struggles are attributed to conditioning and rhythm.  Okay, that’s fine, but that is the case for everyone else in the NBA. They’ll say he’s not the only Laker that has struggled with his shot since entering the bubble. Now that’s true. As a team, the Lakers have shot a putrid 27.6% from 3-point range in their seeding games before facing the Thunder. Spoiler alert: It’s worse now! 

But how long can the Los Angeles Lakers be patient? Well Lake Show Life is out of patience. Here are some players on the roster that need to replace Danny Green as a starter! Look this report can’t be based off the Oklahoma City Thunder game. They all stunk! LeBron and AD included!