5 New Year’s resolutions for the Los Angeles Lakers

3. Use their depth to rest their two stars

One quality that the Los Angeles Lakers have going into this season, that was not one of their strengths last season is their tremendous depth and ability to score off the bench. The Lakers ranked outside the top ten in bench scoring last season, so they added the two top-scoring players off the bench from last season, in Dennis Schröder and Montrez Harrell.

Adding the most recent sixth man of the year with Harrell, and the runner up with Schröder will presumably take some of the scoring and playmaking load off of both LeBron James and AD.

Last season the Lakers might have relied a little too heavily on the consistently spectacular play of AD and James. With James another year older in his 18th season, and Davis with a known history of injuries it was a good idea for the Lakers to strengthen and retool their bench.

With this newfound depth, the Lakers will be able to rest either James, AD, or both throughout the year and they will not face a major drop off where they will not be competitive. This was evident in their 127 to 91 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves where AD did not play.

In addition to the scoring threats of Harrell and Schröder, the Lakers also added key veteran pieces by signing Wesley Matthews and Marc Gasol. These two guys will easily be able to be the vocal leaders on the floor if LeBron or AD is sidelined with injury or is just resting at some point this year.

If head coach Frank Vogel was smart, he would allow AD and LeBron to go at their own pace this season because their offseason was the shortest of any major sport in the history of professional sports.

Their two stars carried them through the postseason and to the title, so the least the rest of the new roster can do is take on more of a load this regular season, to help get a fresh LeBron and Davis going into this year’s playoffs.