Los Angeles Lakers roster: Predicting the opening night rotation

Predicting the bench minutes on Los Angeles Lakers opening night:

6. Carmelo Anthony minutes prediction: 26

Carmelo Anthony may not play defense like Kent Bazemore but he is going to be one of the more reliable shooters off the bench for the Lakers. With Davis playing some five and no Trevor Ariza, Carmelo is playing an even more important role off the bench. He will effectively be the Lakers’ sixth man.

7. Malik Monk minutes prediction: 25

Malik Monk is probable to play on opening night as the Lakers look to get some of his microwave scoring off the bench. Monk showed tremendous potential for the Lakers in the preseason and as long as he plays, he should have a big role.

8. Dwight Howard minutes prediction: 18

Howard and Jordan should play the same number of minutes at the five and in future games, this number should be smaller. However, the Lakers lack quality size off the bench so the bigs are going to have to log more minutes than they will the rest of the year.

This works out perfectly in terms of how much the Lakers play Davis at center. Howard and Jordan will combine for 36 minutes at the five, giving Davis 12 minutes at the position. Eight or so of those minutes will likely come in the fourth quarter.

9. Kendrick Nunn minutes prediction: 16

There are 16 minutes in which Russell Westbrook is not going to be on the floor based on our predictions so that becomes the number for Kendrick Nunn in tonight’s game. While he will likely get more playing time in future games, his return from injury will limit him some in this one.

10. Avery Bradley + Rajon Rondo minutes prediction: 12

The final 12 minutes will go to either Avery Bradley, Rajon Rondo, or a combination of both players. There will be gaps to fill in throughout the first three quarters and that is where most of the veterans will get their playing time from in this game.