1. Take DeAndre Jordan out of the starting lineup
DeAndre Jordan just isn’t it. He used to be one of the best centers in the league as he was an elite rebounder and was one of the most efficient scorers in NBA history. That was nearly a decade ago and Jordan is no longer the player that he used to be.
That is the case with a lot of players on the Los Angeles Lakers roster. However, other veteran players such as Carmelo Anthony can still contribute (as evident from his performance against Memphis). Jordan is not one of those players.
He is simply the worse of the two center options between him and Dwight Howard, who also is not even playing that well and might not last an entire season on the team. However, when it comes to the lesser of two evils, I am taking Howard every day.
Jordan is playing slightly fewer minutes than Howard, which is good, but the ratio should probably be more in favor of Howard. Jordan simply is not any kind of offensive scoring threat whatsoever, is not as good of a rebounder as he once was and is too slow. He cannot guard any kind of dynamic big.
We all know the best version of the Lakers starting five includes Anthony Davis at the five and another defensive wing in the starting unit but that is not going to happen anytime soon. For the time being, get Howard in there.