The Los Angeles Lakers have had a rocky season thus far. After a horrendous start to the season, Los Angeles actually started to pick up some momentum with wins over lesser teams. However, there are still huge concerns with this team, especially after Monday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers.
The Lakers blew Monday night’s game in epic fashion, highlighting all of the things that are wrong with this basketball team. At the center of the meltdown was Darvin Ham, who made some questionable decisions with the rotation leading to the collapse.
This is not a first for Ham, who has not been great when it comes to managing the team’s rotation this season. While he is not working with the best roster in the league, he still has to maximize what he has and he has not been doing that thus far.
Here are 3 Lakers rotation changes that Darvin Ham desperately needs to make:
1. Give Thomas Bryant a consistent role
Thomas Bryant missed the first month of the season with a thumb injury and it seemed like he was slated to have a somewhat prominent role when he returned. As good as Anthony Davis was playing, he was getting beaten up while essentially operating as the five, highlighting the importance of having a decent center on the roster.
Despite this, Bryant has not had the kind of role that we were expecting. Bryant’s role has been all over the place with him playing in certain spots but not playing in others despite playing pretty well in the chances he has received.
Bryant did not play in Friday’s game against the Spurs, logged 17 minutes in the team’s following game against San Antonio, and then received just three minutes against the Pacers. With a roster that is so small, the Lakers need to lean into his size.
2. Stop playing Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder together
Dennis Schroder’s place on the Los Angeles Lakers is a very odd one. Signed very late in the offseason, it was reported that the Lakers were waiting to sign Schroder until they could move Russell Westbrook in a trade.
Schroder was essentially meant to be the team’s Russell Westbrook replacement as a bench guard who could help run the offense. Instead, Los Angeles now has both Schroder and Westbrook and they are rather redundant.
This is why it does not make very much sense that Ham is playing the two guards together. Schroder also just returned from a thumb injury so maybe we can give Ham the benefit of the doubt but we have already seen enough to know that this pairing does not work when they are on the floor together.
Small sample size (though I don't think a larger one is needed here)... Russ and Schröder have played 46 minutes together this season. The Lakers have carried a 106.7 ORTG and 124.5 DRTG (-17.8 net). This is not something we needed to see to figure out if it was going to suck.
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) November 29, 2022
It doesn’t work. It never looked like it was going to work on paper and Ham somehow had to see it play out in person to see that it actually doesn’t work. Again, the options are limited, I get that, but the Lakers can absolutely still throw out a bench unit that does not have two redundant guards on the floor at the same time.
This might mean reducing Schroder’s playing time, reducing Westbrook’s playing time, or even reducing both players’ playing time. Whatever Ham has to do, he has to avoid putting these two on the floor together.
3. Send a message to LeBron James with his role in the rotation
This is extremely bold and might seem impossible for a first-year head coach to do. LeBron James is one of the greatest players of all time and is the most influential player in the league. James is the face of the sport and standing up to him and sending him a message is something no coach has really ever done.
That being said, Ham stressed in the offseason that he would play the guys who are putting in the most effort and earning a spot in the rotation. LeBron James has been really bad (by his standards) this season and the Lakers cannot let this continue if they want to turn the season around.
Obviously, Ham is not going to bench LeBron as that would be absurd. However, Ham needs to hold LeBron responsible for the way he is playing this season and send him a message that he is not the one running this team.
We have seen far too many lazy contested threes that LeBron jacks up just because he is LeBron. We have also seen far too many defensive possessions where LeBron simply does not get back or even pretend to have any sort of care.
The fact of the matter is that the Lakers have been better when LeBron is on the bench this season. That absolutely cannot be the case if the team is going to be successful. This team is only making the playoffs if LeBron is helping lead the charge and right now, he is not doing that with how he is playing.
The numbers do not lie. The Lakers have a -5.5 net rating when LeBron is on the floor this season versus a +2 net rating when he is off the floor. The only player on the Lakers with at least 200 minutes played with a worse on/off net rating is Kendrick Nunn. That is a huge problem.
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That does not mean that the Lakers should pivot away from LeBron as they need LeBron to reach their ceiling. However, it is time for Ham to send a message that changes the way LeBron is approaching these games.