Jarred Vanderbilt gets an A- in his Los Angeles Lakers debut
The worst part of Jarred Vanderbilt’s debut for the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday was the fact that he only played 17 minutes. Darvin Ham did not deploy Vanderbilt as much as Lakers fans may have hoped and his play on the court backed those feelings up.
Vanderbilt made his presence known as soon as he stepped on the court in this game. It did not take long for his energy to jump off of the screen as he was making high-effort plays on both sides of the basketball.
His defensive ability and IQ instantly became apparent as he put together several promising defensive sequences in different situations. He was able to take players on isolation and play good defense then turning that into being a great help defender against Golden State’s fluid offense.
Jarred Vanderbilt knows the Dubs' favorite EOQ "Fist" Ram Exit set is being run and intercepts the pass toward Donte running off the exit screen. Great anticipation and defensive instincts. pic.twitter.com/3GTlxWcBzD
— Joe Viray (@JoeVirayNBA) February 12, 2023
Vanderbilt also showed what he can add to the offensive side of the ball. His lack of three-point shooting did not matter as he was able to take the ball to the rim with relative ease while also flashing off his passing with a beautiful outlet pass to Wenyen Gabriel for a dunk.
Vanderbilt was the leading scorer off the bench for the Lakers, scoring 12 points on 5-7 shooting (2-2 from the free-throw line). He added eight rebounds and four assists to his line and made many new fans in the process.