When the Los Angeles Lakers first completed the trade for Dorian Finney-Smith, the response was rather divided. Some praised Los Angeles for flipping D'Angelo Russell's expiring contract for a high-level role player, while others questioned if the Lakers had their priorities in order.
Finney-Smith may not have addressed the need for improved depth at center, but he's completely transformed the Lakers' quality of play—and now his individual abilities are being revealed.
Finney-Smith has been a force for good throughout his brief Lakers tenure. He's appeared in 19 of a possible 23 games, and has made the Lakers a certifiably elite team whenever he's been on the court—a seemingly hyperbolic but truthfully accurate statement.
The Lakers are outscoring opponents by 15.2 points per 100 possessions when Finney-Smith is on the floor and are being outscored by 2.3 when he isn't.
Despite his profound impact, some have questioned Finney-Smith's impact due to his pedestrian individual statistics. It's an admittedly short-sighted criticism, but there were questions about how much he could provide on offense to balance his extraordinary defense.
Thankfully, Finney-Smith has begun piecing it all together on offense in recent weeks—and the Lakers could take yet another step forward accordingly.
Dorian Finney-Smith beginning to find his place in Lakers' offense
From a purely individual perspective, Finney-Smith has experienced peaks and valleys on offense during his Lakers tenure. That was especially true early on, as he averaged 6.2 points per game on .458/.372/.800 shooting through his first 12 games with the team.
Over his past seven appearances, however, Finney-Smith has increased his output to 8.9 points per game on a slash line of .511/.438/1.000.
That may not be mind-blowing production, but for a primarily off-ball player who's still within his first 20 games with a new team, it's an impressive step forward. In addition to his pure scoring numbers, Finney-Smith has become remarkably efficient and meaningfully productive in two key areas on offense.
For one, Finney-Smith is burying 2.0 three-point field goals per outing over his past seven games while shooting the aforementioned 43.8 percent from beyond the arc.
A perhaps unexpected development has been how Finney-Smith has balanced his off-ball play with an unselfish approach when the ball is in his hands. He's managed to average 2.3 assists per game over his past seven appearances after tallying just 0.8 dimes per showing through his first 12 in Los Angeles.
That combination of efficient floor-spacing and unselfishness on the ball has proven essential to the Lakers' improvement and general display of consistency.
Moreover, it's a testament to how well Finney-Smith has navigated a shifting landscape, which may be his greatest attribute of all. In less than two months, Finney-Smith's job has transformed from playing on a below-.500 team to complementing Anthony Davis to working off of Luka Doncic.
As Finney-Smith comes into his own as a floor-spacing threat and even competent complementary playmaker, the Lakers will have a chance to reach a new level of their potential.
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