The Los Angeles Lakers frontcourt can be described in many ways — uninspiring, just passable enough, due for a makeover when the time arrives. JJ Redick's recent tendencies would paint the center rotation as forgettable. Instead, the Lakers coach has quietly shifted to last year's familiar, and controversial, strategy.
At the beginning of the year, Redick was focused on getting guys back to their more natural positions after having an imperfect roster and rotation in the first season of the Luka Doncic era. Despite adding Deandre Ayton and bringing back Jaxson Hayes, the second-year coach has started to favor more minutes for center-less lineups over this recent stretch.
Is the strategy here to stay, or is it a temporary band-aid on an Ayton-sized problem?
Lakers are quietly excelling in small-ball looks — again
Last year's most effective lineup, in terms of how much it was used and the results it produced, was easily a small-ball look featuring Doncic, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Austin Reaves. That five-man combination posted a net rating of 18.6, the highest of any lineup to have shared the court for at least 100 minutes during the season.
That same group also got cooked by the Minnesota Timberwolves, proving that some matchups in the NBA Playoffs will unavoidably require a real center. The Lakers did their best to give themselves options there.
The players they have to pick from, as mentioned above, are a touch lackluster. Time is a flat circle because after putting everything (expectations, production, consistency, etc.) into account, the Lakers are back to a position where Hayes is still the most dependable center on the roster.
Redick's response to that over the last 10 games has been to experiment testing out some small-ball looks once more. The results? Not too bad.
10 games is not a tremendously large sample size. However, a few things do still stand out.
The Lakers' lineup of Doncic and James being joined by Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia is by far their most used. It's also their least effective of any group to play at least 10 minutes together, posting a net rating of -20.9.
By contrast, two of the top three Lakers lineups by net rating (min. 10 minutes) over that span do not feature a traditional center. James and Hachimura are the frontcourt pairing for the best-performing unit. Kleber, who is more of a four than a five, stands among the trees beside LeBron/Rui for the other.
Ayton slides back in there for the last of the three. However, it should be noted the net rating of 25.0 is largely outdone by the 46.7 and 38.3 mark of the other two.
To the point of the Timberwolves series, there will always be matchups in the postseason that demand a big man who can protect the rim — not that Ayton or Hayes consistently shine in said area. Even so, a big body in the paint can serve as a deterrent.
Still, Redick has increasingly leaned on testing out more small ball with regularity again. Depending on who they play in the postseason, there could be room for the Lakers to get effective use out of those types of minutes.