The biggest concern about the Lakers starting both is spacing, right? Well, let’s compare the champion 2020 Lakers three point shooting (I am not using the Avery Bradley lineup that started most of the regular season, that one was even worse) vs the current Lakers if they decided to start Jarred Vanderbilt instead of Taurean Prince, which I think is probably the best option.
LeBron James: 34.8%
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: 38.5%
Danny Green: 36.7%
Anthony Davis: 33.0%
JaVale McGee: not a shooter
Team: 34.9%
vs:
D’Angelo Russell: 37.8%
Cam Reddish: 34.1%
Jarred Vanderbilt: 32.2% (last season)
LeBron James: 39.7% (!)
Anthony Davis: 30%
Team: 33.8%
The 2020 champion Lakers three point shooting was a grand total of 1.1 percent better than how the current Lakers, who have basically no three point shooting gravity at this point even with Taurean starting, are doing. That 2020 team did as well as they did because they were a menace on defense and absolutely killed it in transition.
If Cam Reddish is going to defend at this level all year, I think the 2023/24 Laker defense could be even better than the 2020 team. I’d take what I’ve seen from Reddish this year + a healthy Vando on defense over KCP+Danny Green in 2020. Though KCP and Danny were better shooters, neither commanded the gravity needed to open the lane up substantially, which is why our half course offense was so mediocre that season. Our transition game is where a big chunk of our offense came from, and I think a starting lineup of D’Lo (whose defense hasn’t actually been that bad this year believe it or not, particularly in the passing lanes) Cam, Vando, LeBron, and AD would be hell on earth to play against, and would generate a ton of offense.
Plus, seeing Cam and Vando on the perimeter at the same time is going to be SO FUN TO WATCH.
The best thing about this team’s 3 point shooting is that they are about dead last in attempts per game…
They get such insanely good shot quality & shot making at the rim & in the paint that they should be seeking those shots out as often as possible.
Threes should come from paint touches inside out as much as possible if not exclusively.
The title team was a similar paint juggernaut and just happened to get hot from 3 in the playoff… partially cuz a lot of them were butter naked open due to the unrelenting rim pressure.