The Dlo, Reaves, Vando, Lebron, and AD starting 5 was very successful last season, as shown by the Lakers’ post-trade deadline record. In the playoffs the Lakers cruised by Memphis with relative ease but struggled in the 2nd round against Golden State because Vando, who was essentially the only player on the team who could guard steph (besides Dennis to some extent), was being played off the floor due to his lackluster offense and inability to shoot threes to save his fucking life. Denver was a similar story. Vando was limited to about 10 minutes a game for that series which led to the Nuggets’ perimeter players abusing the weak perimeter d of Dlo and Reaves. Recently Vando has been injured and we have been replacing him for the time being with Taurean Prince, a far better shooter but a noticeably weaker defender and rebounder. The result has been an absolute fucking disaster so far. We have been getting killed on boards and on the perimeter without Vando. The team is definitely gonna need him moving forward. However, Vando has to show offensive improvement moving forward in order to be playable in the playoffs. He has been putting emphasis on becoming a better shooter this offseason. He shot 2/3 from 3 in 20 minutes in his first preseason game which is a very small sample size but is a good sign. If Vando is able to do this, it will also allow Prince to be a nice scoring punch off the bench who can play with Gabe who is a good perimeter defender himself and could benefit more from Taurean’s offense than Vando’s defense. If Vando is able to develop a semi-respectable shot the Lakers have a significantly better chance to win it all this year.