I’ve been seeing a lot of takes lately saying that we need to move D’Lo in order to maximize our potential, that he can’t start for a championship team, and that his stats don’t necessarily contribute to winning
Hard disagree. I think D’Lo could actually be the ideal starting PG for this roster. But it requires that the lineup around him maximize his skill set.
Watching the D’Lo, Reaves, Prince, LeBron, and AD lineup was painful. It’s reminded me a lot of the Clippers joke of an offense: give the ball to X star, let them do something, at most a P&R, while everyone else stands around. In our case, LeBron, D’Lo, and Austin would take turns running P&R with AD while the others stand around. That’s just suboptimal.
In this sense, letting AR run the second unit makes so much more sense. D’Lo has looked like an all world facilitator in a D’Lo, LeBron/Rui, AD, and two off ball floor spacers/cutters. Facilitating is often about being in rhythm and in sync with your teammates, it’s harder to do that when you’re constantly being put in positions that don’t let you do that. D’Lo as a spot up shooter is just suboptimal offense.
Moving onto his defense, his effort has been incredible this year, leaps and bounds better than it has been in prior seasons. He’s constantly in the passing lanes, he’s even getting some weak side block action too. The problem is he just isn’t as fundamentally sound as other guards are. His positioning off ball isn’t always the best and he really struggles with screen navigation.
That’s why surrounding him with a few long, off-ball perimeter defenders like Cam and Vando and Prince make more sense. Austin has similar defensive deficiencies as D’Lo, so starting them both just hasn’t worked. Longer, faster wings that can help and close out are a much better fit.
Finally, I can’t speak enough about the intangibles he has brought to this team. Remember the state we were in during the Vampire era: it’s like they hated basketball. Things almost instantly became fun when D’Lo got here. Now the entire team does the “ice in my veins” celebration. He’s constantly hyping and coaching up his teammates. The vibes and camaraderie he’s bringing are so understated. I love having him around for that reason alone
I like D’Lo’s game and the way he has matured as a player. I think this team can win a championship and I don’t think we have to trade D’Lo to do it
I wonder about that. With how much switching and ball rotations there are, I really don’t think individual matchups matter as much as people think. For example, D’Lo’s primary defensive assignment against Golden State was Andrew Wiggins or Klay Thompson, depnding on the GS lineup. Jarred Vanderbilt and Dennis Schroeder guarded Steph Curry. This isn’t a matter of “you have to match up with the other point guard”
And that’s where help defense comes in. The Lakers have a plethora of long, athletic wings that play good defense and can close out and rotate quickly. They also have the best paint defender in basketball. That’s the recipe for minimizing D’Lo’s defensive weaknesses.
I think what D’Lo brings offensively (there were several playoff games last year that we definitely don’t win without D’Lo) is absolutely worth the tradeoffs defensively. If he gives good effort, good scheming and lineup management can easily cover the rest