It’s no secret that the Lakers have been the best of the last two seasons with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as the front court without a traditional center on the ground. While Davis has long known that he doesn’t prefer to play that position during the regular season (resulting in signings like DeAndre Jordan), he has also shown his willingness to play that position when it matters.
The problem is that the Lakers are at their best when they are downtown, which leads to a constant battle between asking Davis to play downtown at various times, while allowing him to be an outfielder for much of the season. regular.
The acquisition of Russell Westbrook, however, influenced the debate over whether Davis would play more in the center for the collaboration to work. In fact, Davis and James themselves agreed to play all four and five next season to help ease the transition for Westbrook.
Adding more fuel to that fire was a Wednesday report from Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. In a conversation with our own Harrison Faigen on the break application, Fischer reported that Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, agent for both Davis and James, had told team staff throughout the league while he was at the NBA combined that James and Davis would be sliding to four and five this season (h / t LakersSupply / Twitter).
Davis and James taking points on the front track create all sorts of wavy effects. First, it opens another spot to the initial lineup on the perimeter to provide more spacing, the ultimate goal of starting Davis in the center. Could Kent Bazemore start as a small striker alongside a guard like Malik Monk, Kendrick Nunn or Wayne Ellington?
It also reduces playing time to the center position of players not called Davis. Dwight Howard most likely seems to be the backup center, which could take fewer minutes for DeAndre Jordan despite Davis recently thanking general manager Rob Pelinka for signing him.
Overall, though, it would mean the Lakers ’best lineup would be on the ground for more minutes during the regular season. This would lead to more wins, in theory, and more minutes together to build chemistry towards the playoffs.
While the Lakers found success in terms of lineups with Davis in the center in the 2020 playoffs, having more time together certainly can’t hurt, especially for a roster that had as much rotation as the Lakers. they did this low season.
In the end, all reports could indicate something, but until Davis does it individually or confirms it himself during the preseason, it will continue to be a debate for Lakers fans to work as relentlessly as they always do.
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