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They already have Lonzo and...*cries*
**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins
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Go re-sign Wes Matthews and scour the market for an athletic 3/4.
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Taking an early look at the Lakers’ 2021-22 depth chart and rotation
After the most active start to the week of any NBA team, featuring one re-signing and seven signings, the Lakers are just about done building their roster for the 2021-22 season.
Barring a notable free agent taking a discount to join the Lakers — Andre Iguodala is a candidate — or the team re-signing Wesley Matthews, there likely isn’t a move that will notably shift their projected rotation.
As the dust settles, let’s take an early look at the projected depth chart — with a position-by-position breakdown — and rotation.
One note for the depth chart: Positions are fluid in the modern NBA. The players are slotted at the position where they are likely to play most of their minutes, but they will shift up or down at play in other spots (for example, Anthony Davis at center, LeBron James at power forward, etc.).
Depth chart
Point guard
This is the most straightforward position on the roster. Russell Westbrook is the starter, with Kendrick Nunn backing him up. The two will share ballhandling duties with James (the true point guard in any lineup), Talen Horton-Tucker and Malik Monk. But expect Westbrook or Nunn — the Lakers’ most notable addition financially — to be on the floor in most lineups, at least to start the season.
Westbrook and Nunn should be able to share the floor together, as well, since Nunn is capable of playing off the ball — something he did in Miami — and spacing the floor as a 42.1 percent spot-up 3-point shooter.
Shooting guard
There are two openings in the starting lineup: shooting guard and center. Of the two, shooting guard is the more difficult to project.
This position will, in part, determine the identity of the starting unit. The ideal type of player to include with James, Davis and Westbrook would be a 3-and-D shooting guard, someone capable of shooting 38-plus percent on 3s and checking an opponent’s best one, two, or three — that this, the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Danny Green role. The Lakers currently don’t have that player on the roster, though.
The question then becomes: Will the Lakers prioritize shooting or defense around their three superstars?
There is an argument for each path.
On the one hand, the team’s defense has been such a large part of its identity over the past two seasons. Head coach Frank Vogel tends to prefer defenders when given a choice between two players. Even if he’s coaching on the final year of his deal, his core principles are unlikely to change.
On the other hand, the Lakers desperately need to surround James and Westbrook with shooters to maximize their driving lanes and playmaking. Failing to do so will clog the offense and negate the offensive shift that the organization is prioritizing.
Kent Bazemore probably threads the offense-defense needle best, as he’s a long-armed, pesky, multi-positional defender who shot 40.8 percent on 3s last season. At the same time, despite his career-best shooting year, he lacks the gravity of Wayne Ellington or Monk. Defenses will sag off him.
Ellington is penciled in as the favorite here because he’s the best shooter on the team and a 12-year veteran. James-led teams historically favor veterans over younger players when it comes to position battles, and Ellington has an elite skill that the starters need.
Monk is the upside pick here. He has the potential to break out into a larger role if he shoots the ball as well as he did last season (40.1 percent on 3s, after never shooting better than 34.2 percent) and improves defensively in Vogel’s scheme.
Given Horton-Tucker’s need to have the ball in his hands to be most effective and his poor 3-point shooting, the Lakers should refrain from many James-Westbrook-Horton-Tucker minutes. That can change if Horton-Tucker develops his 3-point shot. Regardless, he’s going to play more than he did last season and possibly grow into being the team’s sixth man.
Small forward
Similar to point guard, this position is simple. James will start games and will also slide up to power forward in smaller lineups. Bazemore is the primary backup, as he’s the only legitimate small forward on the roster.
Otherwise, the rest of the Lakers’ wings are either shooting guards (Ellington, Horton-Tucker, Monk) or power forwards (James, Trevor Ariza, Carmelo Anthony). Ellington and Horton-Tucker are capable of sliding up. James and Ariza can slide down.
Power forward
Though shooting guard is the most puzzling position, power forward is just as crowded. Aside from Davis, who should split his time as the starter, James, Ariza, Anthony and even Bazemore are capable of playing power forward.
Ariza logged 96 percent of his minutes at power forward last season, according to Basketball-Reference.com. He’s no longer the elite athlete who could check quick, athletic twos and threes. He’s better against bigger wings and fours.
Anthony is going to play. He’ll probably have the smallest role he’s had in his career, but it seems unlikely that he’s out of the rotation entirely. The problem is that the Lakers desperately need their best perimeter defenders — Bazemore and Ariza — on the floor as much as possible. Someone is going to get squeezed, a forward and/or one of the guards.
On merit, it should be Anthony, who has a limited skill set — he’s basically just a catch-and-shoot guy at this point — and brings less to the table than Bazemore (3-and-D) and Ariza (some 3 but definitely D). Another solution would be to play Davis at center more frequently, opening up second-unit minutes for Anthony.
Center
Ideally, Davis starts at center, allowing another perimeter player — likely Ariza or Bazemore — to start at the other forward spot. But assuming that the Lakers stick with the more traditional lineups that they’ve started under Vogel, they’re best off starting Gasol in the placeholder role he occupied last season.
The Lakers need to be careful with the spacing in Westbrook-Howard lineups, as they are the two worst floor spacers on the team. If the Lakers surround James and Davis with Westbrook and Howard, there will be gridlock traffic in the paint.
Gasol, though aging and limited in his ability to defend the perimeter, provides ample spacing, shooting and passing. He oils the hinges of the offense. Last season, the Lakers had a plus-13.4 net rating in the 347 minutes that Gasol, Davis and James played together.
Davis will play more center next season, as The Athletic reported last week. That’s unlikely to come in the form of starting. But after he logged only 10 percent of his minutes at center last season, that number should tick up closer to the 40 percent it was in 2019-20.
Starting rotation
Priority No. 1 for the Lakers during the regular season will be ensuring that James, Davis and Westbrook reach the postseason as healthy as is possible. The Lakers were ultimately undone by injuries last season. James and Davis’ regular-season injuries tanked the team’s seeding, and Davis’ postseason injury ensured they lost in Round 1. The Lakers need to deploy a more conservative approach to the minutes and the workloads of their stars.
For all of Westbrook’s flaws, and the awkwardness of his fit with James, in particular, he’s going to alleviate the burden of handling the ball, making plays and creating shots. That has value, especially in the regular season. How that translates into the postseason is the mystery that is likely to define the Lakers’ season.
Gasol and Ellington are placeholder starters who fit conventional positional norms and offer shooting around the superstars. Come playoff time, the Lakers should shift away from Gasol and start Davis at center. The security of Ellington’s spot will depend on his defense, Bazemore’s shooting and the development of the younger guards.
Bench rotation
This projection will almost certainly be wrong, but based on the needs around the stars (3-point shooting and defense), here is a tentative bench rotation.
Before you say these bench minutes are unrealistic: The Lakers’ 13 rotation players averaged 17.5 or more minutes per game last season. On most nights, Vogel will use a 10-man rotation, even though there are clearly more than 10 who expect — and possibly deserve — to play. Injuries will certainly change that dynamic. So, too, will nightly matchups. Vogel isn’t afraid to bench players or tweak lineups if they’re underperforming (more so with his bench players than his starters).
Horton-Tucker’s minutes should increase from 20 last season to 24, with the potential for more. Bazemore, Ariza, Howard and Nunn round out the rest of the rotation. Monk and Anthony get squeezed for a variety of reasons.
Monk is a casualty of the Lakers’ trade for Westbrook and heavy investments in Horton-Tucker and Nunn. Westbrook is a rotation fixture, obviously. Horton-Tucker and Nunn will get every chance to earn larger roles. That’s before mentioning Ellington, the projected starter in this exercise, or Bazemore, who will log minutes at shooting guard, too. Monk is on the periphery for now, but that can change. He’s a couple of years away from his prime and will get even better.
Anthony is competing with the team’s two best non-James perimeter defenders (Bazemore and Ariza) for minutes. All three players can technically play together, but any minute that Anthony plays over either one of those two is a loss for the perimeter defense. Anthony is the best shooter of the group, but he’s also the worst defender by a significant margin.
While the Lakers look to fill out their roster — three spots are empty — in the coming days, they could use another defensive-minded wing, preferably in the range of 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-8, and a third center or big who doesn’t expect to play much.
After the most active start to the week of any NBA team, featuring one re-signing and seven signings, the Lakers are just about done building their roster for the 2021-22 season.
Barring a notable free agent taking a discount to join the Lakers — Andre Iguodala is a candidate — or the team re-signing Wesley Matthews, there likely isn’t a move that will notably shift their projected rotation.
As the dust settles, let’s take an early look at the projected depth chart — with a position-by-position breakdown — and rotation.
One note for the depth chart: Positions are fluid in the modern NBA. The players are slotted at the position where they are likely to play most of their minutes, but they will shift up or down at play in other spots (for example, Anthony Davis at center, LeBron James at power forward, etc.).
Depth chart
Point guard
This is the most straightforward position on the roster. Russell Westbrook is the starter, with Kendrick Nunn backing him up. The two will share ballhandling duties with James (the true point guard in any lineup), Talen Horton-Tucker and Malik Monk. But expect Westbrook or Nunn — the Lakers’ most notable addition financially — to be on the floor in most lineups, at least to start the season.
Westbrook and Nunn should be able to share the floor together, as well, since Nunn is capable of playing off the ball — something he did in Miami — and spacing the floor as a 42.1 percent spot-up 3-point shooter.
Shooting guard
There are two openings in the starting lineup: shooting guard and center. Of the two, shooting guard is the more difficult to project.
This position will, in part, determine the identity of the starting unit. The ideal type of player to include with James, Davis and Westbrook would be a 3-and-D shooting guard, someone capable of shooting 38-plus percent on 3s and checking an opponent’s best one, two, or three — that this, the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Danny Green role. The Lakers currently don’t have that player on the roster, though.
The question then becomes: Will the Lakers prioritize shooting or defense around their three superstars?
There is an argument for each path.
On the one hand, the team’s defense has been such a large part of its identity over the past two seasons. Head coach Frank Vogel tends to prefer defenders when given a choice between two players. Even if he’s coaching on the final year of his deal, his core principles are unlikely to change.
On the other hand, the Lakers desperately need to surround James and Westbrook with shooters to maximize their driving lanes and playmaking. Failing to do so will clog the offense and negate the offensive shift that the organization is prioritizing.
Kent Bazemore probably threads the offense-defense needle best, as he’s a long-armed, pesky, multi-positional defender who shot 40.8 percent on 3s last season. At the same time, despite his career-best shooting year, he lacks the gravity of Wayne Ellington or Monk. Defenses will sag off him.
Ellington is penciled in as the favorite here because he’s the best shooter on the team and a 12-year veteran. James-led teams historically favor veterans over younger players when it comes to position battles, and Ellington has an elite skill that the starters need.
Monk is the upside pick here. He has the potential to break out into a larger role if he shoots the ball as well as he did last season (40.1 percent on 3s, after never shooting better than 34.2 percent) and improves defensively in Vogel’s scheme.
Given Horton-Tucker’s need to have the ball in his hands to be most effective and his poor 3-point shooting, the Lakers should refrain from many James-Westbrook-Horton-Tucker minutes. That can change if Horton-Tucker develops his 3-point shot. Regardless, he’s going to play more than he did last season and possibly grow into being the team’s sixth man.
Small forward
Similar to point guard, this position is simple. James will start games and will also slide up to power forward in smaller lineups. Bazemore is the primary backup, as he’s the only legitimate small forward on the roster.
Otherwise, the rest of the Lakers’ wings are either shooting guards (Ellington, Horton-Tucker, Monk) or power forwards (James, Trevor Ariza, Carmelo Anthony). Ellington and Horton-Tucker are capable of sliding up. James and Ariza can slide down.
Power forward
Though shooting guard is the most puzzling position, power forward is just as crowded. Aside from Davis, who should split his time as the starter, James, Ariza, Anthony and even Bazemore are capable of playing power forward.
Ariza logged 96 percent of his minutes at power forward last season, according to Basketball-Reference.com. He’s no longer the elite athlete who could check quick, athletic twos and threes. He’s better against bigger wings and fours.
Anthony is going to play. He’ll probably have the smallest role he’s had in his career, but it seems unlikely that he’s out of the rotation entirely. The problem is that the Lakers desperately need their best perimeter defenders — Bazemore and Ariza — on the floor as much as possible. Someone is going to get squeezed, a forward and/or one of the guards.
On merit, it should be Anthony, who has a limited skill set — he’s basically just a catch-and-shoot guy at this point — and brings less to the table than Bazemore (3-and-D) and Ariza (some 3 but definitely D). Another solution would be to play Davis at center more frequently, opening up second-unit minutes for Anthony.
Center
Ideally, Davis starts at center, allowing another perimeter player — likely Ariza or Bazemore — to start at the other forward spot. But assuming that the Lakers stick with the more traditional lineups that they’ve started under Vogel, they’re best off starting Gasol in the placeholder role he occupied last season.
The Lakers need to be careful with the spacing in Westbrook-Howard lineups, as they are the two worst floor spacers on the team. If the Lakers surround James and Davis with Westbrook and Howard, there will be gridlock traffic in the paint.
Gasol, though aging and limited in his ability to defend the perimeter, provides ample spacing, shooting and passing. He oils the hinges of the offense. Last season, the Lakers had a plus-13.4 net rating in the 347 minutes that Gasol, Davis and James played together.
Davis will play more center next season, as The Athletic reported last week. That’s unlikely to come in the form of starting. But after he logged only 10 percent of his minutes at center last season, that number should tick up closer to the 40 percent it was in 2019-20.
Starting rotation
Priority No. 1 for the Lakers during the regular season will be ensuring that James, Davis and Westbrook reach the postseason as healthy as is possible. The Lakers were ultimately undone by injuries last season. James and Davis’ regular-season injuries tanked the team’s seeding, and Davis’ postseason injury ensured they lost in Round 1. The Lakers need to deploy a more conservative approach to the minutes and the workloads of their stars.
For all of Westbrook’s flaws, and the awkwardness of his fit with James, in particular, he’s going to alleviate the burden of handling the ball, making plays and creating shots. That has value, especially in the regular season. How that translates into the postseason is the mystery that is likely to define the Lakers’ season.
Gasol and Ellington are placeholder starters who fit conventional positional norms and offer shooting around the superstars. Come playoff time, the Lakers should shift away from Gasol and start Davis at center. The security of Ellington’s spot will depend on his defense, Bazemore’s shooting and the development of the younger guards.
Bench rotation
This projection will almost certainly be wrong, but based on the needs around the stars (3-point shooting and defense), here is a tentative bench rotation.
Before you say these bench minutes are unrealistic: The Lakers’ 13 rotation players averaged 17.5 or more minutes per game last season. On most nights, Vogel will use a 10-man rotation, even though there are clearly more than 10 who expect — and possibly deserve — to play. Injuries will certainly change that dynamic. So, too, will nightly matchups. Vogel isn’t afraid to bench players or tweak lineups if they’re underperforming (more so with his bench players than his starters).
Horton-Tucker’s minutes should increase from 20 last season to 24, with the potential for more. Bazemore, Ariza, Howard and Nunn round out the rest of the rotation. Monk and Anthony get squeezed for a variety of reasons.
Monk is a casualty of the Lakers’ trade for Westbrook and heavy investments in Horton-Tucker and Nunn. Westbrook is a rotation fixture, obviously. Horton-Tucker and Nunn will get every chance to earn larger roles. That’s before mentioning Ellington, the projected starter in this exercise, or Bazemore, who will log minutes at shooting guard, too. Monk is on the periphery for now, but that can change. He’s a couple of years away from his prime and will get even better.
Anthony is competing with the team’s two best non-James perimeter defenders (Bazemore and Ariza) for minutes. All three players can technically play together, but any minute that Anthony plays over either one of those two is a loss for the perimeter defense. Anthony is the best shooter of the group, but he’s also the worst defender by a significant margin.
While the Lakers look to fill out their roster — three spots are empty — in the coming days, they could use another defensive-minded wing, preferably in the range of 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-8, and a third center or big who doesn’t expect to play much.
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Either give him the multi-year extension he deserves or fire him. Seems dumb to drag it out.
MIKE LOWERY
formerly chuck finster
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Prolly start Ellington at 2 and bring Nunn/THT/Baze 123 off the bench. Just hope Monk has a chance to showcase some this season. Offensively he can do it all. Doesn't even try on defense tho. 
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MVP
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With AD and Bron in the starting lineup can kinda hide Ellington and it'd be most effective with keeping the lanes wide open. Baze's defense would be more needed when you got that bench unit in anchored by Dwert as really the only guy.
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Love this mentality
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Seems easy enough.
MIKE LOWERY
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They really improved the team while possibly getting nothing in return for Schroder. Impressive.
Hopefully they can still swing a TPE or something out of it.
Hopefully they can still swing a TPE or something out of it.
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#iwantmyparadedammit
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MVP
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Dwight pickin up right where he left off 
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“Swatters behind them”- bring back Damian Jones Dammit
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Our Los Angeles Lakers
It's always been about the Bigs.
But we already knew this
I am so glad Howard is back. He's right, L.A. is his home. It's where he's made his biggest impact on a team save for his early years in ORL
It's always been about the Bigs.
But we already knew this
I am so glad Howard is back. He's right, L.A. is his home. It's where he's made his biggest impact on a team save for his early years in ORL
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Him and AD gonna EAT, lob threats are byke!!!
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Dwight gonna be important lol
He gonna be able to help keep the mentality intact
He gonna be able to help keep the mentality intact
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Baze wearing 9, Wes most likely not coming back
