Wing Stops

Are the Lakers four wings the secret to a successful season and deep run?

Through the first nine games, slow starts, Injuries, lackluster play and interesting coaching decisions have been the defining characteristics of the Lakers season. While it’s common for teams to find their rhythm and for coaches to experiment with rotations early in the year, the Lakers have, more often than not, looked like a team that lacks heart and desire. Earlier this week, Ramona Shelbourne reported that Lakers GM Rob Pelinka is looking to add a third star. After watching the team’s first nine games, it’s hard to argue against adding a player capable of lessening Lebron’s offensive load. A trade for a third star likely means offloading one or both of D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura after December 15th, when both players are eligible to be traded. Both Russell and Hachimura may entice rudderless teams like the Bulls, and to a lesser extent, the Raptors to finally move away from players like Zach Lavine or O.G. Anunoby.

Despite Russell’s early season offensive production, his lack of defensive awareness and inability to guard opposing guards compromise his fit with a team that is at their best when locked in defensively. Both Taurean Prince and Jalen Hood Schifino can be traded at any time, but a trade involving just those two would not yield much in return. So, In Mid-November, a team with championship aspirations finds themselves at an important juncture: They can keep things the same and hope that the defensive intensity and switchability that led to the comeback victory over Phoenix on Friday night persists, or they can move off of one or two of their wing defenders to land a scorer and shot maker. How would a General Manager operating from their couch handle this situation? Let’s look at two options.

Option 1:

Keep all of the current wings that are on the roster:

This option makes the most sense. Wing Defenders are still at a premium in the NBA, especially those with positional versatility. All four of Vanderbilt, Prince, Hachimura and Reddish can defend multiple positions. Vanderbilt can guard all five positions, and it can be argued that the Lakers defensive malaise during the first half of games can be partly attributed to Vanderbilt’s absence. He sets the tone with his off-ball denials, rebounding, full court pickups and overall hustle. Taurean Prince is coming off an injury, but his role fits well within the construct of this roster. He is an intelligent defender who is quick on his feet, avoids fouling, and can switch onto smaller guards. Some think that Hachimura, who proved his worth in last years playoffs with his shot making, rebounding and overwhelming physicality, is the other trade chip the Lakers may use to land that third star. And yet, Friday’s victory against the Suns highlights how beneficial having multiple capable wing players is. The clip below hows Hachimura playing passing lanes, switching onto bigger players and tailing Gordon into a help defender on a pick and roll where he then used his length to take the ball away.

If Hachimura maintains this level of defensive intensity and focus over the course of the next month, trading him starts to seem like a dubious proposition. Hachimura’s versatility allows him to guard the leagues best wings. His length and off-ball awareness also support a help and recover defensive strategy where he can help close driving lanes and also close out on shooters. This is especially important versus Denver in tempering the offensive impact of Michael Porter Jr and Aaron Gordon. Lastly, Hachimura proved that his physicality was too much for an undersized Warriors team in last year’s playoffs. This mismatch will continue to bear fruit if these teams meet again in the postseason.

The last wing on the Lakers roster is the most intriguing. Over the first four years of his career, Cam Reddish has failed to live up to the hype that surrounded him in high school and at Duke. Instead, Reddish has confirmed the doubts of his draft-day skeptics who viewed his play as skilled, but uninspired. This year, he is paired with his Klutch Sports teammate, Lebron James, who is partially responsible for evoking the talent that has always been there. After knocking down the game-clinching three against Phoenix, Reddish had this to say to Mike Trudell postgame, “Bron told me that he believed in me so I just had to remember that and just shoot my shots.” For a player searching for life on what seemed like an abandoned island, having Lebron’s trust and faith fosters a nice return to civilization.

In years past, Reddish’s body language was indicative of a player that was both lost and disinterested. This year, he is much more engaged on both ends of the court. Reddish will spend some of his time in the corner on offense, awaiting drives and kicks and cutting from the weakside when the play warrants that action. For a player that has a reputation for being disengaged, being relegated to the corner isn’t normally the antidote, yet his defensive effort over the last few games suggests that being an offensive afterthought isn’t hindering his overall contribution. An up-and-down shooter, evidenced by the 2 for 16 start from the three-point range to start the season, he knocked down several big shots in Friday’s victory. If he can continue to make these open shots, he may just have the highest ceiling of the bunch. See him guarding both Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant in the clip below.

Option 2:

Trade one of two of the wings for a reliable scorer and third option:

One possible outcome after December 15th involves the Lakers moving off on Hachimura and or Russell. Trading Russell makes sense due his defensive shortcomings and his propensity for poor decision-making, but moving away from high-quality wing defenders for a player with striking limitations like a Lavine is not as clear-cut. Lavine, long rumored to be a Lakers trade target is a big-time shotmaker, albeit one whose apathetic body language informs the viewer how he is feeling when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Of course, defaulting to Lebron is much different than defaulting to Demar Derozan, but Lavine seems less interested when the ball is not in his hands. Lavine has always been a limited defender, often hiding on the opponent’s worst player as a means of preserving his energy for the other end of the court. Defensive limitations often come with some of the game’s best scorers and Lavine is no exception. Offensive prowess makes up for defensive deficiencies most of the time, but the question for the Lakers is more about team identity than it is about fit.

Including Hachimura, Vanderbilt, and or Prince in a package for Lavine will likely lead to a decline in defensive metrics, but an uptick in offensive production and net rating. Lavine would be a nice fit next to Lebron and Davis. He knocks down open shots, attacks closeouts, and gets to the free-throw line, three skills that the Lakers have needed for quite some time from a third scorer. Conversely, the Lakers would lose some of the toughness and versatility that made them a pain for both the Warriors and Grizzlies in last year’s playoffs. Last year’s squad built an identity around their physicality and ability to overwhelm teams on the boards and in the post, and Pelinka stamped that identity in the offseason with the additions of Reddish and Prince, and re-signings of Hachimura, Reaves and Vanderbilt. Bill Simmons of The Ringer offered the idea that the Lakers may have “Too many guys on the team,” and therefore are a candidate for the “Addition by subtraction,” theory. This may be true, yet the importance of high-quality rotational wings cannot be understated when the games tighten up later in the year.

When considering the Eye Test formula for evaluating players and trends, these next couple of weeks will be important for a Lakers team that needs to assert itself as one of the league’s best teams. Friday night’s game against the Suns was an underwhelming effort for 2 and a half quarters, yet midway through the third quarter, the Lakers racketed up the defensive intensity and grabbed control of the game. Two things seemed to occur in that third quarter:

1.) Darvin Ham made a sound decision to remove Russell from the game late in the third quarter and ride with a longer more athletic group that included all of the wings mentioned in this article.

2.) The team started playing with more heart.

The next few games are against inferior opponents in the Blazers, Grizzlies and Kings. It will be intriguing to monitor if Friday’s effort and rotation serve as a harbinger for things to come.