With Anthony Davis expected to see more action at the center spot this season, it remains to be seen how much playing time former All-NBA big men Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan will get at the five for the Lakers. However, as Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times writes, Jordan isn’t overly concerned about how many minutes he’ll play.
“That’s the blessing of it, having a lot of different lineups that you can use. And I think each game is gonna have a say on what we do,” Jordan said on Saturday. “We can be rolling with a huge lineup. And, you know, we’ll win with that. And some games may need us to go small. And I think that at this point of my career, of all of our careers, you know, at the end of the day, ultimately, we just want to be able to win and be able to achieve something as a collective.”
Howard, who played a career-low 17.3 minutes per contest last season in Philadelphia, shares Jordan’s philosophy.
“Leave the ego at the door, leave it at home when you wake up,” Howard said of his role. “There’s no need to have it. We all represent this emblem that’s behind me, this Laker logo. We understand that, and it’s whatever the team needs to win.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Malik Monk‘s impressive preseason debut on Sunday further complicates an already-crowded battle for playing time at shooting guard, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, who observes that the Lakers will have to find time at the two for Monk, Wayne Ellington, Talen Horton-Tucker, Kent Bazemore, and Kendrick Nunn. Nunn has generally played point guard, but may not see much action there if Russell Westbrook plays big minutes and Rajon Rondo has a regular role, Buha notes.
- Cameron Oliver, Mac McClung, Chaundee Brown, and Trevelin Queen are the camp invitees currently in the mix for the Lakers’ second two-way contract slot, but the team could end up going outside of the organization to fill that spot, as Buta writes in the same story. “We’re gonna see how the preseason plays out,” head coach Frank Vogel said. “See who all is available, both the guys that are here, or who are around the league, guys that might get cut, and we’ll make a decision closer to opening night.”
- If the Lakers do convert one of their current camp invitees to a two-way contract, Brown and Queen may be the frontrunners, says Buha. Both of those players are wings, which might be the Lakers’ biggest need.
What are they talking about? Easy answer for SG slot is THT starts and Monk comes off the bench. Ellington and Bazemore play garbage time, if at all. Nunn plays back up PG cuz Rondo does not even attempt to try playing in the regular season.
Yeah, all this talk about Ellington starting is crazy, he hasn’t been any good for a long time and all of a sudden hes good again cause he signed with the Lakers?
Well he did average 15 ppg per 36 minutes on 42% from 3. Is he good? Nah, but he is definitely above average.
@Sexland
please don’t bother using icky things like truth and logic. they don’t appreciate that.
Loll
His defense was atrocious the first game.
Why would they start someone on a veteran team that’s competing for a championship who is still developing and barely shoots 28% from three?
Does it really make any sense to have a starting backcourt with two guards that shoot around 28%-30% from three-point range alongside your top two players who only shoot about 30%-34% from three-point range themselves?
I get where you’re coming from, but I think it was because he had to create a lot of offense off the bench last year. I mean there was nobody that could create their own shot outside of LeBron, Davis, and occasionally Schroder. So maybe he might shoot better being off ball and not the focal point when on the floor. Also he is a great defender so maybe a defensive and transition oriented backcourt might work out?
I loved the Rondo not even attempting to play Reg season part ! Seriously, a pretty good idea
I think they know more than you and will play players accordingly.. I didn’t know you were an NBA coach? How did you get smarter today hun their years of experience? Asking for a friend..
Man I must say this Lakers team is gonna be the best team I have seen in the league for sooo many years, if they don’t get too many injuries they will just cruise to the championship… I mean they are sooo good & sooo deep… it is frightening for the other teams!
There are a lot of great teams out there.. and a lot younger.. while I think the potential to be great is there age has a way of showing it’s ugly head.. the last 2 years Lebron hasn’t made it without missing significant time and Davis has had a lot of injury bugs as well. Probably the main reason they didn’t get past the Suns last year
I love Dwight’s response. What a completely different player he’s become in his later years. Extremely glad he’s back and can’t wait to see the energy he brings to the floor every night.
Howard & Jordan will be aware of each other’s PT… they better say the right things!
Monk at the 2 subbed by Nunn. Tht can play the 3 with that wingspan. He’s not very good as an assist guard. He is more of a small forward. All the old dudes they signed, and I don’t mean that in a bad way, are your role players. None of them should start. If russ was honest, he’ll tell you he wants monk and Nunn over everybody else. Westbrook buy himself can mold monk and Nunn.