/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68514461/1230116932.0.jpg)
Second-year guard Talen Horton-Tucker has been incredible for the Lakers in the preseason, leading the league in scoring through two games and putting up all kinds of other wild numbers as head coach Frank Vogel unleashes him as Anthony Davis and LeBron James get some much-deserved rest.
But what about when Davis and James get back? How much will he still get to play? After all, Vogel has said Horton-Tucker has made a case to play when games start to count.
How would that functionally work, and who would get the short end of the stick in the rotation? On the latest episode of the Silver Screen and Roll podcast, co-hosts Harrison Faigen and Anthony Irwin tried to get the bottom of where Horton-Tucker’s minutes could come from, or if they’ll come at all this season.
Here is the rotation Harrison was able to work out, even if he’s not sure it’s realistic.
Here is what a rotation with THT COULD look like. I'm not sure it's realistic, but it underscores how difficult it is to find extra minutes on this team. And yes, I full expect someone to find an immediate flaw in it. pic.twitter.com/uldzEcGKFP
— TV's Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) December 15, 2020
But first, Harrison forces Anthony to apologize to Talen’s biggest stan for doubting the Lakers’ new franchise savior, and then after they try to find a spot for Horton-Tucker in this stacked rotation and made the case for and against playing him regularly, the guys broke down why they think the struggle to find a prospect like him minutes is just the latest sign that this Lakers team is almost unbelievably deep and talented.
You can listen to the entire episode in the player embedded below, and to make sure you never miss a single one moving forward, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.
You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen, and Anthony at @AnthonyIrwinLA. And if you want to use the same tool that Harrison used to figure out the minutes and rotation allotments, you can check it out — courtesy of our friend Cranjis McBasketball of the BBall Index — below.
It’s time. Show me your best “THT playing real minutes” rotation maps.
— Cranjis McBasketball (@Tim_NBA) December 14, 2020
Someone’s getting their time significantly cut into to make that work.https://t.co/PKbmsOuDKH