Although the Lakers are only days away from the official start to their new season, there are still questions surrounding the team before they finally tip off. Chief among those curiosities rests on what the club’s finalized starting lineup looks like, and specifically, what Darvin Ham opts to do relating to the center position.
Many assumed the Lakers would revert back to the traditional two-big lineup based on their signings of Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant this summer. However, with both bigs failing to significantly impress this preseason combined with the slew of guards the coaching staff suddenly needs to find minutes for, the team may be leaning toward solving both issues by starting Anthony Davis at the five spot come opening night.
In the win against Golden State on Sunday, the team got a closer look at what this may look like with their new pieces by giving Davis the nod at center. It’s also worth noting he was also slotted there against Phoenix before being a late scratch due to precautionary reasons.
For Davis, who poured in an efficient 28 points in just 22 minutes versus the Warriors, the floor was significantly more open than he’s been accustomed to thanks to being the sole big within Ham’s 4-out offense which featured him prominently in multiple actions on offense. The team's guards also shined once again, feeding Davis for lob attempts and benefiting from their own now-open driving lanes.
After Davis and the team’s strong performance, Ham stated that AD starting at the five is currently under “heavy consideration” by the team.
Lakers fans have heard this record before, but there is credence to thinking maybe this year is the year Davis at center is actually green-lit. With that said, the questions still remain on if now is the right time and if this is the roster where he actually should though. This brings us to today’s episode.
On this edition of Talk-O-Tuesday, hosts Alex Padilla and Alex Regla discussed the prospect of Davis being announced as the team’s starting center going forward, who may benefit, and what lineup configurations they think would work best next to him.
Later, the duo also shared their thought’s on Rob Pelinka’s contract extension, as well as the rumors regarding Draymond Green’s potential interest in joining the Lakers.
You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts.
And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.
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