Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Should the Lakers Start Rui Hachimura or Marcus Smart with Luka, LeBron, Reaves and Ayton?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Wednesday. Brian Komeneski, Andy Komeneski, the season is nigh, Andy. Is there any wiggle room in the starting lineup? That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers.

Starting point is 00:00:28 First listen to every day Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast. This one's always going to be free, never behind paywall. And, of course, Lockdown Lakers on YouTube. where over 36,000 subscribers are hanging out. They're leaving questions. They're talking to each other. They're talking to us, Andy.

Starting point is 00:00:42 This is after some, maybe they have listened to their subscription on Apple or Spotify, if they like the audio version. But right now, Andy, I think a lot of people are talking about the starting five. Because of all the questions that the Lakers have going into the season, this one is, I mean, perhaps the largest and most intriguing. Who exactly is going to be the fifth starter? I think you can all agree on at least three of them.

Starting point is 00:01:13 Well, the three that I think everybody universally agrees with are Luca Dantzic, LeBron James, D'Andre Aiton, just in terms of positional need. And your LeBron James Senior, to be specific. Yes, LeBron James, Sr. Thank you. Between, you know, positional need and common sense, I think those three are definitely in Penn. Austin Reeves remains something of a controversial starter in the sense that you will always hear, and we hear from them all the time.

Starting point is 00:01:47 And I've said before, I can understand the argument for playing Austin off the bench in terms of functionality, positional overlap, juicing the bench, yada, yada, yada, but it's not going to happen. I would be stunned if it happened, whether you think it's. should happen or not. It's not going to happen. We acknowledge this every time just as a PSA because it's us doing our jobs, but it's not going to happen. Again, I can see the argument for it, and I don't think the argument is stupid, but it's not going to happen. So that gets you to the fifth starter, which I think the consensus seems to be it would come down to incumbent starting three, four, Rui Hachamora, depending on who he's guarding on a particular day.

Starting point is 00:02:35 or Marcus Smart, the newcomer who theoretically was brought on board, to be, if not a point of attack specialist, certainly an upgrade over point of attack options the Lakers have, which are very few, one of whom I would like to discuss, and we will over the course of the show. But I think it is generally seen as a race between Rui and Smart. Well, yeah, and then, you know, in terms of there's Rui and Smart, and then, you know, I guess the wild card is,

Starting point is 00:03:05 and this is, I think, what you're getting at, alternatives. So maybe we'll save alternatives for the next segment. But this conversation to me is really in two parts. It is what do you think the Lakers are going to do? And what do you think the Lakers should do? And the answers to those two things may not be the same. Because as you pointed out, Andy,

Starting point is 00:03:27 there are people who would say Austin Reeves shouldn't be a starter. He should come off the bench. the Lakers, I can tell you, disagree. And so their vote counts more than you. I think they disagree in a combination of they legitimately think Austin Reeves should start on this team that the team is best served with them starting. And also there is the small P politics of Austin Reeves being in a contract year. I think all signs point towards them wanting to retain Austin if for no other reason

Starting point is 00:03:58 than to have him as a potential trade piece down the road. But also because- Austin Reeves, somehow losing Austin Reeves for nothing would be an unqualified disaster. Particularly after all of the past opportunities they've had to trade him and resisted him. Like that would be an unmitigated disaster. There will be teams around the league with Cappspace. So that is a live danger. So those two factors, I think both the basketball and the small P politics, means Austin will

Starting point is 00:04:28 be in the starting lineup. I guess there could be a lesser question about this, but still tangible with Rui in the sense that, A, you can argue that from a basketball perspective, he could be one of the starters with this team. He plays well with Luca. He's succeeded as a starter with the Lakers. He has typically performed better as a starter than coming off the bench. But there is also the fact that Rui is in a contract year. And whether the Lakers want to try to keep Rui around long term after the season and are concerned about pissing him off, or they want to play him off the bench without worrying about him leaving, but are worried that being pissed off could hurt his performance.

Starting point is 00:05:10 That becomes the thing. I will, most people who are regular listeners to the show know, the idea, if you really want to bring Austin Reeves off the bench, I guess you can. the idea that he is not going to play starters minutes and finish games and do all that stuff and play 36 minutes a game, 35 minutes a game, whatever it is, is fantasy. And so if for some reason you want to move his stuff around, if you think that works better, I guess, but he's going to be on the floor for three quarters of every game. And that's just how it's going to be. And he should be because he is one of your best players. And as much as I love Rui,

Starting point is 00:05:53 whether it's ESPN's ranks, which are trickling out now, and they do the top 50, and Reeves is in there at 60, which basically matches up with what we did at, you know, locked on. I forget where to read. He was in the 508.

Starting point is 00:06:07 58. The ringer had him in almost an identical spot. The consensus seems to be that Austin Reeves is basically a top 50 to 60 player in the NBA, which is pretty good. Rui Hachshmur does not appear on any of these lists. And, you know, the idea that you're going to lose Rui because he's upset at his, you know,

Starting point is 00:06:32 sixth man role or whatever it might be, and he's going to go somewhere else. I get, you know, I don't want to lose Rui for nothing either into next year. But I think it's very clear. If the Lakers wanted to re-sign and extend Hachamur, they could, Rui's not going to get a raise like AR. He's not going from the 17 million or 17 in change. I think he's making this year to 27 next year.

Starting point is 00:06:57 He's not. He's going to make something very similar, I think, to what he makes now. I think somebody, if you told me next year, Ruy plays exactly like he did last year, which is very solid and gets, you know, 3 and 60, 3 and 66, something like that. I think that's probably 66 to me, you know, 22 a year seems about as high. going to go. I would agree. I think it's much more likely it's lower than that. Right. And look, I think our everydayers know I've been a very strong opponent of Rui. Right, since the moment he arrived. But I've also said, I would play him off the bench this coming season. A, because I think

Starting point is 00:07:36 the bench needs the presence of someone like Rui, and I think it becomes easier to not have to keep as many of LeBron, Rui, and Austin on the floor at all times for offensive purposes. If you are playing Rui off the bench just from a configuration standpoint, it makes things easier. But also, insofar as what the starting lineup needs and lacks, they need somebody who can do the defensive things that Marcus Smart does, even if he's not prime defensive player of the year, Marcus Smart anymore with guarding point guards, guarding guards and smaller wings. Like you can make an argument that he is at this stage of his career just as equipped to guard forwards as he is guards.

Starting point is 00:08:22 He is still better equipped to do it than anybody currently in the starting lineup, if you include Rui. There are some defensive redundancy between Luca, LeBron, and Rui in terms of the ideal assignments. You can in some ways even include DeAndre Aiton there because all of those guys trend towards defending larger guys. Marcus Smart just provides more necessary utility in that starting lineup than Rui does. It's really not so much about what Rui does wrong as what Marcus Smart provides that they need. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:08:58 And I mean, you're essentially answering one of the big questions, what would you do? And I agree I would start smart. that would be my choice. Between those two, yes. Between those two. Between Rui and smart, I would start smart. So let's maybe in like,

Starting point is 00:09:17 we can break down why. You know, you started it. I think there are a lot of reasons that get to it, you know, beyond just, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:27 the Rui's skill set and some of the stuff that you mentioned before. And then we can also talk about are we missing any names? Are there any alternatives? that we have not discussed, that we should, that would be a good fit in that starting lineup. So do all that next.

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Starting point is 00:11:10 as LeBron as Reeves as certainly Luca, I think Aiton could end up playing more minutes. But I think in terms of balancing out those starters, because you actually do have

Starting point is 00:11:22 potentially some, you know, defense coming off the bench. You can't, and I, and we'll get to this, I think, you know, potentially some defense. And I think that if you leave Rui in there, you've got your three starters.

Starting point is 00:11:37 You, you know, smart is not a terrible offensive player, but he's, he's got some limitations. And I think you don't want to create environments and lineups where, you know, he becomes, sort of relied on as a score. The Lakers, I think, generally speaking, ought to be able to avoid those kinds of lineups because one, at least of the three of Luca, Reeves, and LeBron ought to be on the floor at all times, often two, sometimes all three. But I would play smart there. I think it lends much more balanced to your starting lineup that shouldn't need a ton of scoring potential,

Starting point is 00:12:23 but would still benefit from smart's ability to move the ball, you know, as a secondary, you know, playmaker, all that kind of stuff. I think it would have some value there. You would miss Rui's shooting, I think, to some degree. You know, he's a much more effective outside shooter. And it would put more of an onus on Reeves. I'd argue he's the best shooter on this team. Yeah, I think that's probably true.

Starting point is 00:12:46 And it put more of an, at least that was established. And it puts more of an onus on Reeves to shoot at a higher efficiency, at LeBron to shoot at a higher efficiency. Luca. And things like that. But you ought to be able to get those guys clean looks from anywhere, but, you know, Luca to be able to, you know, catch and shoot and whatever, those guys are all should be able to generate good looks and things like that.

Starting point is 00:13:13 So I would also start smart. What do you think they're going to do? I think they're actually going to start Marcus Smart. I do. Because, again, you don't bring him in without looking to at least make that move, mulling it over, like bringing him in for that specific reason. like Marcus smart off the bench, particularly with some of the other guys who seem unlikely to start, I think you start getting into a type of lineup where you have too few offensive guys who are coming off the bench.

Starting point is 00:13:47 Like I know there will be mixing and matching, but you still need to find some degree of balance between the guys starting and the guys coming off the bench. Otherwise, you get into some of the issues the Lakers had last year, whether you're, talking about in the playoffs where as much as I disagreed with a lot of JJ's distrust of the reserves and certainly how it manifested and how he handled it, JJ's still the coach of this team. So you start having ideas of what he's looking for. Also, even last year, like, as much as the Luca and the Banshee's lineup was celebrated for a while by JJ until it wasn't and it became a storyline for this team, there was an awful long. put on Luca offensively in those lineups.

Starting point is 00:14:35 And I just, I think when you start looking at potential second units that are heavy on smart and La Ravia and either Claibah or Jackson Hay, I wouldn't be shocked if they kept ruin that lineup. I'd be surprised because I just for the continuity factor. We all know each other. Although, you know, it's funny, though, with the continuity factor, the reality is like, Luca has played with these guys for half a season, only about like 20 to 30 games max.

Starting point is 00:15:04 Yeah. You know, the continuity with this team is basically LeBron, Austin, and Rui. That's it because Vando's missed so many games. Gabe Vincent's missed a fair amount of games. Lucas is relatively new. Like, there isn't really a ton of continuity. Right. I'm just being in terms of like, this is the lineup that they ran with at the end of the year,

Starting point is 00:15:25 you know, to some degree, obviously adding eight and two it. But, you know, that- You're saying there isn't a ton of it. Right. And I think the other thing, and you've brought this point up before, you need to be putting Rui on the floor in situations where you actually can get the most value out of it. I don't debate. I don't deny.

Starting point is 00:15:46 He would try to fill the role that they would ask him to do. His rebounding actually, or lack thereof, is a little bit less important this year as a starter than it would have been in last year because with Aiton, you ought to be able to get. you know, 10 rebounds there. Now you have Aiton and you have Luca and you have LeBron. You know, Reeves is not a bad rebounder for his size. Like, you know, they actually have a pretty good amount of rebounding on the floor and can absorb Ruiz kind of his flaws there. But his real value is as a score as a shooter and all that.

Starting point is 00:16:22 And you're just, Aiton is going to take that's, you know, eight, ten shots a game, 12 shots a game, you know, some nights or whatever. And a lot of those are going to come. from Rui. There's not enough space offensively, not space ing, but space to really maximize Rui. And then conversely, by putting Smart in there, you're kind of putting him into a context where you are kind of by design, removing the need for him to be an offensive focus in any way, shape, or form from the equation.

Starting point is 00:16:58 A little of Marcus Smart goes a long way. when it comes to specifically shooting and scoring. I agree with you. I think as far as moving the ball, helping keep the offensive wheels greased, he'll be very helpful there. And you know, he,

Starting point is 00:17:12 you want him to provide some scoring, but you also want him to be judicious. Yes. And my concern with Smart is if you play him off the bench, you are giving him a greener light as a score, perhaps even out of necessity than I'm comfortable with. I just think too,

Starting point is 00:17:28 like, if things go the way the Lakers want them to go, you would agree they are going to try to finish a lot of games with Marcus Smart on the floor. Potentially. Yeah. I think from a defensive matchup standpoint, you know, I can foresee a lot of situations at least

Starting point is 00:17:51 where that is something that. I think it depends on the score of the game, to be honest. If there are five points behind, Rui may be out there. if they're five points on Marcus Smart maybe out there. And matchups and all that stuff. It depends where DeAndre Aiton fits into the matchups. No question.

Starting point is 00:18:05 No question. But I think broadly, I think they look at him as somebody who could finish games for them and fill a role as a primary point of attack defender. Is that as better? I don't even need, you don't even to get in the metrics of like, is that better? Like it's still better. Even if it's a slightly imperfect use of him at this point in his crew, still better than what they had and what they have.

Starting point is 00:18:28 And so that's a lot of what he's going to end up doing. Because you always have, it's not just what's best for the player. It's to some degree, what's the alternative? The bigger question, I think, and I know this is something we can start, you know, kind of introduce it, start here, because I think we both agree about who we're talking about here, is, is there an alternative to either of those guys? And that would, I assume in your mind, be Jared Vanderbilt as a guy that you could potentially stick in there.

Starting point is 00:18:59 So we'll set it up before the break. What is the elevator pitch in your mind for starting Jared Vanderbilt? He is the best overall, I think, defender for 1 through 4 on this team. When you combine man, you know, on ball defense, man defense, ability to navigate screens,

Starting point is 00:19:19 overall energy, physicality, rebounding, the ability to just have that be his thing. I think, when healthy, Jared Vanderbilt is the best option they have on this team just as a pure one through four defender. I think he unlocks the most possibilities. You know, Marcus Smart, I know is a former defensive player of the year, but he is older than Jared Vanderbilt. He, I think at this point, is not as quick as Vando. I think on paper, if you can find ways to work, work with or work through Jared Vanderbilt's offensive limitations, or perhaps even if you're

Starting point is 00:20:06 talking about JJ specifically live with them to some degree. I think you can make an argument for having Jared Vanderbilt in that spot. There's maybe one other dark horse guy that we can bring up coming up next. But really, to me, the primary guy would be Vando just in terms of, I think unlocking the maximum defensive potential with this team, particularly with their biggest weaknesses, which is perimeter defense. All right. Well, let's break down small tournaments next.

Starting point is 00:20:42 All right, Andy, so I agree. I think Vando is the most logical. Okay, if not, what if we want to go off the board and neither smart nor Rui becomes your starter? Who do we go with? I thought about really quick, and this is a very much TBD, I need to see more of him, period. But I could picture a world where Jake La Ravia provides just enough offense and just enough defense, where he becomes an option in that fifth spot.

Starting point is 00:21:18 I'm not banking on it. You're trying to replicate Ruiz contributions, but down a position. The position that is more appropriate, you know, with an act real small forward versus Rui who is really more a power forward who has to play small forward. Again, I am not banking on this happening and I need to see more of Luravia in those assignments as opposed to, you know, I mean, obviously we've both seen Jake Luravia play, but we've never paid super close attention to it because we haven't needed to and he's played rather anonymously for teams that haven't mattered a lot.

Starting point is 00:21:54 I never had a role like that. And I need to see more of it than just some of the defensive metrics that I've seen or, you know, clips or whatever that show a little bit of promise. Again, I'm not banking on it. I'm just picturing a world where it's not impossible. You're just looking it's a type. You're looking at a type. But Van, Vando to me, is the most logical candidate. If you are really looking to specifically address the most glaring needs for the starting lineup defensively and also with.

Starting point is 00:22:25 some of the rebounding. I think to me what's fascinating about Vanderbilt to me of is I don't want to say it's the most interesting guy on the team but you know in terms of like I think he's a really interesting guy on this team actually where I was kind of good but like when you think about sort of dudes who where you just don't know where like you know the the upside you know is there and like the potential for impact is really there and to fill a need and to fill a whole, but you're really just not entirely sure what it is that you're getting. And the, the impact that it could have on how good the Lakers are, at least through the regular season. And folks, the regular season matters. Like, I understand Vanderbilt's going to have some

Starting point is 00:23:11 limitations. It's a big part of your rotation. And you have to change that in the playoffs. The 82 games that get you there make a difference. It is a very important year for Jared Vanderbilt from a basketball standpoint in terms of sort of rehabbing. I think his image around the league, he has not been healthy. And this year is reportedly as healthy as he's been in a long time. And so for me, it's it's sort of hard to know what you're going to get. If the idealized version of Vanderbilt actually does make some sense as a starter with this group, almost for exactly the same reasons that you would start Marcus Smart.

Starting point is 00:23:55 And it's not because, you know, both of those guys have some offensive limitations. But like if, you know, if this, oh, Vando's working on his three-pointer, Vando's working on his finishing. Like, if he were a passable offensive player, I heard, you know, Darius and Pete talking about this on the, on their pod, it's not just that he's not a good three-point shooter. We've talked at length about his inability to finish, but he's like not good in the middle either. Like there is nowhere on the floor where Vanderbilt is a, even an average offensive player.

Starting point is 00:24:30 If he was average where you could take advantage of his leaping ability or his cutting or the fact that literally nobody on the other team pays attention to him, it would make a difference. But he is so bad right now on that side, he has to be incredibly good defensively to support it. And the, to me at least, there was sort of the results are all over the place with that. But is that health? Is that how he's being used? Is it a combination? It's so hard to know with him. It is really hard to know.

Starting point is 00:25:04 I mean, my hope is that coming into this offseason healthy and having the ability to, or coming into the training camp healthy, having had an offseason where he was healthy and able to fully work out the way he would and prepare the way he normally would could lead to better leaping ability, better ability to absorb contact, better rhythm, better confidence. Like, I think Vando's confidence took a hit last year in ways that I looked up some numbers on them. We'll get into a few of them before the show ends. But one thing I noticed was that his turnover percentage has increased a lot as a Laker, despite the fact that his usage has basically remain the same.

Starting point is 00:25:47 Like his usage was basically flatlined, but the turnovers kept going up. And I think that reflected his lack of confidence with the ball. I looked up some numbers like per cleaning the glass, Vando around the rim as a Laker. He has been in the 18th, 37th, and 16th percentile during those two and a half seasons well, well below his standards. when you look at his stays with other teams since he became like a full-time player where he was typically in the 60th-ish percentile,

Starting point is 00:26:22 which isn't world-beating, but that's good enough. Like if he's in the 60th-ish percentile around the rim, that is good enough to keep him on the floor. Like from zero to three feet per basketball reference, as a Laker, he is 67% for his career, 71% in Utah, 76% Minnesota, 71% last year, he was 83% on dunks.

Starting point is 00:26:51 Like, and he has typically been in the night, like, that is simply, 90 to 100. Like, he's just, that's simply not acceptable. He has gotten worse. But here's what's, I think it's fair to say. The total package for him as an offensive player, he has gotten worse. But here's though what from last year, provides me some degree of optimism that if Vando does his part to improve,

Starting point is 00:27:21 like some of this is without question on Vando, but I think also J.J. a willingness to live through some imperfections. And I've talked at nauseam about how I think J.J. caught off his own options badly during the playoffs in very large part because he became too unwilling to live with imperfections beyond the guys that he just explicitly trusted. Last year, via a bunch of different metrics, the offense was actually better on the floor with Vanda or was better with Vando on the floor than with him off.

Starting point is 00:27:59 And I suspect that that is in large part because of the plays that came from Vando as a defensive playmaker. and like the opportunities the Lakers got through his disruption and his ability to create possessions through his defense. And he was not he was not a negative. No, he didn't play a lot. And, you know, I think there was a lot of variance. And of course, there was some of the came in garbage time. So it's hard to measure.

Starting point is 00:28:25 But like, overall, you know. But that's what I think is interesting about it. And again, what gives me some optimism, whether as a starter or just as a part of the rotation, it can. work and there are ways that beyond his own offensive utility, he can find ways to help the overall offense. But again, it's going to come through some, frankly, a lot of improvement on his end. And I think also just some creativity and trust from JJ. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:28:56 And the problem, here's where I think it gets tricky to is because I think everybody loves not everybody, people who are on team Vando. are on team vando for obvious reasons he works really hard he is you know seems like a really good presence like he's a good energy can change games right he just he comes in he you know has like a certain you know whether you know energy um but you know potential skill set or something like that that is very appealing and you know when he is on like you can there are certain guys like you can't unless you're like a basketball coach, you know, you can't always see the impact. Like you can, you know, Vando is very tangible when he's making an impact. Like you can see it, you can feel it. And,

Starting point is 00:29:45 and I think that matters for the players on the floor. But he's not good enough that you, like you say, like you don't want to start having to change too much of what you're doing with other players and lineups and coverages and all that because you are trying to accomplish. accommodate Jared Vanderbilt. Of course. And so that's, I think, what gets tricky. Like, we're going to maximize what he does best. But that would potentially, or could potentially come at,

Starting point is 00:30:17 doing things that are less advantageous for players who are frankly better than he is. Sure. What happens to Vanderbilt this year is one of those, and, you know, roll your eyes at the term, you know, because it is no question, cliche. it is absolutely one of the true X factors for the Lakers this year. And it's a real X factor because it's like you really don't know. Like it is not one of these things where, you know, sometimes you know, this guy's an X factor. But you kind of know what you're going to get.

Starting point is 00:30:52 Like Rui, people a lot of times in the E.m. Playoffs will talk about Rui or over the course of season. Like, Rui is an X factor. He's not in the sense that he's actually pretty steady and relatively predictable. and maybe if he plays over his head a little bit for a week or two, you get it like, I cannot tell you with any confidence what the Lakers are going to get from Vanderbilt this year. And if the answer is in like the top 15% of potential outcomes, it really does drastically change the Lakers rotation.

Starting point is 00:31:27 Here's what I would say is sort of the, because I think both Rui and Vando can very logically be described as expert, factors. I think the difference is with Rui, when Rui is really on or like playing at the top of his game, he provides dimensions that a lot of other teams can't match, just like in terms of their sheer firepower. When Vando is on, for lack of a better way of putting it, he makes bleep happen. Vando can often just wreck shop in a game. And he can do so in ways that other players don't replicate as well. So we'll see what happens.

Starting point is 00:32:06 Both of us agree that we would start smart. I think if I had to put money on it, I think they will. But we'll see about that. The Vanderbilt thing, though, is something I'm sure we will continue to explore as training camp opens next week. Quick reminder, Thursday is when Polinka and JJ Redick speak to the media. Andy will be there. We'll obviously talk about that for Thursday or Friday show.

Starting point is 00:32:31 And yeah, so leave us questions. leave us comments. Let us know what you want to talk about as we head into training camp. Lockdown Liquors on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers and leave those questions and comments. You can always get us at Twitter at Cambrothers. We'll see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Should the Lakers Start Rui Hachimura or Marcus Smart with Luka, LeBron, Reaves and Ayton?

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