Can't find a link or anything, but it's around the net if you want to look. It says he's likely out on Tuesday against the Bulls. So I'm guess Trevor will start, which I don't really mind. He's earned a starting job, but our second unit will take a major hit because of this. This also means more minutes for Luke, who we haven't seen much of at all this season. Hopefully he'll play well and make a push for more minutes in the rotation. Apparently he's been working hard after practices with Farmar, working on his shot.
Hopefully Vladdy is ok. I like what we've got going and I don't to have to toy with the rotation too much.
Hm, Sasha will probably see more minutes, but I dunno about SF... I forgot about Kobe though. Most likely, we'll see Kobe play more minutes at SF, so that should open up things for Sasha.
I don't know if I want to see Sasha play too many minutes at the SF. I fear that he'd get torched too often because he's not physically strong enough to play that spot.
Well I was thinking in terms of Sasha playing SF on offense, and switching responsibilities with Kobe on D. Got a bit complicated there... :O
Smartest thing to do is put Kobe at the 3 and let Sasha start at the 2...I'm serious. That's actually something that would work against the Bulls. You can't have Ariza or Luke or Lamar at the 3, well you could, but the whole point was to have a legit Shooter out there on the floor with the starters. We'll miss Vlad's height for the time being, but I think it's worth a shot.
This should spell more minutes for Sasha, who cant get any run it seems. I think Sasha should be getting more minutes anyway, but I really like the lineup with him at the 2 and Kobe at the 3.
And substitute Luke for Ariza's spot in the 2nd unit? No, thanks. Ariza + Farmar + Sasha + Lamar + Bynum/Pau is just right in my opinion. Everyone knows their roll and those guys play so well together. You MUST have a legit shooter like Sasha or Vlad out there with the starters. With Kobe, Pau, and Bynum out there, there's going to be little room for Ariza to manuever and cut to the basket and be a slasher. Just throw Sasha at SG and Let Kobe slide to 3. No biggie, it will work very well imo.
But if you play Sasha at SG with the starters, who plays his role with the 2nd unit to spread the floor?
Do we really need to space the floor that much with the 2nd unit? They work really well by doing their own thing of cutting, slashing, and taking it to the hole, while having Pau or Bynum as an inside presence (and Sasha out there for the open J, but in this case let's leave him out cuz we're considering starting him) But to answer your question, give Luke the extra burn I suppose. He's not a shooter, but he can knock down the open jumper imo. Basically, I feel leaving Ariza's contributions the 2nd unit outweighs the positives of putting him out there with the starters. I think the reason we've been so successful this year is attributed to when we rest our starters, our bench comes in and leaves off right where we left and for the most part, increases our lead. I never thought I'd say this but I actually enjoy watching our second unit more than our 1st.
The 2nd unit is damn entertaining to watch, but #24 is still the most dynamic player in the league to watch for me. I agree Ariza is vital to the 2nd unit, but at some point the Lakers need to figure out if he's capable of playing with the starting 5 and this opportunity could provide a look into his potential with the starters. I don't like Sasha with the starting lineup because it moves Kobe to SF and he'll have to defend larger players on most nights. I think Sasha functions better with the 2nd unit in a faster pace because he's a rhythm shooter and not as efficient when he has to catch and shoot in the Triangle. Plus he's terrible at making the entry pass into the post. Maybe a solution could actually be using Luke as the token starter?
Ugh sounds unfortunate if we have to add Luke to the starting lineup. How many minutes a game should he get Shape?
If Luke is healthy, he's not THAT bad of an option. He's got an ok jumper and has some very good passing skills to go with it. I realize his defense isn't what I would call good..but there are worse options than Luke. Plus...it was just a couple years ago that everyone was calling him the glue guy to this team...
Walton's jumper is ok if he's open, otherwise he's poor off the dribble. He had a somewhat below average percentage on his jumpshots last year if I'm not mistaken (40 eFG%; eFG% converts 3 pointers into 2 pointers).
Wlaton might be good with the starters just because he runs the offense. Our biggest problem last game was that we just didnt run any sort of offense. Maybe Luke could help with that? On the Lakers home site they made it seem like Vlad is fine so I think this will be a non-issue.
