John Wall believes the Lakers must insert Marcus Smart into the team's starting five for added defensive pressure.
The search continues for the Los Angeles Lakers in solving their ongoing problems.
Rui Hachimura
Rui Hachimura
Rui Hachimura
MIN: 32.72
PTS: 12.77 (55.12%)
REB: 3.77
As: 0.85
ST: 0.54
BL: 0.23
TO: 0.88
GM: 26
After a promising 15-4 season start, struggles suddenly came out of nowhere for the entire group. They have now lost three consecutive games en route to a 19-10 record.
Particularly, defense has been the main concern to address for the Lakers. They are currently 26th (118.1) in the league's defensive rating chart while allowing opponents to shoot 48.6 percent from the field.
The Lakers are giving teams an average of 38.4 percent efficiency from the three-point land, which stands as the worst in the NBA.
As such, John Wall is convinced that the Lakers have to reshuffle their starting lineup. For the former NBA star, LA has to start Marcus Smart over Rui Hachimura.
“One move I would love to see is taking Rui out of the starting lineup and adding Marcus Smart there, a guy that’s gonna be able to guard the best player and get his spacing and get his shots, that’s what they need,” Wall said on NBA on Prime.
“Rui’s great, he does the intangibles, but he’s not supposed to be guarding Kevin Durant or guarding the best player on the opposing team on a nightly basis. That’s what you got a Marcus Smart or a Jarred Vanderbilt for. Those guys need more minutes because they’ll hustle and play hard every play and get those extra effort plays.”
This season, Hachimura is averaging 12.8 points and 3.8 rebounds. He is shooting 52.2 percent from the field and a career-high 44.3 percent from three.
While Hachimura is a much better offensive player, Smart appears as a much better unit to play alongside Luka Doncic, LeBron James and other starters.
Smart tends to be more active in fulfilling the dirty work, hustle and lockdown pressure for the Lakers, while also averaging 10.3 points and 2.8 assists per night. He has the exact traits that Los Angeles desperately needs at the defensive end over the Japanese forward.
We can only wait and see if Wall's suggestion would materialize for the Lakers as JJ Redick aims to help the team recover from its current downslide.
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