LOS ANGELES – As the NBA continues to evolve in terms of ‘positionless’ basketball and non-traditional lineups, the Los Angeles Lakers have played most of this season with only one big on the floor. But as the Lakers continue to search for consistency, head coach JJ Redick debuted a different frontcourt lineup in recent games consisting of multiple bigs. The lineup has been effective, and Lakers star Luka Doncic is a fan.
Drew Timme has entered the rotation and has played alongside either Deandre Ayton or Jarred Vanderbilt. During the Lakers’ win against the Toronto Raptors last Sunday, all three were on the court together. Following the Lakers’ loss to the LA Clippers on Thursday, Luka Doncic spoke about the effectiveness of the frontcourt rotation and the boost they’ve given the team.
“Obviously we’ve got some more post games. I feel like Drew has done an incredible job of playing the right way and playing his game, props to him. I think he just fits this team,” Doncic said. “And obviously Vando was unbelievable. . .he’s in every game fighting, so we just got to help them out.”
During the Lakers’ win against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, Redick went away from his big men in the fourth quarter as the team pulled off another comeback after trailing by double digits. The lineup the Lakers used to seal the win consisted of two guards in Doncic and Marcus Smart, and three forwards in LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Jake LaRavia.
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But as Redick has mentioned going back to his first season as head coach, the lineups and rotations are going to be fluid and could fluctuate depending on the matchup and what’s transpiring on the court. So the small lineup working against the Mavericks doesn’t necessarily mean the jumbo-lineup won’t be considered again.
Following the Lakers’ win against the Raptors last weekend, Redick admitted that he was a bit in awe when he first saw the trio of Timme, Ayton and Vanderbilt all on the court together.
“You get the clipboard, and we had talked about it so I knew it was coming, but still it was a little jarring to see Vando, Drew, DA [Deandre], LeBron, that’s a big lineup,” Redick said. “They did a good job playing out of the post during that stretch, and we were also able to get some stops and run, so I thought they did a good job.”