Vogel has repeatedly asserted that the Lakers have the depth to balance James’ minutes and the offensive pieces to find productive non-James lineups. If that happens, it won’t matter much what seed the Lakers have. While all of this might seem a little too deep in the weeds for a team that won last year’s championship and at full strength is a prohibitive favorite to repeat, those 14 minutes or so without Schröder over the next two games, at a minimum, and without Davis for longer, can be the difference between winning and losing on a given night.Įxtrapolated over a month’s worth of games - particularly given the difficulty of the Lakers schedule heading into the All-Star break - they could be the difference between the Lakers being the top seed in the West and playing a couple of series on the road when the playoffs start in May.Īlthough the natural inclination with Davis and Schröder out would be to just give the ball to James more and temporarily ramp up his workload and let him figure it out, the Lakers also have to be mindful of not asking him to do too much and risk wearing him out before the postseason. Vogel has already stated that Caruso is the backup point guard with Schröder out, and he’s ensured that he’s on the floor any time James is off over this two-game stretch. That grouping has a 2.8 net rating (in 68 possessions), per Cleaning The Glass. The takeaway here is that the quartet of Harrell, Kuzma, Horton-Tucker and Caruso is the foundation for a positive lineup without James, Davis or Schröder.
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