xmrjaredx | Lakers

301 | 8 hours ago

Lakers barely play this lineup anymore.

Ilikesporks_ | Lakers

105 | 7 hours ago

yeah rui hasn’t started with lebron in a bit

ositola | Lakers

41 | 7 hours ago

And that’s an ayton stat more than anything else

xmrjaredx | Lakers

14 | 6 hours ago

I don’t think so.

Ayton - Reaves - Doncic - Smart - Hachimura: 21.1 Net Rating in 111 minutes.

Ayton - Reaves - Doncic - Smart - James: 0.8 Net Rating in 105 minutes.

Ayton - Reaves - Doncic - James - Hachimura: -23.3 Net Rating in 101 minutes.

Hayes - Reaves - Doncic - Smart - Hachimura: 13.4 Net Rating in 52 minutes.

Hayes - Reaves - Doncic - James - Hachimura: 20.7 Net Rating in 21 minutes.

ThatGuyFromCanadia

21 | 5 hours ago

I’m confused, in those lineups you posted the middle one with Ayton is -23.3 whereas the bottom one which is the exact same just with Hayes instead of Ayton is +20.7, implying that Ayton is indeed the issue

xmrjaredx | Lakers

14 | 5 hours ago

The Hayes one has a 21 minute sample size. It could be good, but we’d have to see more of it to confirm

danjustin | Nuggets

3 | 5 hours ago

You could also argue that the first and third shows LeBron as the issue.

ThatGuyFromCanadia

6 | 5 hours ago

I mean you can argue whatever you want. You could argue smart is the issue based on lines 4 and 5. The only arguments you cant make based on the above 5 lineups are anything to do with Reaves or Luka because they are the only 2 players that are in all 5 lineups.

Superplex123 | Lakers

2 | 4 hours ago

And if you compare the 1st and 3rd, replacing LeBron with Smart, it’s basically the same jump.

If you compare the 1st and 4th, replacing Ayton with Hayes, it’s a drop.

The point of that isn’t to show who is the problem. It’s to show you cannot conclude it’s Ayton.

ThatGuyFromCanadia

4 | 4 hours ago

I agree, based on the 5 lineups shown you cannot conclude its any of the players listed

ImAShaaaark | Supersonics

2 | 3 hours ago

And if you compare the 1st and 3rd, replacing LeBron with Smart, it’s basically the same jump.

Rui and LeBron play the same position when LeBron isn’t acting as a playmaker (which is redundant with Reaves and Luka on the court), so it makes sense that having a more sensible lineup would be beneficial.

I’m with you that I don’t think it proves Ayton is the problem, but a swap between Ayton and Hayes is a lot closer to a 1:1 responsibility swap than Smart:LeBron.

MOODALI | Lakers

8 | 5 hours ago

No it’s not

BeloAve | Lakers

1 | 7 hours ago

A lot of lakers issues stem from DA imo

imadogg | Lakers

1 | an hour ago

It’s the lineup tonight

Sammyd1108 | Hornets

10 | 7 hours ago

Well I’d hope not if they’re the second worst lineup in the NBA.

balortech

1 | an hour ago

I still remember how Lakers fans brag about this line up all off-season.

And I’m over here thinking, wow, you have Luka, AR, old LeBron, Rui 4 absolute cones and your best defender is an average defender Ayton. Lol. Nice.

Famous-Side5578

1 | 34 minutes ago

and then they use it tonight, ha

Mustard_Jam | Lakers

129 | 8 hours ago

It’s just a laughably bad lineup from a team construction standpoint.

3 ball dominant players and not a single good defender on the court.

Over_Use_8474 | Lakers

52 | 8 hours ago

shiiiiit, but try to say this in the offseason and the laker sub would have executed you

td_enterprises | Lakers

7 | 7 hours ago

I mean I like to watch things unfold in the actual games. What people say in the off-season, even if they are right doesn’t particularly matter because people are just projecting and making educated guesses with some people being more educated than others.

weekndalex | Lakers

-26 | 7 hours ago

agreed. we need to ship reaves after he signs the extension

Mustard_Jam | Lakers

6 | 7 hours ago

Why if Lebron is old?

Lebron needs to be replaced with a legit 3 and D player and Ayton needs to be replaced with a competent rim defender. Luka and Reaves would be fine otherwise. Luka made it to the finals with Kyrie who isn’t exactly a good defender.

Problem is I have ZERO trust in Pelinka because he has shown zero competence in actual team building.

weekndalex | Lakers

-7 | 7 hours ago

i want lebron gone too don’t get it twisted. i just don’t think a luka and reaves backcourt is good enough for a championship. that said, i hope reaves proves me wrong in the playoffs this year

ATM14

3 | 7 hours ago

I think it’s possible. I think those Luka Mavs teams showed that there is a templet that works, it’s just about finding the right supporting role players to provide the defense, rebounding and perimeter shooting. I mean if a great AR trade comes along then maybe, but I wouldn’t sell for 90 cents on the dollar

Basic_Commercial_806

4 | 6 hours ago

I think you’re underrating 2024 Kyrie

Ok_Turn6757 | Lakers

3 | 3 hours ago

Kyrie was terrible against both the Thunder and Boston

Basic_Commercial_806

1 | an hour ago

Reaves was terrible against Minnesota, a team Kyrie torched to the tune of 27/5/4 on 59 TS%

LovetheNBA23 | Lakers

2 | 6 hours ago

Reaves can be a 2a or 2b and I think this formula works. Another big or big wing that plays D and occupies the 4 or 5 and can get you 20ppg would make this team a contender.

The Reaves - Smart - Luka trio has an incredible net rating and that’s the blue print to the defense. Need a 3+D wing defender (although Smart is not really a great 3 ball shooter). The blueprint is there for this team to be a contender.

BoneFistOP | NYK

1 | an hour ago

might be top 5 worst bball takes ive seen not including bam in the last month. please though, get a job with the lakers and trade him to us lmao

Trees_Are_Freinds | Celtics

35 | 8 hours ago

Wouldn’t this type of stat fold into itself eventually?

Tight_Invite2579

5 | 7 hours ago

How so? I’d think for the non-prior informed version, you’re just taking the lineup’s net rating for a game (say, +¹²⁄₁₀₀ possessions) and adjusting it for the opposing lineup (facing a -5 lineup would shift the +12 to +7). I don’t know the exact formula but would guess it’s similar to how KenPom creates his college basketball ratings.

FunTailor794

3 | 6 hours ago

I feel like this is a Donnie Darko reference but that was a fever dream I watched so many years ago I don’t actually remember what happened

small-with-benefits | Thunder

1 | 5 hours ago

You’d have to have Luka come off the bench to feed a singularity.

Victor_Wembanyama1 | Spurs

2 | an hour ago

Not if they stop using it

Professional-Fee6914 | Lakers

23 | 7 hours ago

The funny thing is that the best adjusted lineup for the Lakers is ~~LeBron~~-Ayton-Luka-Rui-Reaves-Smart. Its a top 20 lineup.

Efficient_Cat_4812

7 | 6 hours ago

How are the Lakers 3rd in the west (or 6th same thing) with their best lineup being 20? Is it because there are just so many different lineups used in total or what?

Professional-Fee6914 | Lakers

11 | 6 hours ago

Reaves was out for like 20 games, Luka out for 6 or 7, Ayton and Smart have missed games and none of them are out for the same games.

binhpac

1 | 3 hours ago

Is this a joke or typo that there are 6 players in that lineup.

numberonebuddy | TOR

1 | 3 hours ago

Lebron is crossed out, it’s five players.

CutLonzosHair2017 | LAL

22 | 8 hours ago

That lineup has issues cause neither LeBron nor Rui can guard 3’s anymore. So there’s a big mismatch on defense on an already below average defensive lineup. All of that wouldn’t be an issue if the offense made up for it though. Which it doesn’t. Why? Because LeBron is shooting like 31% from 3 which means teams guarding the Lakers just ignore him as a threat and double up on Luka and Reaves and don’t end up paying for it.

JoeBiden2020FTW | Lakers

17 | 7 hours ago

This is a good theory. A piece of supporting evidence is those exact same lineups with Smart instead of LeBron or Rui does well per this tool:

Luka+Reaves+Ayton+Rui+Smart: +6.6
Luka+Reaves+Ayton+LeBron+Smart: +1.0
Luka+Reaves+Ayton+LeBron+Rui: -10.4

ositola | Lakers

12 | 7 hours ago

Who has the balls to tell LeBron to be a sixth man

Acrobatic-Landscape9 | Warriors

12 | 7 hours ago

Savannah

JoeBiden2020FTW | Lakers

9 | 5 hours ago

The simpler solution is to just start Smart over Rui, and stagger minutes so you don’t see a lot of LeBron+Rui+Luka+AR minutes together.

Not 100% optimal but easiest politically.

mw19078 | Lakers

0 | 6 hours ago

its the easy fix to our big rotation issues but im not sure bron or JJ is willing to do it

ThatGuyFromCanadia

-3 | 5 hours ago

well yeah because the real answer is to just send him home like the Clippers did with CP3. Why would you pay $50m+ for a bench player?

Just let him rest the remainder of the season so that he can be fully healthy next season when he joins OKC or the Spurs on the vet min

mw19078 | Lakers

0 | 5 hours ago

his contract is his contract now, if hes more effective off the bench for 25 or so good minutes were getting much more value out of that 50 than we are an inefficient 35

Xeris

-1 | 4 hours ago

Best role for him would be playing 15 mins/game off the bench with 2nd units. That way he can have high usage, direct the offense, not have as big of a defensive responsibility, and pick apart 2nd units.

Obviously they will never ever do this, but for this current Lakers team that’s probably how to use him with the most success.

ThatGuyFromCanadia

-5 | 5 hours ago

Whats the point though? Rather give those minutes to somebody like Adou Thiero to develop. LeBron is a dead end, hes not gonna be on the team next year, the team needs to accept this and essentially cut him already.

mw19078 | Lakers

2 | 5 hours ago

theres just no reason to do that when hes still better than most of our bench guys and adou isnt cracking the lineup over rui and vando anyway.

Xeris

1 | 4 hours ago

Plus, you never know what can happen… playing lebron in an optimal bench role gives the Lakers a better chance to win this year than randomly giving Adou some development minutes.

Electronic_Pea_4845 | Iran

-7 | 7 hours ago

Its weird because everyone is actually a good defender but just the media narrative says they are bad 👀. That damn medierr I’ll tell u what

PrimeTimeInc | Hornets

3 | 7 hours ago

Come again?

Electronic_Pea_4845 | Iran

0 | 3 hours ago

That damn liburul medier been saying Luka is uh bad defender way I reckon he’s bout as keen as uh bluehound come supper time!

Affectionate-Art9780 | Nets

17 | 7 hours ago

We’re number one in being the worst!

Brooklyn917 | Nets

4 | 7 hours ago

Yet they dont have the record to match because the teams ahead of them have to bench their guys to be worse than the worst team in the league.

Western-Election-997 | Lakers

12 | 8 hours ago

Their only combo that’s consistently worked is Luka/AR/Smart(your 2 best players and best defender)

Rui wouldn’t be a starter on most teams neither would Ayton, Bron doesn’t fit what the lineup needs when you already have Luka and Reaves

Pleasestoplyiiing

5 | 6 hours ago

Vando is the best defender, but is even worse on offense than Smart.

Legitimate_Buy_919 | Slovenia

2 | 7 hours ago

JJ took way too long to realise how bad this lineup is

swizznastic

2 | 6 hours ago

Rui is literally the only one that can knock down an open shot in that lineup. Its actually insane to see 3 players that good be that bad at making open threes.

MrBuckBuck | Trail Blazers

1 | 8 hours ago

Why it shows me the Knicks starters on first place instead of the Brooklyn Nets (KAT-OG-Hart-Bridges-Brunson)?

JoeBiden2020FTW | Lakers

1 | 7 hours ago

This is my view, maybe you have different filters or sorting?

https://i.imgur.com/LMJLjk2.png

MrBuckBuck | Trail Blazers

1 | 7 hours ago

Switching to NPI fixed it, thanks.

guzzler_bennett_jr

1 | 6 hours ago

watch Lebron ‘Elgin Baylor’ his way to a 5th title this year…

Mayx010

1 | 6 hours ago

Charlotte best starter line up in the NBA it seems

inefekt | Australia

0 | 3 hours ago

Wow, you let a 41yo stat pad purely for his own legacy and your team suffers? Who would have thought…

Shade_Raven | Hawks

-1 | 7 hours ago

noticed you listed Lebron first when hes not the PG then the Center second and Luka Third.

Interesting

JoeBiden2020FTW | Lakers

2 | 5 hours ago

That was the order it was listed on the site

Tiny_Spread5712

0 | 4 hours ago

LeBron is also the problem.

heat_fan_ | Raptors

-5 | 8 hours ago

No wonder people want Lebron, Ayton gone

Remarkable_Act_2564 | Lakers

-6 | 8 hours ago

Another day, another shit on the Lakers post

Outside-Sir-4333

13 | 8 hours ago

This is a shit on LeBron post

Remarkable_Act_2564 | Lakers

1 | 6 hours ago

LeBron…. Is a Laker

Limp_Screen7405

10 | 8 hours ago

Oppressed gimmick after a ring and stealing Luka this decade

Remarkable_Act_2564 | Lakers

-1 | 6 hours ago

It is what it is. The reddit hate boner for all things LA is as true as the sky being blue

No one stole anything 🙄

Mavs incompetence is a them problem. And nico got fired for it

[DARKO] The worst lineups in the NBA this season, when adjusting for opponents: 1) The Brooklyn Nets starters. 2) LeBron-Ayton-Luka-Rui-Reaves.