Lakers Tinker With Crunch-Time Lineup of LeBron James at 1, Anthony Davis at 5

The Los Angeles practiced with a crunch-time lineup of LeBron playing point guard and Davis playing center in training camp.

These two played with Alex Caruso, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Avery Bradley. They confronted Danny Green, Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, Troy Daniels and Devontae Cacok.

What does LeBron say about this?

“I mean, we have so many different lineup packages that we can probably go to throughout the course of the season. So we’re just trying out a few things now in practice — going with smaller lineups, going with bigger lineups, going with quicker lineups, going with slower lineups. But that’s the luxury of having our personnel, we have the ability to do multiple things. So, that’s what practice is all about, being able to work on those things.”

There was a growing speculation about LeBron being a point guard.

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was pretty clear about LeBron’s role as a point guard.

“Correct, obviously, it’s an offensive role. It would be an offensive mindset,” he said in September. “I went back and watched all of our playoff games from the last year we played Miami, just to look at that balance specifically, and (Mario) Chalmers and Norris Cole never brought the ball up. Almost the entire series. LeBron handled it the entire time. It’s not anything that’s going to be new if we play line ups with LeBron as the primary ballhandler. He’ll be in that role some, and he’ll be in a role with a true point guard too.”

Where does Davis see himself this season?

“’I like playing the four,’ Davis said, referring to power forward. ‘I’m not even going to sugarcoat it. I like playing the four. I don’t really like playing the five.’

“He turned toward Vogel, smiled and put his hand on Vogel’s shoulder,” Tania Ganguli wrote.

“’If it comes down to it, coach, and you need me to play the five, then I’ll play the five.’”

Well, let’s see what happens in the regular season. Training camp is a rehearsal, and LeBron is ready for some serious basketball. The same applies to Davis. He even hopes to win a title.