Behind-the-Scenes Video Reveals Lakers Intentions on LeBron, Lineups
The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of great players on the roster and they have to plan everything to perfection. Players, coaches, staffers… Everyone is doing their job. Anthony Davis has the center and LeBron James goes at power forward. Trevor Ariza could be the team’s two-way wing. Now we have this video of a pregame Lakers meeting and it offers great details about LeBron, the lineups, and even the upcoming roster moves.
LA have to plan everything together. It’s a long season filled with obstacles.
Lakers have detailed plans for LeBron James and the lineups
During this meeting, Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy said that Ariza still has his limp. Yes, this happened long ago, right before the Lakers played against the Clippers.
Some fascinating behind-the-scenes tidbits from the coaches meeting (prior to the Clippers game) from Backstage Lakers.
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) December 12, 2021
-Trevor Ariza still had a limp at that point
-Confirmation the team is waiting on him to fully go small
-AD was getting tired from how long his shifts were pic.twitter.com/QAjl58HKHT
Frank Vogel said Ariza will have a key role in the Lakers’ small-lineup plans. With Davis in the lineup, LA uses one big player.
“What we gotta evaluate on a game-to-game basis, now that we’re playing one center,” Vogel said, “are there times where we’re waiting for (Ariza) to get back to play him and Bron at the 3-4 and AD at the 5? But we have enough wings to play Bron at the 4.”
Trevor Ariza is expected to get in a practice on Monday with some members of the South Bay Lakers, plus Rajon Rondo and Kent Bazemore, as the Lakers' veteran forward continues his ramp up his activity towards making his regular season debut after undergoing ankle surgery.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 13, 2021
Ariza has yet to have his debut with the Lakers. He sustained injuries, but the will soon get a chance to work out with the South Bay Lakers. Shams Charania from The Athletic reported that the Lakers hope to have Ariza in the fold around Christmas.
The team also discussed Davis’ tiredness. If the team starts Davis at center early in the game, “it gets tougher to pull AD unless we go back to Dwight to finish the quarter.” That’s pretty much everything Vogel said during the meeting.
“He’ll make mention of it when he comes out of the game,” Handy added. “He keeps saying that he’s tired. So, just like Mike (Penberthy) is telling him, I told him, ‘Look, you get—you don’t want to run the whole quarter, put your hand up. Put your hand up so we can sub you.’”