The Los Angeles Lakers have officially made the NBA Playoffs and have the toughest possible matchup in the first round. Eleven months after being swept in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers will once again take on the Denver Nuggets.
Denver has won eight consecutive games against Los Angeles as the team truly seems to have the Lakers’ number thanks to Nikola Jokic. As a result, the Lakers enter this series as a massive underdog that can firmly establish itself as the top title contender in the West with a series win.
If the Lakers are going to win this series it won’t just take execution at the highest level from the roster, it is going to take good coaching as well. Unfortunately, good coaching is not something the Lakers have been able to fall back on this season.
It does not take a great coach to see the
one obvious coaching decision that has to be made in this series, however. If Darvin Ham wants any chance of winning this series (and potentially keeping his job), then there is one simple rotation decision he has to make.
Lakers must cut Spencer Dinwiddie from rotation, give Jaxson Hayes more minutes
The last thing the Lakers can afford right now is another guard who cannot defend. This was the crux of the team’s Western Conference loss last season as Bruce Brown, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jamal Murray were able to attack the weak backcourt defense in LA.
The Lakers are doing a little better this year with Gabe Vincent on defense, but there’s still a chance for Ham to screw things up. Ham, who prefers a diverse guard lineup, could rely on Spencer Dinwiddie to fill minutes in the rotation, which would be a mistake.
Dinwiddie has had some good moments since joining the Lakers, but overall he has been a negative player. His poor defense and usual inefficiency on offense were a recipe for unproductive minutes. Sure, he can be a great scorer off the bench, but Lakers fans haven’t seen enough of him to rely on that.
Any potential Dinwiddie minutes in the rotation should be absorbed by Jaxson Hayes. Hayes is by no means an elite center, but having another big shot in Jokic’s direction would be very important. Jokic himself admitted that the toughest matchup he faced in the league was when the Lakers played in 2020.
In the meantime, Ham will have to trade some of the Tauren Prince’s time for Hayes’ time. The Lakers need to play a little differently and add more size in this series. There shouldn’t be a minute of the game when Anthony Davis or Hayes isn’t on the court.
That means someone like Dinwiddie will have to cut back on his minutes. If the Lakers win this series, don’t expect Dinwiddie to get much playing time.
