Thought Starter...
Happy birthday, LeBron!
It’s no surprise that much of the conversation at Lakers practice Monday in El Segundo was focused on a big 40th birthday for LeBron James. Few players are still active at 40, and none of them have ever been playing at the level LeBron still hits.
It’s also appropriate that Monday’s practice served as an opportunity to introduce newly acquired Lakers Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton to the local media. Broadly, the trade is meant to improve the team—something James is always happy to see. But in many ways Finney-Smith arrives as a gift tailor made to help LeBron sustain the level of play to which he’s accustomed... and that the Lakers require if they’re going to have even a shot at making noise in the Western Conference.
James has played well since a combination of injury and schedule offered him some rest after a brutal stretch of schedule. He’s been particularly engaged on the defensive side of the ball, where LeBron had, frankly, been awful in different stretches this season. When James blows off his defensive assignments, it provides a permission structure for teammates to do the same. But an engaged James has an even greater impact in the other direction, because if the old man is doing work, what’s your excuse?
The trick now, of course, is sustaining this improvement over the next 50ish games. And that’s where Finney-Smith comes in.
The more LA can improve its defensive personnel, the more support James gets, and the lighter his load becomes. It started with Max Christie sliding into the starting lineup. And now Rob Pelinka has given James another gift in Finney-Smith. While JJ Redick noted his new wing will come off the bench, DFS is almost certain to play a lot of minutes with LeBron. He’s another guy who can take on tougher defensive assignments, and help LeBron carry a lighter burden.
It’s one way the Lakers hope the impact of Finney-Smith is greater than the talent level of the player himself. By filling a position of need, he will make other players better in ways D’Angelo Russell, even as a point guard who had point-guarded well this season (it was his shooting and defense that were the problem), couldn’t.
The Lakers had a limited number of resources available to make deals even before the trade with Brooklyn. Now they have fewer. With that in mind, the ability to make the sum greater than the parts has to be a prime goal of roster building, and at least on paper Finney-Smith should help make that possible.
—BK
Three Big Questions...
1. How does JJ Redick distribute minutes now that DFS is a Laker?
2. Are Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood really closer to returning this time? (And can management really count on them contributing?)
3. Will the market cooperate if the Lakers want to make an even bigger move?
