The Los Angeles Lakers have one game under their belts with the newest acquisitions, Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. L.A. landed the duo from the Brooklyn Nets in a trade prior to the new year, and they debuted against the Cleveland Cavaliers on New Years Eve.
The Lakers were relatively healthy in that game, with Anthony Davis and LeBron James both available. They were still missing an array of role players, but Finney-Smith and Milton were able to take advantage of the opportunity. Both performed well for their first time out with a new team.
Davis, who has been the leader and defensive anchor for the Lakers this season, has now seen up close what the two new players may bring to the team as they get more situated within the rotation. He spoke about the adjustment period and what he saw after the Cavaliers game.
“I mean, they got to get it acclimated with our system,” Davis said. “Doe Doe had some wide-open looks that he’s going to make. He’s really good defensively for our scheme. … Can guard one through five. So there’s a lot more that we can do defensively. Shake [Milton] can score. He made shots tonight, made some plays.
“Time will definitely will help with them, with the transition and putting them into our system. But they’re pros. I mean, they’ve been in the league long enough, they can adjust. And we saw a glimpse of that tonight.”
When acclimating the new players defensively, Davis leaned on an old sentiment that L.A. struggled with earlier in the season, but seems to have come around on.
“Communication. I mean, obviously, Rui [Hachimura] is not accustomed to playing the five. But when we go that small ball when we go to him at the five or now we got Doe doe. He can play the five. Just communicate.
“Being in coverage, you can reps at it in practice and knowing the coverages, it’s good for us offensively and defensively, where we can kind of switch everything, depending on the lineup that’s out there, but we just gotta get reps at it. And it’s not something that he’s used to. But it can definitely work once we get used to it.”
Now that the calendar has flipped, Davis was able to give a midseason assessment taking into account the new players.
“I think we’re turning in the right direction. Tonight was a good night for us. We just missed a ton of shots, a lot of open looks that we missed. We make half of those in a different game.
“I like where our ball club is. Obviously, we have some new additions with Doe Doe [Dorian Finney-Smith] and Shake [Milton]. We’re going to be able to get some practice time to get them more acclimated with what we do and try to fit them into our system, but I like the looks that they got tonight. I think we can definitely be better on both ends of the floor, but I’m not disappointed where we are right now.”
Implementing new players — especially two at once — is not an overnight fix. It will take some time before the Lakers know exactly how best to utilize Finney-Smith and Milton, and on the flip side for the two players to figure out how they can be most effective.
Shake Milton enjoyed Lakers debut
The Lakers fell short against the Cavaliers on Tuesday night. But there were positive things to take away from the loss. The first was that the Cavaliers have the best record in basketball, and L.A. was able to hang tough for most of the game. The second was the generally positive debuts from Finney-Smith and Milton.
Finney-Smith didn’t make much of an impact on the stat sheet, but was a plus-7 in 20 minutes of action. Meanwhile, Milton hit his first two 3-pointers with the team.
Against the team with the best record in basketball, it would have been hard to expect either player to make an instant winning impact. Both, however, still had moments to shine. Milton was able to quickly reflect on his debut and the emotions that came from it.
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