After moving away from what made them successful in the 2019-20 season, the Los Angeles Lakers decided to bring in DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard to support Anthony Davis.
Jordan and Howard will shore up the rim protection and shot-blocking that was missing from the 2020-21 season and give head coach Frank Vogel two traditional bigs to mix and match with Davis. Davis is already expecting to play more center, but Jordan and Howard should still have roles throughout the year.
As far as how Davis at the five will look, Jordan offered some insight from a player’s perspective. “I think at the four or the five AD is still a hell of a basketball player,” Jordan said. “I think you can put him at any position on the floor and he’ll still be Anthony Davis. Obviously at the five, he spaces the floor a little bit more and it’s a little tougher for traditional fives to be able to guard him.
“But also at the four, he’s able to make plays and put pressure on defenses and with Dwight and I back there we’re able to flatten the defense to where if the five does help, he’s able to make plays because he’s a great passer, so he’s able to make that little push shot, lob pass and things over the top or underneath. Just to make the defenses play a little bit more honest. And then his ability to be able to switch a lot of the pick and rolls is gonna be huge for us.”
With Davis at center, there may not be a lot of minutes for Jordan or Howard but he thinks that certain nights will call for the traditional lineups. “First of all, the game or the series will dictate what the game or series needs at that point of time. I think there’ll be a ton of opportunity.
“Like I said before, we have the versatility to play so many different lineups. We can play small, we can play super small, we can play big. We have a lot of different lineups that we can play with. It’s going to be good for us to be able to have that versatility and be able to adjust. Not only every time we should adjust to other teams, I think that the other teams will have to adjust to us as well.”
Versatility is the key to this Lakers team because as Jordan outlined, they are able to size up or down depending on the matchup. Davis unlocks the roster when he toggles between frontcourt positions, and it will be interesting to see just how much center he ends up playing.
DeAndre Jordan excited to play next to LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook
Any player would be pleased to play alongside three future Hall of Famers like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Davis and Jordan is no different as he expressed how excited he is to suit up next to the stars.
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