Lakers Expected to Rely Heavily on DeAndre Jordan And Dwight Howard
For the second time this year, the Lakers are going to need a plan for being without Anthony Davis. He sustained a mid-foot sprain just before the All-Star break, and the big man is expected to be out at least 3 more weeks as he recovers. That's the best-case scenario.
The Lakers could go the direction they did the first time he was out, moving LeBron James back to the 5 and seeing how that goes. From James' point of view, it was very successful. He was averaging over 30 points a game and putting up close to 10 boards at center.
But it doesn't sound like that's the direction that the Lakers will go. Instead, Frank Vogel will rely heavily on guys like DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard to fill the gaps.
“Well, we’re going to need them. A lot more now, obviously, than when AD was using up a lot of the center minutes. We’re going to need both of those guys.”
While James' offensive output at center has been huge for the Lakers, the defense isn't there. Pairing him up against some of the bigger guys in the league has resulted in disastrous efforts on the defensive side of things for Los Angeles.
The Lakers also don't exactly have the wing depth to be putting Bron into center at will. Guys like Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, and Carmelo Anthony don't exactly move the needle on defense for them.
So Frank Vogel is left with very few options, meaning that Dwight and DJ will see more work until AD is back.
