It’s nearly impossible to make any sweeping statements following one regular season basketball game, but during their loss to the Clippers on Tuesday night, it was pretty evident that the Los Angeles Lakers could use some additional playmaking beyond LeBron James and whatever Anthony Davis will offer on a given evening. The team has that in one of their presumed backup guards, but according to Lakers coach Frank Vogel, said player’s role will go beyond coming off the bench on some occasions.
Following the Lakers’ practice on Thursday, Vogel revealed that he’s been thinking about his point guard rotation. While the thought had been that James would be the team’s point guard, Vogel revealed that he believes there will be games where Rajon Rondo gets the keys to the offense.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought and I think he’ll be in the starting lineup a lot,” Vogel said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I definitely envision a lot of games where he’ll be the starting point guard.”
Rondo was unable to play in the team’s first game due to a lingering calf issue, and while it is unknown if he’ll be able to play against the Utah Jazz on Friday night, Vogel said he “looked really good” in practice. Should he get inserted into the starting lineup, it stands to reason he’d replace Avery Bradley, as James and Davis are untouchable, JaVale McGee plays the 5, and Danny Green both looked great against the Clippers and provides invaluable perimeter defense and floor spacing.
As for whether Rondo is the answer in the backcourt, that’s unclear. He’s not the player he was at his peak, and his inability to consistently hit shots from the perimeter could very easily be a problem with James, Davis, and a big man on the floor, but he can still distribute and take some of the playmaking burden off of James. It’s an imperfect solution, but it’s early enough in the season that Los Angeles can test things out and see if they’re worth continuing, so whenever he gets healthy, it sounds like we’re going to see a whole lot of Rajon Rondo.
