As it stands Vladimir, Radmanovic is the starting small forward for the Los Angeles Lakers.
He is known for his three-point shooting—a great asset when you have two seven-footers in the paint.
The problem with Radmanovic is when he is not shooting the ball well, he is anything but an asset. He can be downright liability to the team. He is not a great ballhandler. He is not a good rebounder and his defense is okay, at best. Which why I say he should not be starting.
But who should start?
Most of you out there would say Trevor Ariza or Lamar Odom, but I disagree. The chemistry on the new fast-paced "bench mob" is awesome. I wouldn't change anything with the second lineup. Besides, neither Odom or Ariza is exactly a marksmen with the three-ball.
Which be brings me to my point that Walton should start. Here is why. Luke has shown that he can hit the three in a spot-up situation. Walton knows the triangle offense probably better than anyone on the team besides Derek Fisher or Kobe Bryant. So even when he is not shooting well, he will at least make the right cuts and the proper passes—unlike Vlad.
Walton is a much better ball handler, which would allow Kobe and Fish to play off the ball more. Walton is also more of a playmaker than Vlad. This would allow the Lakers to play a little faster with the first unit, because Walton can lead a break unlike Vlad.
Walton also plays better defense. He not a good man-to-man defender but he is an efficient team defender.
In my opinion, Walton is a more complete player than Vladimir. But as long as Vlad is shooting 44 percent from three-point land like last year he will continue to start. But if he continues to play a erratic as he has the past three games against New Orleans, Dallas and Houston, it may be time for change.
And I vote for Luke Walton.
6 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Bittu Ahlawat 7 months ago
Rod,
Luke is one of my favorite players on this team and as much as I would like to agree with you, how can you think that giving the starting SF job to Walton would be better for the team? Now, I do agree that Luke is more of a complete player than Vlad will ever be but he doesn't fill the roll that is required of the SF in that team. This team needs someone who can be 3 pt threat from any side of the court. Luke is nowhere the threat that Radmanovic poses to other teams when they go double up on Pau, Kobe, or Bynum.
Starting SF on Lakers just has to be ready for those catch and shoot 3's on offense and play sound team defense on the other hand. Vladimir is a streaky shooter, so there will be nights when he will 2 of 9 or 1 of 7. But its the other side of the picture that scares the other teams. Its the fact that when he does have it going, he can drop 3, 4 or 5 three's within few minutes on a team and that could be the difference in busting a game wide open. Teams will be much more willing to leave Walton open than Vladimir. Luke can hit the occasional three, but his game is more of 15 ft and in. I know Vladimir hasn't known to be a defensive presence, but so far in this young season, he is playing MUCH MUCH better team defense than Walton has played in the limited amount of time he has been on the floor. As far as rebounding goes, I am not quite sure where you got your numbers from, but given the same amount of the time on the floor, they both have averaged similar amount of rebounds. Walton on the other hand, does have a much better feel for the offensive rebounds than Vladimir.
If you wanted to make the argument of someone starting other than Vlad, it should have been Sasha. He played great tenacious defense during last season when he was on the floor. He can play off the ball real good, is a deadly 3 pt shooter and can handle the ball. If there was anyone who was going to start in place of Vlad (other than Odom), it was going to be Sasha who would have played the 2 and Kobe playing the 3, which is the position he really should be playing but thats a discussion for some other time.
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rod woolfolk 7 months ago
The problem with Vlad is that he turns the ball over and is constantly out of place within the offense. Walton has shown that he can hit a wide open jumper. I think Walton would give us another play maker on the floor which allows Kobe and Fish to play off the ball. If you Vlad the ball and he doesn't have the shot something bad is likely to happen. With Luke at least he will make the proper pass.
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Marcel Mansour 7 months ago
This is an absurd suggestion. To be honest, Walton shouldn't be in the NBA. He isn't good at anything but passing but he is so slow and unathletic that it doesn't matter. He is one of the worst defensive players I have ever seen. While Vlade isn't good at all, the team needs his great outside shooting to spread the floor for Bynum and Gasol down low and for Kobe to drive without too much traffic.
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Deacon SOLO 7 months ago
odom plays good defense, can rebound, scores more than walton, and how much does he make? need i say more?!
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D.Michael Lee 7 months ago
I think Walton plays better as a starter and Odom and Ariza play better off the bench.
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Steven Jarjees 7 months ago
I think the Lakers are fine the way they are. I am a die hard Laker fan but I think Luke Walton is a complete scrub. Everytime I watch him play, he cant defend well, he is an inconsistent shooter, and makes many mistakes. The only thing he is good at is passing.
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