Forum Blue and Gold explores some options for the Lakers if Bynum cannot go extensive minutes the rest of the way. One of them involves playing Ron Artest on Glen Davis.
3). Play Ron more at PF against Davis. If Bynum really is going to be
limited, those extra front court minutes have to go somewhere. And with
all apologies to Mbenga and Powell, I’d rather it be Ron matching up
with Big Baby than those two. Ron has the foot speed and the strength
to battle Davis on his drives and the length to contest his jumper and
still rebound effectively. Before the series started, Phil said that
Davis is the type of player that Ron can play some PF against and I
think he should see if his first instinct was right about that. I know
we just got done talking about what Odom can do to effectively play
Davis, but the C’s have four player rotation and there will be plenty of
minutes to go around to match up with all of these players. If the
Lakers hope to not wear out Odom and Gasol, they’ll need another player
that they can trust in this PF rotation. And if Walton does see more
minutes (as mentioned above), then Ron can be moved around a bit more
and used in places where he’s most useful – which may just be matched
up on Baby.
limited, those extra front court minutes have to go somewhere. And with
all apologies to Mbenga and Powell, I’d rather it be Ron matching up
with Big Baby than those two. Ron has the foot speed and the strength
to battle Davis on his drives and the length to contest his jumper and
still rebound effectively. Before the series started, Phil said that
Davis is the type of player that Ron can play some PF against and I
think he should see if his first instinct was right about that. I know
we just got done talking about what Odom can do to effectively play
Davis, but the C’s have four player rotation and there will be plenty of
minutes to go around to match up with all of these players. If the
Lakers hope to not wear out Odom and Gasol, they’ll need another player
that they can trust in this PF rotation. And if Walton does see more
minutes (as mentioned above), then Ron can be moved around a bit more
and used in places where he’s most useful – which may just be matched
up on Baby.
As physical as Ron Artest is, I'm not sure he has the strength to keep Davis out of the paint and off the offensive boards.
If the Lakers do try this, Doc could create a match-up problem by substituting Paul Pierce for Ray Allen on the second unit (TA plays the 2 and Nate at the 1). Who covers Pierce then? Odom? Luke Walton?
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