Lakers News: Jarred Vanderbilt Reflects On Being Promoted To Starting Lineup

Will it last?

Your Los Angeles Lakers managed to curtail a four-game losing streak last night in resplendent fashion, when they snagged a 129-120 victory over one of the West's best, the 18-9 Oklahoma City Thunder.

A big sea change happened in Darvin Ham's starting five ahead of the bout Saturday, when LA's second-year head coach demoted starting point guard D'Angelo Russell, made All-NBA starting power forward LeBron James into starting point guard LeBron James, and upgraded veteran power forward Jarred Vanderbilt into a starting role.

Every starter in this new jumbo-sized lineup was at least 6'6".

Left heel inflammation had kept Vanderbilt on the shelf for the team's first 20 contests of the season, and he's still finding his voice on offense, but his much-vaunted perimeter defense has been a shot in the arm for the Lakers since he return.

He spoke at length about how he's regaining his playing form, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register.

“Physically I feel good,” Vanderbilt said. “It’s been in a few games now, so I’ve been able to try to get some rhythm and kind of catch a routine of how this year is gonna go as far as me physically and my body and maintaining throughout the season. I think I’m physically ready.”

Ham also revealed his thinking behind the change.

“When you play great defense, it makes the offense a little bit easier,” he explained. “And so just wanted to lean into that side of the ball. Obviously, we’ve been struggling in a lot of first quarters this season so we feel like being a little bit bigger on the perimeter, more athletic gives us a chance to really have this go in our favor this time.”

Across his nine healthy games this year, the 6'8" Kentucky product is averaging just one point on 20% field goal shooting, as essentially a scoring afterthought. He's also logging four rebounds while playing just 15.2 minutes a night. In the Thunder game, He played 23:45, making just one field goal on 1-of-4 shooting, while also pulling down six rebounds, blocking one shot and swiping on steal. 

The 24-year-old registered a +5 plus-minus on the evening. His backup, the more offensively versatile Rui Hachimura, played more minutes (29:35) and got way more offensive looks, scoring 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. Hachimura also pulled down six boards, notched two assists and stole the ball. He may make more sense offensively for LA, if the team can piece together enough defensive moxie on the wing without Vanderbilt starting. We shall see.