When Byron Scott announced his first major lineup change of the season on Dec. 7, he also said that it would be subject to change after about a 10-game sample size.
Exactly 10 contests later, the head coach said at Saturday’s practice that he will keep his current starters — Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams, Kobe Bryant, Larry Nance Jr. and Roy Hibbert — together for at least three more games through the end of the calendar year.
Scott reasoned that it’s difficult to make changes when the team has been on the road so much, thus limiting practice time for a new starting unit to find cohesion.
The Lakers are home for 12 of their 17 games in January, giving ample time for whatever lineup Scott trots out to get some run together at the El Segundo training facility.
Happy About Being Unhappy The biggest change in that initial lineup shift was Scott sending D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle to the bench. As one would expect, the lottery picks weren’t thrilled about the move, which pleased their head coach.
“The initial reaction of them not being happy — that’s a good thing,” Scott said. “They’re not supposed to be happy about it. But they didn’t show it that night of the game either. They both came out ready to play. To me, that shows some growth and maturity.”
After scoring 16 points in Friday’s loss to the Clippers, Russell highlighted his off-the-bench status as a source of motivation.
“You obviously don’t want to stay a reserve,” he said. “No disrespect, but you just want to keep that edge, like feeling like you should be starting.”
