The Lakers are at 5-16, and coach Byron Scott is ready to shake things up. After losing to the Celtics on Friday, 113-95, Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin — their two biggest offseason pickups — have been relegated to the bench, replaced by Ed Davis and Ronnie Price, respectively.
Per Lakers.com beat reporter, Mike Trudell, comes news of the demotion and how it affected each player:
The starting line up changes Byron Scott said would come after the game in Boston will be Price and Davis for Lin and Boozer.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) December 7, 2014
Scott said Carlos Boozer wasn't happy about his demotion, which made Scott feel better, actually. Wouldn't expect him to be pleased.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) December 8, 2014
Scott said Jeremy Lin took his removal from the starting line up pretty well. Had a meeting in Scott's office; Lin said he understood.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) December 8, 2014
Among two-man lineups who have logged at least 200 minutes together for the Lakers this season, the Lin-Boozer pairing has the lowest net rating of any non-Jordan Hill tandem on the team, with opponents scoring 118.3 points per 100 possessions when they share the floor. That’s over six points more than the league worst Lakers are overall: 111.9 defensive rating.
Consequently, each player struggles on their own, too: Boozer has the worst net rating on the team, -13.8, for anyone not named Steve Nash or Julius Randle. Lin isn’t much better better at -13.7.
Boozer played OK coming off the bench against the Pelicans on Sunday in LA’s 104-87 loss with 12 points on 6-for-12 shooting. But he also had the second worst plus/minus with the Lakers getting out-scored by 15 when he was on the court. Lin struggled shooting the ball (1/6), but he did have four assists and only one turnover in under 20 minutes of action; the Lakers were out-scored by nine with Lin on the court.
LA has to do something and the sieve Lin and Boozer represent on the defensive end when both share the court cannot be the norm going forward if LA is to have any chance of saving face this season.
(all stats courtesy of NBA.com)
Should Lin and Boozer come off the bench the rest of the way?
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