The Lakers have found plenty of success without 6'11", 265-pound former All-Star DeAndre Jordan in their starting lineup, notching consecutive wins over the Houston Rockets thus far to move to a 5-3 record on the season. In DJ's stead, 6'10" Anthony Davis has upgraded from power forward to his more natural position of center. LeBron James and Kent Bazemore have shifted up a spot, too.
It's high time this was a permanent choice. And, heck, it's high time that DeAndre Jordan wasn't even anointed the first center off the bench.
Unfortunately, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel threatened to return Jordan to the team's starting lineup "soon" for matchup purposes, indicating that the change was designed to address the Rockets' athleticism and relative lack of size up front. Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register provides context here:
The concept of letting matchups dictate the identity of LA's fifth starter, be it Avery Bradley at shooting guard in smaller lineups or a non-Anthony Davis center in larger ones, makes sense on paper to this reporter.
Really, the issue is the identity of that non-Anthony Davis center.
Yes, Dwight Howard's rotational fit as a reserve center is a good idea. And normally, that should be where he stays. But DeAndre Jordan should never spend another iota of game time as the Lakers' starting center, no matter the lineup the Lakers are matched up against. Howard could be a "break glass in case of emergency"-type starter, pressed into service at tipoff against the behemoths of the league (Nikola Jokic, perhaps?) if head coach Frank Vogel prefers his strength and defensive acuity.
Though Jordan is still capable of the occasional highlight reel dunk, there is no question that at this juncture in his career, he is at best a third-string big man. He is no longer the All-Defensive juggernaut he was in his prime with the Lakers' Staples Center neighbors, the "Lob City" Clippers.
Oh and speaking of highlight reel dunks, here's one in slow-motion from yesterday:
In eight games this season, Jordan is averaging 5.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks a night across 14.2 minutes of action. In his current form, Jordan doesn't give the Lakers a broad-enough offensive portfolio on the other end to truly merit consideration as a starter. Granted, he is shooting a totally bonkers 84.6% from the field (albeit on just 3.3 looks a night, mostly on a diet of dunks and put-backs), a number so historic it will invariably have to come down. He also is registering an incredibly lackluster -0.3 plus-minus this year. His peak tally during his Clippers heyday (2014-15) was +7.6.
At this stage of their careers, Dwight Howard is more mobile and defensively versatile, and provides the kind of old-school rim-rolling and lob-catching contributions on offense necessary to be a great two-way contributor in spot minutes, over DeAndre Jordan.
That's not to say that, as effectively the third center, Jordan shouldn't get a little time. Just, you know, not much more than 5-10 minutes or so. And ideally just during blowouts.
In summation, though the Lakers should feel free to tinker with their rotations, their solution for the occasional non-Anthony Davis starting center should be the still-good Dwight Howard, not DeAndre Jordan, as soon as Dwight recovers from his neck stiffness issues.
More must-reads: