The Los Angeles Lakers have gone through a tough path lately.
With Anthony Davis out of the lineup, Frank Vogel and David Fitzdale have had to hit the drawing board over and over, even starting LeBron James at center.
LeBron, who had never played at the five throughout his illustrious career, has done an outstanding job at being the man in the middle thus far.
Then again, one would have to wonder how much his body can endure that physical burden at 37-years-old.
Even so, it seems like coach Vogel isn't ready to go back to his usual lineups.
Recently, he claimed that he's going to continue to start LeBron James at the five even when Anthony Davis is ready to come back from his injury:
"Frank Vogel just indicated that, with LA’s success over the past month with center-less lineups, the Lakers will likely use Anthony Davis and LeBron James as their two primary centers once AD returns," reported Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Playing at the five will require more physicality and enduring tougher matchups for the Lakers veteran, yet he won't shy away from the challenge and will do whatever it takes to help the purple and gold get back on track:
“Obviously, that has always been part of my objective or who I am as a basketball player to be able to take on matchups that help our ball club,” James said after the game vs. the Timberwolves, per LakersNation.
The Lakers haven't fared nearly half as well as they thought they'd do this season, and a lot of that has to do with Davis.
Even when he was healthy, he was rather passive on both ends of the floor and often settled for contested jumpers, shooting just 17.9% form beyond the arc.
Whether it's health-related or mental, the team needs Davis to go back to being the same two-way force he was when he first came from the New Orleans Pelicans.
However, Carmelo Anthony has done an outstanding job of filling the void off the bench for the Lakers, with LeBron calling him a "breath of fresh air".
“He never gets too high, never gets too low… He’s accepted who he is and he’s great at it and I’m happy to finally say I get a chance to team with him for a season," LeBron said.
Anthony is averaging nearly 14 points on 42% shooting and has carried the team's stagnant offense through stretches, so it'll be interesting to see how his minutes stack up once Davis is back.
