Slim The Rotation Down

Another key problem the Lakers have right now is the fact that they are playing too many guys on any given night. Old age and durability are a problem for the Lakers, which is why they have had to use so many players off the bench in recent weeks. 

However, the Lakers really do not need to be playing 12 or 11 players in every single game, as their younger talents in Talen Horton-Tucker, Stanley Johnson, Malik Monk, and Austin Reaves can easily play 25-plus minutes every game. 

The best part about giving these guys more minutes too is that the Lakers know that they will get a lot of energy and fight from these four players. 

Veterans like Wayne Ellington, Kent Bazemore, and others have their moments, but they are not high-hustle guys and none of the Lakers veterans seem willing to sacrifice their bodies out on the floor even to dive on a loose ball. 

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Reaves, Horton-Tucker, and the other younger guys on this team are willing to fight for all 48 minutes in-game, which is why they need to be rewarded with more minutes. 

The Lakers have nothing to gain by going deep into their bench for production, especially if the guys on their bench are only scoring a basket or two in 20 minutes per game. 

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Carmelo Anthony, Talen Horton-Tucker, Stanley Johnson, and D.J. Augustin should be the only four players on the Lakers bench that are a part of the main rotation. Everyone else, should they enter the game, should not be for more than 5-6 minutes in total simply because they do not give the necessary effort that the Lakers need to win games right now.