Jarred Vanderbilt is critical to the Lakers' being as good as they can be on defense. But to do that, he needs JJ Redick’s help to be his best on offense.
Help me help you.
While I’m not sure of origins of this specific axiom, I remember how the movie Jerry Maguire mainstreamed it into the consciousness of people my age. Watching Tom Cruise as an NFL agent damn near have a full emotional breakdown as he tries to help Cuba Gooding Jr. understand that his life as a diva wide receiver seeking a massive payday would be so much easier if he dropped his attitude problem and played more of a team-first game, only to have Gooding Jr. break into laughter and mock Cruise for his hysterics always funny to me.
Help me help you.
If you’re wondering what this has to do with the Lakers, well, I have been thinking a lot about Jarred Vanderbilt lately, and more specifically about his role on this version of the Lakers: why getting the most out of him is directly tied to this team being the best version it can be as a group and why, ultimately, Vando should be making an impassioned plea to JJ Redick much like Cruise did to Gooding Jr., asking his head coach to help him be a higher level contributor on offense so Vando can return the favor and help Redick experience more success in his first season as a head coach.
Since the Lakers acquired Vando at the 2023 trade deadline, I’ve not only been a believer in how he’s a useful player but in how he could help LeBron and Anthony Davis as a combo forward who thrived on doing the dirty work. A vision I had of him was the same archetype as Alex Caruso as a low-usage hustle player whose contributions defensively overshadowed some of his offensive shortcomings.
My belief in Vando only grew when I saw that he wasn’t just an offensive rebounding machine with some ability to handle the ball as a grab-and-go player who played with great energy on both ends, but that his defensive skill set could be deployed on a wide range of offensive talents with equal aplomb.
From Ja Morant to Brandon Ingram, Luka Doncic to Steph Curry or Devin Booker to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Vando could hound a variety of primary offensive weapons to make their lives harder through ball pressure, on-ball screen navigation, and relentless shot contesting.
But then the playoffs came.
And while still effective on defense in the first two rounds, we all saw Vando’s offensive limitations magnified and his playing time dwindle as a result. By the time the Lakers made it to the Western Conference Finals, he did more cheerleading from the sideline than charge-drawing on the court as the Nuggets effectively schemed him off the floor by ignoring him on offense to shrink the floor against a Lakers offense that couldn’t make them pay.
Last year, I was hoping for a bit of a redemptive tour from Vando. Coming off his playoff challenges, Vando still got an eight-figure extension and was the leader in the clubhouse to start at the other forward spot next to LeBron and AD. It was not meant to be, however, as an injury-riddled campaign was only made more frustrating by the inconsistent minutes and role doled out to him. Rather than jump right back into the mix when he returned from injury, Vando saw his minutes fluctuate in ways that belied the offseason cries for continuity that were supposed to build on that push to the West Finals.
The season was not all lost, however. In a stretch of games from January 19th through February 2nd, Vando had one of his best stretches in his short tenure as a Laker, particularly on offense. He scored in double digits six times in eight games and thrived as a cutter, roller and offensive rebounder in the half court while maximizing his opportunities to get out in transition both by filling the lane and by pushing the ball himself after clearing the defensive glass or forcing a turnover.
After not scoring more than eight points in his first 21 games of the season, Vando was suddenly slashing, diving, cutting and crashing his way to double figures almost every night. It all culminated with 10 points in just 16 first-half minutes vs. the Celtics before injuring his foot, sidelining him for the rest of the season.
There is, then, some evidence that pathways exist to activate Vanderbilt offensively in ways that he can make the defense pay for treating him as such a non-threat. Putting him into motion off the ball as a screener and cutter can use the defense’s inattentiveness toward him as a weapon.
For example, on a night he scored 17 points against the Bulls, Vando was often defended by the Bulls’ big man who would camp in the paint while Vando spaced to the weak side corner. But rather than just stand still and allow Andre Drummond to clog the paint as LeBron works a P&R and then a post-up, Vando cuts from the corner to the elbow, crossing the face of the wing defender showing help off Rui.
Once that defender reacts and looks for his own man, Vando darts right down the middle of the lane and receives a pass from LeBron for an easy dunk, capitalizing on Drummond losing sight of him.
Here, Vando executes the same idea on an AD post up, but in a different alignment. Because AD is posting on a cleared side, Vando is spaced to the opposite dunker’s spot while LeBron is in the corner. When AD starts to go into his move, Vando’s defender leaves him to go help against Davis. As that happens, Vando slides up the lane line as though he’s going to set a flare screen for D-Lo, but then cuts back down the paint, giving both Bulls weak side defenders a bit of a pause as he slides into their line of vision.
With the paint collapsed, AD kicks the ball out to LeBron who sees that Vando all alone under the basket and fires a pass for another easy dunk.
This sort of action with AD as the initial trigger-man and shot creator is especially important and can serve as a bit of foreshadowing. If AD is going to serve as more of a “hub” of offense as Redick has stated — particularly when operating out of the post — Vanderbilt can play an important role in those actions as both a weak side screener and cutter that capitalizes on the type of attention his superstar teammate draws when working from the low and mid-block.
Vando can find success against defenses not paying attention to him in ways go beyond cutting too. Against the Celtics, Vando is again being defended by a center and is spacing in the corner.
After getting the ball via a drive and kick, Vando immediately goes into a sequence of looking for a DHO, first with AD and then with Austin Reaves. Porzingis sags completely off him during these actions, but Vando recognizes this and eats up that space with the dribble and attacks the rim for a layup.
Outside of him cutting and screening his way to baskets while defenses only halfheartedly guard him, Vando can also use that inattentiveness to his benefit on the offensive glass.
Here he is again in the corner while his defender is completely shifted toward the paint trying to gum up the offense. Once Rui elevates for his jumper, Vando sees no one is marking him and crashes from the corner for an easy putback.
A through line between all of those clips is the combination of Vanderbilt’s recognition of the defense, how they’re guarding him and an aggression in getting to the gaps while making himself available as a scoring threat. But beyond that, there’s also an intentionality of where to position Vando on the floor, what actions to run with the team’s primary shot creators, and then how to use the space ceded to Vanderbilt and the inattention to him as a non-threat against the defense to create high-value scoring chances for him.
The Lakers were playing a 5-out style, but were running their offense through the post where their two best players are both red-alert threats and occupy defenses in ways they might not when spaced above the arc or in different types of actions. This then allows off-ball workers like Vando to capitalize on that extra attention — and in his case specifically, the lack of attention they naturally show him — for high-value baskets in and around the paint.
Looking ahead to this season, Redick can extract some of these same ideas from last year and apply them to how to best use Vanderbilt. Not just so Vando can score more effectively, but so that his defensive skill set can be on the floor more often and fill in the gaps around teammates who desperately need a player like him flanking them. A starting group of Bron, AD, Reaves, and Russell can light it up offensively but does not have that dynamic defensive threat on the wing who can partner with Davis to provide the perimeter buffer to complement his rim protection.
Vando can be that player defensively if he can find ways to stay on the court offensively. But to do that, Redick has to help him. And if he can, both will end up better off for it.
You can follow Darius on Twitter at @forumbluegold.
