Name: Who will help the Lakers more in the playoffs: J.R. Smith or Dion Waiters?
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Who will help the Lakers more in the playoffs: J.R. Smith or Dion Waiters?

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Jul 9, 2020 owes a belated thank you to referee Marc Davis and former teammate . Without either, back in mid-May of 2016, Waiters would’ve been elevated into exclusive company, high atop the list of most consequential playoff blunders of all time, a tick or two below new teammate J.R. Smith, who is perhaps the gold standard.The context: vs. , Game 2, a second-round matchup with more stakes than usual. San Antonio was a 67-win team trying to get one more ring before ’s retirement. Oklahoma City was a dangerous, desperate 3 seed requiring (and nearly getting) a championship run to cling onto franchise legend and soon-to-be free agent .Down 1-0, the Thunder needed the Game 2 road win. They were up 98-97 with 13 seconds left, holding possession. Waiters was used as the inbounder. The Spurs pressured. Nobody broke open quickly. flailed around in Waiters’ grill. Feeling the heat, Waiters lunged forward, from out of bounds, and elbowed Ginobili — an obvious violation and crucial turnover.But Davis, standing and staring from about five feet away, never flinched. He didn’t blow the whistle. That was the first favor. But Waiters was still in a panic, so he rocked back from the shove-off and flung a high-risk, three-flies-up lob pass into traffic at center court. — hey, another current Laker — outmaneuvered Durant in the scramble and set up the Spurs on an advantageous fast break to take the late lead.That’s where Adams delivered the second favor. Check out the clipped sequence below, which includes an irate Chris Webber on the announcing crew destroying the Davis no-call. If Adams doesn’t fly back into the action, stop a layup, cut off Ginobili’s lane and contest the corner 3, the Thunder probably lose both this game and the series. They instead won both, saving Waiters from partial blame for Durant’s eventual OKC departure.Smith’s legendary playoff blunder didn’t include a bailout and doesn’t need a full rehash. I’m guessing you remember it. certainly does. It cost Cleveland its shot at a 2018 finals upset. If you want a refresh, .All of this is to say: It’s a bit risky to rely upon either Smith or Waiters when your season is in the balance. Wacky decisions, sometimes ill-timed, are part of their basketball bingo card. You might get four 3s, you might get five straight bricks, you might get a forgotten score in the final seconds.The Lakers doubled down, signing Waiters before the season froze and Smith after the ice finally thawed to pair them together as teammates for the first time. But the risk of employing both is minimized from their recent past. The started Smith. Waiters was the Thunder’s highest-usage sub. Both averaged around 30 minutes. As our Bill Oram , nobody in Lakers land believes that’ll be the case in Orlando. They enter on the outside of the likely rotation, trying to nudge their way into it.But they’ll be given an opportunity. opted out of the restart. His 24 minutes per night are up for grabs. should add a few to his plate. He’s the presumed replacement starter. has proven trustworthy. He climbs one step up on the rotational ladder. But the 2020 NBA is a bigger guard and wing’s world. Stand 6-foot-4 and above, prove useful next to LeBron James, and will find some time for you.“I don’t know where they’re going to fit into a rotation,” Vogel said of Smith and Waiters on a recent Zoom call with reporters. “Whether it’s going to be both of them, one of them, neither of them, those answers will play out over the two, three weeks of training camp, the scrimmages and seeding games.”Practices in Orlando begin on Saturday. The Lakers’ first scrimmage is against the on July 23. Their first of eight seeding games is July 30 against the Clippers. Before, during and after, COVID-19 looms as an unprecedented threat. Positive tests could sideline anyone for two weeks or longer (along with the real-world health concerns). That has upped the importance of rotational depth in this strange new basketball world. Smith or Waiters could be thrust into far more important roles at any time, without warning.They’ll also get a prime chance to earn it. The Lakers enter the seeding games atop the West by 5 1/2 games. There’s almost zero chance the Clippers catch them. Across the bracket, Milwaukee’s better record is also no longer a concern because jostling for home court in a theoretical finals doesn’t actually include true home court anymore. So the eight seeding games are essentially preseason for the Lakers, allowing Vogel to ease in his stars, limit minutes, tinker with different lineup combinations and try out Waiters and Smith.“They’ll have opportunities in those seeding games to show what they can do and how they fit,” Vogel assured.If you assumed full health and mapped out a playoff rotation, it might be a 2-for-1 proposition — two roll-of-the-dice signings competing for the final available supplementary guard/wing minutes behind Green, Pope, Caruso and a little . So who’s more likely to get them — Waiters or Smith?Smith would probably get more votes. He’s the more accomplished pro and had a better track record as LeBron’s former teammate, which we all know carries a ton of weight. Waiters, a former third overall pick, didn’t work out as a young chucker in Cleveland. The Cavaliers, assuredly with LeBron’s blessing, traded Waiters in the middle of his third season for — ready for this? — a package that included Smith.Smith lasted for four-and-a-half seasons in Cleveland, earning his last big contract (negotiated by Rich Paul) because of some huge nights in important moments. The season the Cavaliers won the title, he made 65 3-pointers in that postseason, including 12 in the four title-clinching wins over the . He once went an absurd 17-of-27 from 3-point range over a mini-stretch of three finals game. He’s actually ninth in NBA history in career playoff 3s, squeezed in between and Derek Fisher.So the resume is much bulkier than Waiters’. But it’s not 2017 anymore. Smith is now 35. The Cavaliers cut him and ate a large chunk of his remaining money. He hasn’t played an NBA game in 20 months. When the Lakers brought them in for separate workouts earlier this year — though Vogel said both looked great and shot well — they chose Waiters, who is only 28. That’s an early hint of who is a smidgen ahead in the pecking order.Waiters hasn’t exactly had the normal progression of a player entering his prime. His breakout season came as a 24-year-old with the Thunder when he did provide a huge bench boost, previous blunder notwithstanding. Surrounded by two ball-dominant stars (as he will be with the Lakers), Waiters accepted a reserve role, made a sturdy 38 percent of his playoff 3s, guarded with energy and focus, scored double-digits in three conference finals wins over the Warriors and was an inch away from a key role on a finals team before went berserk in Game 6.The next season, in Miami on another expiring deal, Waiters took it to another level. Now starting, he averaged 15.8 points and 4.3 assists, made 39.5 percent of his 3s and had clutch moments. That summer, Pat Riley rewarded Waiters — once represented by Rob Pelinka, currently represented by Rich Paul — with a four-year, $52 million extension.Finally secure, Waiters saw his production take a nose dive. Injuries, inefficiency and conditioning trouble led to a lack of availability, a diminished role and eventually a deteriorated relationship with the organization. They salary-dumped him to Memphis in a trade. The immediately cut him and ate the rest of his contract. At 28, he was available to the Lakers on a make-good midseason minimum deal.But historically, Waiters has played better in expiring-contract situations. Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe it’s the extra motivation, but Waiters’ NBA future is certainly in limbo as he heads to Orlando. If he does very little, he may enter the offseason as a minimum non-guarantee candidate. If he makes noise, if he cracks the Lakers’ regular rotation and has some moments, he could vault into multiyear, midlevel type money.Waiters has been more relevant more recently. He actually scored 14 points in 18 bench minutes against the Clippers in January (see below). The Lakers would take a night or two of that in the conference finals. But Smith has the better track record. We’ll see which of the two — or neither, or both — emerges once the Lakers re-emerge a few weeks from now.(Top photo of Dion Waiters: Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Jul 9, 2020 owes a belated thank you to referee Marc Davis and former teammate . Without either, back in mid-May of 2016, Waiters would’ve been elevated into exclusive company, high atop the list of most consequential playoff blunders of all time, a tick or two below new teammate J.R. Smith, who is perhaps the gold standard.The context: vs. , Game 2, a second-round matchup with more stakes than usual. San Antonio was a 67-win team trying to get one more ring before ’s retirement. Oklahoma City was a dangerous, desperate 3 seed requiring (and nearly getting) a championship run to cling onto...

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Anthony Slater

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Who will help the Lakers more in the playoffs: J.R. Smith or Dion Waiters?

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