LeBron James & JJ Redick Discuss What Dorian Finney-Smith Has Brought To Lakers
A lot of the attention has naturally gone to the Los Angeles Lakers trading for Luka Doncic that their acquisition of Dorian Finney-Smith has largely gone under the radar.
Finney-Smith has made a big impact since joining the team though as his +162 plus/minus ranks second on the team behind only Austin Reaves. His shooting has been inconsistent, but his defensive impact and intangibles have been exactly what the Lakers need.
That was evident in the Lakers’ win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night as despite scoring just two points, Finney-Smith made a huge impact, particularly down the stretch in the fourth quarter. It’s little things like offensive rebounding, setting screens, coming up with steals and deflections that don’t end up in the box score but still impact winning that Finney-Smith always seems to do.
“We don’t win the game if Bron doesn’t take over, we don’t win the game if Doe doesn’t make three massive plays,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said after the win. “I’ve got another one that won’t show up on a box score. But Luka drives against the switch. … Luka gets the layup. He finally gets an actual dunk on the tip dunk, and not just touching the rim, while he puts the ball through and then, and then the back tap steal on Kyrie [Irving] that led to a Rui [Hachimura] basket. So I just thought he led the charge down the stretch of just making winning basketball plays.”
Redick has a previous relationship with Finney-Smith as they were teammates on the Mavericks, which allows him to coach him hard.
“I would say, with Doe, occasionally he needs some; what’s the opposite of gentle? Harsh needling, but he can take it, and then he just, he’s right back at it,” Redick said. “He normally does a fantastic job of just setting the tone with his toughness. We had some fun yesterday with the team, defining what a banshee is in different cultures and finding what a banshee is in Laker culture. And I think Doe is a banshee; he leads that charge for us. Sets the tone with with winning basketball plays.”
The Lakers have been looking for a 3-and-D wing for a handful of years now, and it appears they finally have one they can rely on.
LeBron James, who is used to being guarded by Finney-Smith when he was on the opposing team, also shared praise for his teammate and what he has brought to the Lakers.
“We knew exactly what we were getting when we got him,” James said. “We knew we’d get things in the boxscores and then there would be things that didn’t show up in the boxscore. He’s just a winning player, he makes winning plays. And like you said, those three plays right there down the stretch, the Gortat screen getting Luka that layup when the game was tied, I drove left on one of my possessions and missed a floater and he tip-dunked it in, and then to be able to get a tip from behind that got us another easy basket, three of the biggest plays of the game.
“So when you got guys like Doe Doe, you just always know he’s gonna make winning plays no matter if it’s in the first or the fourth quarter.”
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LeBron James praises what Dorian Finney-Smith brings to Lakers
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One impressive stat illustrates how valuable Dorian Finney-Smith is to the Lakers
It has been nearly two months since the Los Angeles Lakers made what has turned out to be a very underrated trade. In that trade, they sent out struggling guard D’Angelo Russell, seldom-used forward Maxwell Lewis and three future second-round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets for forward Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton.
Finney-Smith is the type of rangy 3-and-D forward the Lakers haven’t had in quite some time. Since joining them, he’s averaging 7.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 25.8 minutes a game while shooting 39.2% from 3-point range, which seems to suggest he’s merely a bit player.
But his overall impact has gone well beyond his numbers. Lakers beat reporter Mike Trudell posted an insane stat on X (formerly Twitter) that illustrated just how integral Finney-Smith has been to the team’s recent success. Per Trudell, the forward leads the team in plus/minus.
Of course, plus-minus isn’t an absolute way of measuring a player’s impact, and no advanced stat can do so. But it is one measure of how important Finney-Smith is to the current iteration of the Purple and Gold.
Another measure could be seen by thinking back to a Feb. 12 game at the Utah Jazz. Finney-Smith didn’t play that evening, and L.A. gave up 131 points and allowed the Jazz to shoot 52.3% from the field, leading to a 131-119 loss. Forward Jarred Vanderbilt, another defensive-minded player whose impact goes beyond his stats, also didn’t play, and the team simply lacked grit and resolve on that night.
Finney-Smith competes hard and mucks things up on the defensive end. He can mess up plays and do some of the little things that add up to big results. Every winning team needs a few players who will sacrifice scoring to focus on making such plays on defense.
Dorian Finney-Smith says he’s getting ‘butt-naked wide-open’ 3-pointers with Luka Dončić
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The Lakers offense is starting to click with Luka Dončić, leading to open shots. Or, as Dorian Finney-Smith called them, buck-naked wide-open 3-pointers.
Dorian Finney-Smith is one of the few players on the Lakers roster with a history of playing with Luka Dončić. The pair found success in Dallas previously before DFS was sent to Brooklyn as part of the Kyrie Irving trade.
After time away, the pair reunited this season in Los Angeles. And while they may have had history, it didn’t mean it was an immediate transition back to their time together. After years away from Luka, or any superstar player, with the Nets, DFS has had to readjust to playing alongside one.
Though, he said it in a way more hilarious way.
“I’m back getting wide-open shots where I feel like I got to rush when I really don’t have to,” Finney-Smith said. “I got plenty of time. The last couple years, I ain’t been playing with guys like Luka, so I’ve been getting hard closeouts. But now I got that time. You butt-naked wide-open. Excuse my language. You wide open, so you just got to shoot the ball with confidence.”
Butt-naked wide-open 3-pointers.
Those can only be created when playing next to someone like Luka, I assume. Because I haven’t heard of them before.
Unfortunately, “butt-naked wide-open” is not a designation in the NBA’s tracking data, which simply stops at “wide open” looks. But to that point, since Luka’s debut, all 18 of DFS’ 3-pointers have either been classified as open or wide open with 14 of those being the latter.
He has still connected on six of those 14 attempts, or 42.8% shooting, which is certainly a solid percentage. But there is still a likely adjustment period not just with getting wide open looks, but the types of 3-pointers he’ll have with Luka — and LeBron — the remainder of this season as compared to the looks he had with the Nets.
Fortunately, he has experience with those looks, so some muscle memory will kick in. And hopefully that means knocking down more butt-naked wide-open 3-pointers.
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