Reasonable choice! Signing Smart! The Lakers asked, who plays as a substitute, Rivers is far ahead

On July 20, the Lakers completed heavy-duty signings again. Of course, the reason why this is heavy-duty is that compared to the Lakers' usual stingy behavior, signing Smart for $11 million in two years. The Lakers finally have a defensive player on the back line. The Lakers media also released a questionnaire at the first time, who should play as a substitute in Rivers or Smart?

Just today, shams released first-hand news again. The Lakers got an unexpected player, that is Smart. So what position should the Lakers give him after Smart comes? Play as a starter or a substitute? Under normal circumstances, of course they play as a substitute, but considering the current abnormal lineup of the Lakers, starting is not impossible.

Let's take a look at the vote initiated by the Lakers media. So far, a total of 32,394 people participated in the vote. There were 19,848 people supporting Rivers as a substitute, accounting for as high as 61%, while there were 12,546 people supporting Smart as a substitute, accounting for 39%. It can be seen that the number of people who support Rivers as a substitute is far ahead. It is indeed a very reasonable choice.

Some netizens suggested that Rivers could play a fake starter, and that his playing time would be staggered with Doncic!

The reason why Rivers was asked to play as a substitute was mainly to protect Doncic. Just like the Mavericks did at the time, sharing the pressure for Doncic on the defensive end, so that Doncic could attack with all his strength and display his talents.

But some fans said that Smart is no longer the defensive player he used to be. He has become out of shape and is too fat and has no ability to play as a starting player.

It is obvious that in the eyes of most people, they support Rivers as a substitute. Indeed, this choice is more reasonable and the reasons are very clear.

First, Rivers and Doncic are not in line with each other. Their style of play can be said to be exactly the same. They have a comprehensive offensive skills. They both like to make fouls, have no defense, and both need to have a ball in hand, so they can't play without the ball.

Second, another possibility is to let James play as a substitute, but the problem is that James' ability to play without the ball is better than Rivers and Doncic. To give a very simple example, after all, James can get an aerial call. Just imagine, Rivers passes the ball to Doncic, or Doncic passes the ball to Rivers, what tactics can he play?

Third, when Doncic and Rivers appeared together, the scene was really unbearable to look at. The scene from last season was still vivid in my mind. Edwards chased Doncic and Randall chased Rivers, and there was no solution at all.

Then Doncic is undoubtedly the boss of the Lakers now, and Rivers can only retreat to the substitute, but this has another new problem and a relatively complex problem. How can Rivers be willing to play as a substitute? There are also several problems.

1. Rivers is now a star. Letting players of his level play substitute is not just a matter of arrangement, just like Westbrook came to the Lakers at that time. In order to let him play substitute, the Lakers can be said to have sacrificed two seasons, and Vogel was forced away. And Rivers is the same, so this is not easy to deal with.

2. The Lakers are going to renew Rivers' contract, so what we need to do now is to please Rivers. Although many people think Rivers is worthless and should trade him, the Lakers attach great importance to Rivers and cannot let it go. If they really want to let it go, they would have let it go long ago.

3. It can be said that Rivers is a future part of the Lakers. From the attitude of the Lakers' management, it can be seen that he was given a contract at that time, and Rivers directly refused. Then the Lakers immediately clarified that this was just a formality, and the team will definitely renew the contract with Rivers. In addition, how did Laravia come to the Lakers? Isn’t that the only one who has a good relationship with Rivers? It can also be seen from this aspect that the Lakers are meeting Rivers' various requirements.

And some netizens even mentioned the key to the problem. Rivers is a player waiting to sign a big contract, while Smart is just a player who was bought out. The two are not players of the same level and have different status, so it is clear at a glance who plays as the starter and who plays as the substitute. There is nothing to argue about.

So, everyone knows that it is better to let Rivers play as a substitute, but the relationship here is very complicated, and this matter is not easy to deal with. It depends on whether it can be achieved after playing for a while in the new season? Of course, some people think that James should play as a substitute, which is fine, but in essence, this cannot solve the problem of poor defenders' defense, so it depends on Rivers.