After Spencer Dinwiddie’s best performance as a Laker, his teammates and coaches all acknowledged they need that version of the guard the rest of the year.
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Spencer Dinwiddie’s tenure in Los Angeles hasn’t gone according to anyone’s plans. The guard came in as the top buyout signing this season and was expected to offer the Lakers some ball-handling and playmaking offensively that they needed with Gabe Vincent out most of the season.
Instead, his main, and infrequent, contributions to the Lakers have come on the other end of the floor. And while he had a hand in one of the biggest wins of the year with his defense, the Lakers didn’t need another defense-first guard.
It led to his recent comments at practice in which he said he was playing in a “Reggie Bullock role” with Spencer Dinwiddie expectations, a comment he clarified was not one made out of frustration but rather one clarifying how he felt.
Friday, though, was a look at what the Lakers had hoped for when they signed Dinwiddie. The guard had his best game of the season, scoring 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers to help the Lakers grind out a win against the Sixers.
Postgame, everyone from Darvin Ham to Dinwiddie’s teammates all noted that is the version of Dinwiddie the team needs to find success.
“We’ve had full confidence he can do it,” Ham said. “Again, it’s just a matter of him learning his teammates, getting in a rhythm and learning where to be on the floor and just being in attack mode…He’s just, more and more each game, getting more and more comfortable.
“Everyone around him is encouraging him because we’re going to need him and he’s going to be in the mix. Just for him, be confident and continue to soak up all the information so there’s corporate knowledge and, eventually, it’ll be seamless.”
“We constantly preach to him to be himself, to be Spencer Dinwiddie,” Davis added, “don’t be passive trying to pass the ball looking for guys. That’s what he do but, at the same time, we want him to be aggressive. When he’s open, shoot the ball, attacking the basket, finishing. You can tell he’s getting more and more comfortable at just playing basketball. What he did tonight, we’re going to need from him these last 12 games we have and then more.”
With Vincent’s absence, the Lakers have needed more ballhandlers, particularly with their two primary ones starting together. Dinwiddie was expected to be that option and while his ability to handle the ball hasn’t diminished, his effectiveness with it has.
Coming into Friday’s games, Dinwiddie was shooting 35.4% from the field and 33.3% from the 3-point line. He was averaging just 2.7 assists in his 23.3 minutes per game, a number buoyed by 14 assists in her first three games.
Even with Vincent looking set to return this season, Dinwiddie will remain an x-factor on the roster. His size, length and playmaking is something the Lakers don’t have in the backcourt.
It’s the reason LeBron called him a difference-maker postgame on Friday. The Lakers need him to make a difference more over their final dozen games of the regular season.