Dorian Finney-Smith vocal on Lakers defense amid minutes restriction update

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LOS ANGELES – When the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Dorian Finney-Smith in a deal with the Brooklyn Nets, they acquired the type of wing defender they lacked since the departures of Alex Caruso, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Danny Green. With almost one month having passed since the trade, the Lakers early returns on Dorian Finney-Smith are very promising, especially on defense, amid a minutes restriction.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick recently mentioned that Dorian Finney-Smith was on a minutes restriction due to an ankle injury he had been dealing with since early in the regular season. But this month, Redick was allowed to increase Finney-Smith's minutes.

The result was his best performance yet as a Laker during the team's 111-88 win against the Washington Wizards on Jan. 21. He poured in 16 points while shooting 4-0f-6 from the three-point line. But even with the big offensive night, it was his defensive activity that really impacted the win. Following that game, Finney-Smith spoke about his approach on defense since joining the team.

"I'm just trying to make sure my voice is heard, my presence is felt. When I'm out there, just trying to be one of the loudest guys on the court," Finney-Smith said. "I can hear it bouncing back to me with LeBron and AD, they get to talking too once I get to yelling a lot. It's been fun. I enjoy being out there with those guys. We just got to. . .collect wins."

Dorian Finney-Smith's impact for Lakers

Since joining the Lakers, Finney-Smith's presence has been felt, as he said. He recently got his first start since the trade during the Lakers' 118-108 win against the Golden State Warriors, amid Rui Hachimura's absence. He finished with eight points and three rebounds while shooting 2-0f-3 from the three-point line.

He played 26 minutes, the most he's played since joining the Lakers. With an increase in minutes, Redick believes that Finney-Smith will be a major beneficiary from playing alongside the rest of the group.

"Doe is a guy who, since day one in the NBA, has embraced his role, so the role is constant with him. And that's being a hard-nose, switchable defender, being active with his hand defensively, being a talker, being a screener, cutter, spot-up shooter," Redick said. "He's never going to step outside that role. . .we obviously hope that if he's out there with more minutes, and we're playing good, connected offense, that he will be the beneficiary of that by his ability to space, his ability to attack closeouts and his ability to cut."

An increase in playing time after a minutes restriction is going to take some getting used to, and against the Wizards, Finney-Smith joked about getting very winded early in the game.

"It's been a crazy two to three weeks. . .under a minutes restriction, it's tough sometimes definitely trying to find your groove with a team," Finney-Smith said. "I probably played for the longest stretch in that first half. It felt like my lungs were going to collapse, but it's been fun playing with these guys, just trying to collect some wins."

Since joining the Lakers, Finney-Smith has been averaging 6.5 points and 2.9 rebounds with splits of 46.9 percent shooting from the field, 41.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and 80 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

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