The change in philosophy for the Lakers after acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith has been best seen in the increase of small ball lineups.

The Lakers, however, haven’t had overwhelming success with this approach in the admittedly small sample size. This may explain the latest reports that they haven’t completely committed to the small-ball approach.

In his most recent newsletter, Dan Woike of the LA Times said the Lakers are not only still scouring the trade market, but still looking for big men as well (emphasis added).

“OK, so I spoke with a league executive today about this and I want to try to shed light on how “trade targets” actually come to be in most cases. Usually teams first identify the kind of player they want or need and then they get to work on building a list of guys who have those qualities at the right price. They then call teams and touch base on a lot of players while trying to figure out who is actually available and what they cost (both today and in the future).

The Lakers’ primary trade target was Dorian Finney-Smith because they aggressively pursued him and probably gave up slightly more to get him a month before the trade deadline.

Like I wrote last week, I think toughness, athleticism and versatility are the traits they value most. They’re certainly looking at depth options at center. And ballhandling is expected to be another area they pursue. But a lot of the “targets” won’t totally shake out for another few weeks or so as the trade market gets clearer.”

This report from Woike preceded head coach JJ Redick’s remarks at practice on Thursday about returning to two-big lineups, which just further supports the reporting.

The Lakers have tried several big men this season to varying levels of success. After a decent second half of last season, Jaxson Hayes has underperformed and been injured so far this season.

Still, that’s more production than Christian Wood has provided as he has yet to play a game this season due to injury. As a result, the Lakers have had to rely on two-way big men in Christian Koloko, Armel Traore and, moving forward, Trey Jemison.

A bit of good fortune in Koloko becoming available this summer and being cleared early in the season has led to an unexpected boost as well this campaign. Still, the center position is one of the clearest areas on the roster for the Lakers to seek an upgrade.

Whether the Lakers play small, big, or a combination of both, the front court needs to be solidified for this team to be considered a real contender.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.