The Lakers gave Mitch Richmond the roster spot once occupied by Isaiah Rider and so far, they've assigned him the same role. A few minutes here and there, and nothing approaching a regular spot in the rotation, according to the LA Daily News.

He was expected by many to become the Lakers' go-to scorer off the bench. Instead, he's been squeezed into an unwieldy five-man guard rotation and is finding few opportunities to acclimate to new surroundings and a new offense.

Part of the difficulty has been the emergence of Devean George. With George playing heavy minutes behind Rick Fox, Jackson no longer needs to play Kobe Bryant at small forward, further clogging up the guard rotation.

In a tight game at Sacramento last week, Jackson tightened the rotation, and Richmond played just five minutes. Jackson doesn't necessarily envision a steady role for Richmond anytime soon.

"It's not like Mitch is a person that can go in there in two minutes or three minutes and get everything flowing for him," he said. "He needs to have a period of time to play and that is something that is not a luxury for us right now as the season goes by. Right now, we need instantaneous things to happen for us, particularly when we're on the road, and we don't have that luxury."