What is this Los Angeles Lakers Team?
When Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson were hired two years ago, they had one goal in mind, sign max-caliber free agents. The moves they made during their two years reflected that mentality, and many scoffed at their cap-clearing trades leading up to 2018 free agency. Trading away D'Angelo Russell, a former No. 2 pick, just to unload Timofey Mozgov's exorbitant 4-year/$64 million dollar deal, and offloading two young depth pieces in Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. for expiring contracts in Isiah Thomas and Channing Frye seemed like the kind of short sighted moves that would land them in the same pit of despair they were in these past five seasons. There were big designs to land Paul George and LeBron, and even acquire disgruntled superstar Kawhi Leonard via trade. That ended up not being the case, as George re-signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the San Antonio Spurs shipped Leonard as far as possible from the City of Angels.
Still, Magic was able to land his white whale in LeBron James, which makes them the undisputed winners of this free agency. The signings that followed however, seem to be right out of a ridiculous fan-fiction story, that you would see on r/nba. Javale McGee, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, and Michael Beasley make up the rest of the free agent signings for the Lakers following their acquisition of LeBron, a proverbial suicide squad of NBA rejects that the basketball community has quickly dubbed the "meme-team". But is there more to this team than meets the eye? Let's go through each of the signings and see how they'll fit into this LeBron centric Lakers squad.
Rajon Rondo
Boston fans look away. Rondo wearing a Celtics jersey is one of those things that just doesn't seem right. Magic brought in the former NBA champ for his high basketball IQ and playoff experience, both of which Rondo has in spades. No one doubts Rondo's ability come crunch time, it's his deficiencies in shooting, and defense that make him a question mark next to LeBron, who thrives in a system surrounded by perimeter defenders and three-point shooting. Rondo's best fit is as a sixth-man, orchestrating the offense whenever James sits. With players like Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, and Svi Mykhailiuk, who all excel as off-ball shooters, Rondo is going to have a pu-pu platter of guys to pass to. Bottom line, Rondo should probably never be on the floor at the same time as LeBron.
Michael Beasley
A former No. 2 pick in his own right, Beasley has bounced around the league after being drafted by the Miami Hear back in 2008. Last year with the Knicks, he posted stellar averages of 13 points and 6 rebounds as a bench-scorer. I'm not the biggest fan of this signing as this means that there may be less opportunities for Kyle Kuzma, but at the same time, we saw Kuzma's efficiency drop when he was given heavy minutes, so letting Beasley take some of the pressure off in terms of scoring may prove to be a benefit for Kuz. With his defensive limitations, and his tendency to be a black hole on offense Beasley should be capped at 10-12 MPG at most, and should really only be used as a temporary replacement should someone go down with an injury, or as a stop gap for guys like Kuzma, LeBron, or Ingram.
Javale McGee
Javale McGee is a great pick-and-roll big and is still an incredibly athletic rim-runner and LeBron should have no problem finding McGee rolling to the rim, or catching him for alley-oops. However, McGee is still an energy guy at the end of the day and should be played sparingly and in short spurts. Interestingly enough, McGee is one of the only established Centers on the roster, after Julius Randle signed with the Pelicans and Brook Lopez signed with the Bucks, leaving Ivica Zubac as the only other true Center. With that in mind, McGee might be in line to play significant minutes, as he is the only big on the roster who can keep up with the Laker's fast paced offense.
Lance Stephenson
After blowing in LeBron's ear in the 2014 ECF, and giving us quite possibly one of the greatest GIFs of all time, Lance and LeBron are going to be teammates. Lance proved to be a dynamic playmaker off the bench for Indiana, but also had the tendency to do...well...Lance things as well. Lance isn't a particularly great shooter, nor is he a dynamic defender, but he does bring a sense of toughness and attitude that could be an asset to this Lakers team. His role should really be kept to a bench position, but even then, his lack of shooting and defense may prove to be a little redundant with Rajon Rondo, both of whom play best with the ball in their hands. For Lance to be successful on this Lakers squad, he needs to improve his three-point shooting, and become a much better defender, both of which are going to be incredibly difficult for the 27 year old to do.
On paper, this Lakers squad doesn't make much sense, and once we get to the start of the season in October, we're going to be saying the same thing. However, LeBron is a guy who is constantly able to bring the best out of his teammates, and having guys who have been on deep playoff runs in Lance, Rondo, and Javale is still a valuable asset that can't really be measured in numbers or stats. As talented as the young core of Ingram/Ball/Kuzma is, they still have zero playoff experience, so there is some value in bringing on guys who have been there before.
Luke Walton is going to have his hands full in terms of managing egos and minutes, but the guy did play under the Zen Master Phil Jackson, and was an assistant under Steve Kerr, two coaches who have had their fair share of egos to manage. It's definitely going to take some time for this team to gel, and it's possible that there is going to be some major shake-ups at the Trade Deadline. But either way, the risk is minimal for the Lakers, as all of these players are on one-year deals, meaning the Lakers can choose to either retain who they like, or start from scratch in the 2019 offseason, where there will be a more palatable free agent class. Regardless of whether or not this Lakers squad is successful, one thing is for certain, for good or bad, they're going to be entertaining as hell to watch.
