Friday, July 20, 2012

Summer League Points to Future Woes

                 Lakers Draft Pick Media Availability
By the time the finals are over, most people are generally ready to take a break from the NBA. Like most sports, the draft is considered tedious and irrelevant following the first 10-15 picks and free agency has become a tool for elite teams to use their stars to invite their “friends”. Gone are the days  of bitter rivals who longed for nothing more than to beat their enemy, having been replaced with the old idea of joining those you can’t beat. For Laker fans, this offseason has been eventful with the acquisition of 2-time MVP Steve Nash followed by a signing of Antawn Jamison. To satisfy fan’s desire to win now, Mitch and Buss are on the verge of moving Andrew Bynum for Dwight “Superman” Howard. Although it is great to see the Lakers making moves to be relevant for the upcoming season, it is unnerving to see the roster and see how old this team has truly become. Rivaling the Mavericks who are notorious for providing safe haven for washed up geriatrics and the Celtics who again seem content letting their team grow into a nursing home, the Lakers have a great deal of age on their roster.
Looking at the presumed starting rotation with the first 2 players off the bench would read as follows:
Nash, Bryant, Artest, Gasol, Bynum, Jamison, Blake. The age of those 7 players are 38, 33, 32, 32, 24, 36, and 32 respectively. The re-signing of Jordan Hill, who would probably be 7th or 8th man in the rotation would add another young player, but that being said, the Lakers are still old. Thus this summer is more should be about more than just adding new pieces, but looking at the younger players that could make an impact on this year’s team.
The Laker’s summer league roster features such big names as:
Gary Flowers, Garret Green, Eric Griffen, Lawrence Hill, Julian Khazzouh, Toure Murry, Kevin Palmer, and Greg Somogyi, but all joking aside there are only a few players on the summer league roster that could make this team. These players are Devin Ebanks, Christian Eyenga, Darius Morris, Andrew Goudelock, and Darius Johnson-Odom. Assuming that Jordan Hill is re-signed it is unlikely that Robert Sacre will make the team as he will play behind Bynum, Gasol, Jamison, Hill, and probably even McRoberts.
For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention to the Laker’s summer league games, all you need to know is they have been for the most part, absolute massacres. Ebanks is the most talented player on the roster and is sitting out with an injury so that hasn’t helped, but even so the summer league results have been a disappointment. For an aging team who has traded away so many of their future draft picks, it would be nice to see some of the current younger players blossom into role players or potential starters. Goudelock would probably have been the initial player to look to as far as potential role players off the bench as he had a solid year shooting despite being an undersized 2.  He has struggled mightily in the summer league shooting an anemic 28.3% from the floor. I’ve never been a fan of Goudelock’s game as he is weak defensively and seems to be a little trigger happy even though 9 times out of 10 he is the last option on the floor. Darius Morris has been a shining light for the summer league team, perhaps the only one and could maybe even take Blake’s spot in the rotation. He is the team’s leading scorer, but success in the summer league doesn’t mean that it will translate against NBA rosters.  Although the Lakers look good for the upcoming season, the future looks definitely looks bleak.


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