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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