If the Lakers are to make a trade to pair a big man with Anthony Davis, which centers should they be targeting?
After a long break, we’re back with a mailbag piece. A lot has happened since the last one from the end of a coaching search, the draft, the entirety of free agency and a host of trades.
And yet, the Lakers’ roster is nearly identical to what it was before all that. Don’t worry, we’re going to dive into that, among many other things. There’s a lot of questions to be answered, so let’s dive in!.
For those who missed it before the Olympics kicked off, one of my observations about Team USA during their exhibition slate was that Anthony Davis needed to be used in two-big lineups more.
This is a great follow-up question, but one that doesn’t have a clear, good answer, in my opinion. In his return to independent media, Pete with LakersFilmRoom did a great video on the subject that offers a lot of possibilities.
To me, I don’t want someone who has injury issues, so that rules out Robert Williams and Wendell Carter. I’m tired of spending half a season waiting for the team to be healthy. Someone like Clint Capela or Jakob Poeltl is a little more intriguing, but they’re very one-dimensional and I’m not sure how playable they are in the postseason.
Someone I’ve had an eye on, though I doubt the Lakers have the means to acquire, is Walker Kessler. I’m not really sure what’s going on with him in Utah as it seems he’s available and he also played in Summer League, neither of which feels like it should be the case.
He’s great defensively as a rim protector, which I think is one of the most important things as it frees up AD. He’s limited offensively but his role with the Lakers around LeBron and AD would be a limited one.
The problem is, he’s going to cost quite a bit and the Lakers have about one more big trade they can make in the LeBron-AD era. Is Kessler, a 23-year-old, the guy you want to bring in with most of what you have left in terms of players and assets?
Well, at this point, there isn’t much left to do other than wait and see. I think there is some argument for it.
In the second half of last season, this was a very good team. If JJ Redick is an improvement as a coach, then you have the makings of a top team.
The flip side to that, though, is the team is a known quantity in the playoffs. D’Angelo Russell isn’t going to be a good postseason player at this point in his career. Rui Hachimura really struggled last year.
This team needs changes, but if those changes aren’t out there right now, you can’t really do anything about it. You can’t force a trade to happen.
Right now, I’d lean to them largely going as is. I’m not even sure if they do a salary dump trade at this point because who is left to even sign with an open roster spot? I think they head into the season with this team knowing that a change will likely have to come while also seeing what they have with Redick.
I know it’s in vogue to be upset with the Lakers front office right now, but I’m not quite to that point. I’m annoyed that they handed out player options last year, but I’m glad they aren’t rushing into a panicked trade to fix it.
Evaluating vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka is interesting. Based on quantity, I think he’s had more hits than misses in his decisions, whether from roster moves to the draft to staffing decisions. However, based on quality, his misses have been bad.
It looks increasingly likely he slammed the championship window of the LeBron-AD era shut by trading for Russell Westbrook, and that’ll be the mark on his resume forever. He also got the Darvin Ham hiring wrong, but that one was less obviously bad at the time.
I think he’s done well to learn as he’s progressed as a GM. The Westbrook trade was a knee-jerk overreaction and the Lakers learned that the hard way.
I think a lot of what he said this summer about player development is the right decision under the new CBA and with the Lakers. If you have a scouting department that regularly finds studs, building an identity and infrastructure focused on player development is a great call.
I also think, if you want to evaluate things moving into the post-LeBron era, you have to acknowledge that it’s the Lakers and, to some extent, it doesn’t matter how bad you may think Pelinka or Jeanie Buss is.
LeBron came to the Lakers with a front office led by Magic Johnson. Anthony Davis has signed multiple extensions under Pelinka. I think a lot of this can be a bit overblown and isn’t something that players care as much about.
If the Lakers have the ability to sign a star and have AD in the room, they’re going to be one of the favorites to land someone. This isn’t going to be a situation where a way-past-his-prime Kobe Bryant is recruiting someone to be the next guy. This will be AD looking for someone to win a title with him right away.
I think Cam Reddish’s on-court work has proven he doesn’t belong on this team, no matter who his agent is.
I don’t have full answers for this and most of it is piecing together what you see through videos and quotes. What I do know is that when Redick recently spoke about Jarred Vanderbilt, he mentioned he had rehab to do the rest of the summer.
I don’t think that means he’s not healthy. I think that means they’re making sure he doesn’t overdo it after missing so much of last season.
With Gabe, the minutes restriction to be largely non-existent by the playoffs, so I can’t imagine he wouldn’t be healthy by training camp. The original reporting for Jalen Hood-Schifino was that he would make a full recovery during the offseason and nothing has indicated that has changed.
As for Christian Wood and Reddish, I imagine both will be perfectly healthy for the start of Pistons training camp (I joke...mostly).
PG — D’Angelo Russell/Gabe Vincent
SG — Austin Reaves/Max Christie
SF — Jarred Vanderbilt/Dalton Knecht
PF — LeBron James/Rui Hachimura
C — Anthony Davis/Jaxson Hayes
The problem is that the remaining five players on the roster are Wood, Reddish, JHS, Maxwell Lewis and Bronny James and only one of those guys could be a player you can rely for anything on.
I appreciate you guys providing plenty of content for this lengthy mailbag. Be on the lookout for the next post asking for questions as there will surely be plenty during the Olympics!
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
