Los Angeles Lakers: Breaking down their offseason moves thus far

Breaking down the Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason moves. 

The Los Angeles Lakers were the first team to make headlines this offseason when reports surfaced on draft day that they were in talks to trade Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell to Sacramento for Buddy Hield.

Then, moments later, those reports evolved into a package that would send Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and draft compensation to Washington in exchange for Russell Westbrook.

Poor Buddy Hield. One moment he’s thinking he’s about to join LeBron James and Anthony Davis in Los Angeles and play for a championship contender for the first time in his career, and the next moment he’s back in Sacramento.

Anyways, the official deal looks like this:

This move from the Lakers is insane. Trading for the most polarizing star with one of the worst contracts in the sport has many NBA experts and fans scratching their heads. Then, factoring in that Westbrook can’t shoot, which is a MUST on a LeBron-lea team, has almost everyone wondering how this is all going to work.

Well, I’m here to say that I’m of the belief that acquiring Westbrook will work out better for the Lakers than you think. That is, in the regular season.

Westbrook gives the Lakers a legitimate third star who will take pressure off LeBron and AD on the offensive end of the floor in the regular season. This will allow head coach Frank Vogel and his staff to rest AD and LeBron more often.

Most importantly though, Russ gives the Lakers a type of energy in the regular season that they just haven’t had since really the Kobe era. Whether you hate him or love him, there’s no denying that Russ gives it his all night-in and night-out. He leaves everything out on the court and plays his absolute heart out. That type of stuff is contagious.

He’s coming off another season in which he averaged a triple-double and played a big part in Washington sneaking into the playoffs.

Especially in the second half of the season, Westbrook was a menace for the Wizards. He helped the team turn their season around by leading the Wizards to a 17-6 record over their last 23 games to make the play-in tournament (where they earned the 8th seed).

Westbrook is still one of the best playmakers and rebounders in the league, and attacks and scores at the rim as good as anyone in the league. He’ll be a great addition for the Lakers that will contribute to more wins than losses.

That said, it’s fair to question his fit alongside LeBron.

It’ll be interesting to see how they play together, or if they can play together at all given the fact that they’re both players that need the ball in their hands. LeBron is not an off-the-ball player that can knock down spot-up jumpers, and Russ, even more so, isn’t that type of player.

My thinking is that Vogel will stagger their minutes, where they’ll only really play together to start and finish games. Then, between that time, either one of them will be on the court, with the other resting on the bench.

I’d expect Russ to play more with AD near the beginning of the season just to build that chemistry between them in what many believe will become one of the most lethal pick-and-roll combos in the league. LeBron, being the better player, will then play more with the second unit, to build that chemistry with their new roster.

Not saying that he won’t get plenty of time to play with AD, because we know that LeBron and AD may be the best one-two punch in the league.

Come playoff time, though, is where things will get dicey with Russ and the Lakers. The playoffs are where every team’s weakness is magnified times 10 and despite his numbers, Russ has been one to struggle in the postseason. When he’s struggling offensively by forcing bad shots, committing terrible turnovers, or playing poor defense, it’ll be quite the scene to see how LeBron and the Lakers react.

How the Los Angeles Lakers filled out. the rest of their roster

Moving on to the Lakers’ other offseason acquisitions, they signed Carmelo Anthony to a one-year deal. I’m actually a big fan of this move. Despite people writing this move off as nothing more than LeBron just getting one of his guys, which is definitely true, this is still a really nice pick-up for the Lakers. Despite not being the player he used to be, Melo can still hoop in this league.

Through his time in Portland, Melo has learned to accept a role on the bench. He’s become a really good spot-up shooter, shooting 40.9 percent from beyond the arc last season. As mentioned before, shooting is a must in a LeBron-centric offense. Plus, Melo’s still capable of putting up 20-plus on any given night.

The Lakers also signed veterans Kent Bazemore, Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard, and Wayne Ellington on veteran-minimum deals this offseason. In Bazemore and Ariza, the Lakers are hoping that they have some left in their tanks to provide some defensive help out on the perimeter and knock down some shots alongside LeBron, AD, and Russ.

With Ellington’s case, the Lakers are hoping he can provide them what Kentavious Caldwell-Pope did at a cheaper price. A career journeyman, Ellington is a career 38.2 percent 3-point shooter, and coming off a year in which he shot 42.2 percent from downtown.

The Lakers were also able to sign former Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn to a two-year, $10 million deal. Nunn is a really nice young player. In his two years with the Heat, Nunn is a career 15 points per game scorer; he’ll give the Lakers another player that can create their own shot, be a playmaker for teammates, and just provide some much needed offensive power, an area the Lakers have struggled when the offense isn’t coming from LeBron and AD.

Their last signing and what could turn out to be their best signing is their acquisition of Malik Monk, who hasn’t gotten a fair shake in the league thus far. Over his last two seasons in the league, Monk has drastically improved his 3-point shooting – from 28 percent shooting in 2019-20 to 40 percent from 3 this past season.

A possible issue for this Los Angeles Lakers roster

Now that we’ve talked about all the positives from the Lakers’ offseason, we have to discuss the one major issue with most of their signings: old veterans who struggle defensively. Just going down the list of acquisitions; Melo is and never has been a good defender, Ariza and Bazemore haven’t been great defenders in a while, Wayne Ellington isn’t a defender, neither is Nunn, and certainly not Monk.

Oh, and who could forget about Westbrook who sometimes struggles mightily on that end of the floor. He struggles in every facet defensively – whether it be individually or with help/weak side assignments.

In short, it’s hard to see how the Lakers are not going to struggle defensively.

Somewhat surprisingly, Dwight Howard is also making his return to the Lakers. He’s not going to fix any of LA’s defensive issues, but he should be at least helpful on that end of the floor.

What these moves by the Lakers tell me is that they are banking on Davis having a major bounce-back season.

They are hoping that AD can fix most of the Lakers’ defensive issues, by playing more center, and just being more available. He was plagued by injury this past season and never seemed truly healthy by the end of the year.

If healthy, AD has the potential to not only win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award but the MVP award as well.

Despite all the questions for the Lakers, they’re still projected to enter the 2021-22 season as the favorites to win the Western Conference. In fact, they may be viewed even by some as the favorites to win it all.