Los Angeles Lakers Should Pick Up Nate Wolters
With the season already lost, the Los Angeles Lakers should seriously entertain picking up point guard Nate Wolters, who was recently waived by the Milwaukee Bucks so that they could sign Kenyon Martin (yes, THAT Kenyon Martin).
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Ever since Kendall Marshall was waived (due essentially to poor cap management, as the Lakers were hoping that he would clear waivers so that they could resign him), the Lakers have lacked a true point guard on their roster. Despite his shortcomings, which there were many of, there is no disputing that Marshall was an excellent passer with great court vision. Last season, he averaged 8.8 assists per game for the Lakers, although it has to be noted that this was in D’Antoni’s run and gun system known for inflating stats.
While Jeremy Lin has decent court vision, and is a pretty good passer (albeit a bit reckless at times resulting in unnecessary turnovers), he is more of a scoring/attacking combo guard than a true point guard. And Ronnie Price, well, no need to state the obvious.
Enter Nate Wolters. He was taken no. 38 overall in the 2013 NBA draft, and eventually ended up with the Bucks. While playing limited minutes, Wolters averaged 3.2 assists while only turning the ball over once per game last season. Dig a little deeper and you see that he had a 23.3 assist percentage while on the floor, which shows a willingness to play team ball.
Beyond just passing, Wolters also demonstrated that he was a pretty clever scorer in isolation (think Goran Dragic light, and I mean WAY light), which was necessary given his limited speed and athleticism. Because he is a heady player, little hesitations and shifty movements allow him to score against more athletic players. Sure, his stats have dropped off this season, but that’s because he has essentially fallen out of the rotation for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.
Don’t believe me? Check out this highlight reel from last season here.
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Further, even with his lack of athleticism, he still defended well overall from a team defense perspective, so as long as he wasn’t left alone on an island, he was a competent defender. It seems that his biggest weakness overall was his long range shooting ability, as he only hit 29% on 3s.
Now, if picked up, am I saying that Wolters would become the Lakers starting point guard of the future? Of course not. But as a solid role player off the bench, he would do wonders running the show with the second unit, looking to get good looks for Nick Young, Carlos Boozer, etc.
Picking him up would require the Lakers to waive a player, and it is not clear who exactly that would be. I highly doubt it would be Ronnie Price much to my chagrin. So maybe Steve Nash, who has been so MIA that even Jeannie Buss has no idea where he is, could be waived.
In any event, because Nate Wolters would be a solid pick up who would team controlled through next season, the Lakers should not hesitate to pick him up if given the opportunity.
Next: Los Angeles Lakers' Jeremy Lin vs. Ronnie Price: Offense Edition