After practice today, Byron Scott provided a couple interesting quotes regarding Nick Young that were tweeted out by Bill Oram, a Lakers’ beat writer for the Orange County Register.
The first was a typical nonsensical Scott statement: “ has to grow as a basketball player if he wants to continue to play in this league for a long time.”
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In case Scott has forgotten, Young was re-signed to a four-year deal last summer, keeping him under contract with the Lakers until he is 33 years old which would seem to qualify as “a long time.” With hindsight always being 20/20, this contract has been pretty heavily criticized by some Lakers fans, especially since it is unclear whether any other team would have offered Young that kind of money and years.
This, of course, wasn’t the first time the Lakers re-signed a fringe starter/bench player for more money then they were worth, for e.g. Luke Walton’s 6-year, $30 million deal and Sasha Vujacic’s 3-year, $15 million deal. But alas, I digress.
Getting back on topic, it was the second quote from Scott regarding Young that was much more interesting:
"“There’s no telling what we’re going to do this year in the free agent market. But if we get the guys we want then [Young] has got a challenge next year on his hands, as far as being in the rotation and playing consistent minutes.”"
For what feels like the first time, instead of shaking my head at a Scott quote, I am intrigued. Putting aside the fact that this makes the Young re-signing look even more ill-advised, these are pretty interesting comments made by Scott.
Indeed, Scott has frequently mentioned that Mitch Kupchak has told him about the Lakers plan this summer, so it would make sense that he knows about the specific players that the Lakers may be planning to target.
Taking into account Kupchak’s statement that the Lakers won’t jeopardize their future by signing older, veteran players this summer, let’s look at some young free agent swing men (i.e., shooting guards and small forwards) that may, in fact, be targets of the Lakers.
Shooting Guard Free Agents
Even though Kobe Bryant is under contract this season, it doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility that the Lakers could look to lock up a shooting guard of the future during free agency this summer. The top “2’s” available include Arron Afflalo, Wesley Matthews, Eric Gordon, Monta Ellis and Iman Shumpert. And if you consider Reggie Jackson and Brandon Knight shooting/combo guards, they are also both available this summer as restricted free agents.
Small Forward Free Agents
The above notwithstanding, it makes much more sense for the Lakers to heavily target small forward free agents this summer given that the only true one on the Lakers roster is Wesley Johnson, whose time with the Lakers should mercifully be up after this season. The top unrestricted free agent small forwards this summer include Jeff Green, Thaddeus Young, and Luol Deng, with the top restricted being Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Khris Middleton and Tobias Harris.
If we take Kupchak at his word regarding targeting younger players, the free agents that the Lakers should target (and have a realistic shot at obtaining) are Middleton and Harris. I made the case for Middleton, and our own Valerie Morales made the case for Harris a while back. While different, both are improving players in the earlier 20s with intriguing skill sets and abilities.
With Jordan Clarkson improving by the day, Julius Randle returning from injury, and a potential top 5 draft pick in the mix, the Lakers signing a young, up and coming swing man this summer could go a long way towards establishing a solid foundation for the future.
And after two unbearable seasons in a row, the future is all Lakers fans have to look forward to.