Did Jabari Brown Earn a Roster Spot With The Lakers Next Year?

Jabari Brown joined the Laker line up plagued by injuries.  Some of us thought he shouldn’t have been waived after training camp in the first place.  Although he signed a multi-year contract with the Lakers, sometimes teams will hold onto his rights, even though he isn’t guaranteed a spot.

With 19 NBA games under his belt, he earned the roster spot.

How did he do it?

Jabari Brown averaged 11.9 points per game in just under 30 minutes per game. He is nearly equal in height and wingspan to Jordan Clarkson.  However, he retains a lot of upper body strength, perfect for absorbing contact when finishing in the paint.  Basketball-reference shows that he finishes at a solid 55.3% at the rim.  More importantly, he proved his worth as a long distance shooter, shooting 38.5% from 16′ to the 3-point line, and 37.1% behind the arc.

-== Top 10 Lakers Draft Picks of All-Time ==-

While Wayne Ellington is a proven NBA veteran, it’s Jabari Brown that showed some passing abilities. Before the season ended, he had a couple of games of 7 assists. His assist-to-turnover ratio is greater than 1.25, just good enough to reflect solid hoop IQ.

No one expected a 32 point outburst from him during his rookie year.

Numbers aside, he showed that he was able to attack the basket frequently, hit jumpshots off of screens, pull-up from mid-range, and get to the free throw line.  In this sense, he’s a multi-faceted scorer, not just a role-playing shooter along the wings.  Scoring is his forte, and sometimes a good team just needs some energy and a scoring punch off the bench.

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Did he replace Nick Young? Late this season, he did. Nick Young loves isolation plays to create a shot. Jabari Brown showed that he didn’t need those situations to be an effective scorer at the NBA level.

Does he remind you of another player out of the University of Missouri from the 1990’s?  Anthony Peeler should come to mind. Peeler had a far greater scoring rate during his rookie year, but didn’t have the finishing and passing abilities of Jabari Brown.

The Lakers have come up dry through a few drafts since 2000. Even though Julius Randle was out for the season, Jordan Clarkson shined. Tarik Black showed he was a solid interior player for the Lakers. Now, Jabari Brown is showing he is a solid perimeter scorer.  The Lakers picked up three solid players at the price of just one second round pick.

We just want them all to stay through next season.

Next: Jordan Clarkson vs. Andrew Wiggins, Shooting Statistics