The Lakers have a fantastic opportunity in 2016 free agency, but DeMar DeRozan shouldn’t be an option
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of many NBA teams that have put themselves in position to take full advantage of what promises to be a wild 2016 NBA free agency period. With the salary cap jumping almost $20 million, the Lakers will have over $60 million in cap room to work with this summer. In the midst of a rebuilding process and in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s retirement, however, they have to be sure to make the right decisions.
Though free agency is over six months away, it’s already becoming clear that the Lakers are going to be in pursuit of current Toronto Raptors guard and Compton native DeMar DeRozan. The rumors of such a pursuit have been there and were only further confirmed on Tuesday when ESPN’s Zach Lowe stated that the Lakers are ready to offer DeRozan a max contract this summer that will pay him roughly $25 million per year, as are several other teams.
This would be a terrible course of action for the Lakers.
Through his first 39 games of the 2015-16 season, DeRozan is averaging 22.9 points, 4.1 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game on 44.6 percent shooting. Looking at those numbers alone, many might be led to believe that he would be an asset that the Lakers could use. In terms of what the Lakers need moving forward to get back to being relevant, though, that’s not totally the case for the Raptors guard. In fact, the more you dig, the more it’s apparent that he could potentially be a huge letdown in Los Angeles.
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One of the biggest things that the Lakers have to address this offseason to further the rebuilding process is their lack of scoring on the perimeter. That’s not to say that the perimeter players in place are incapable of putting points on the board, but more about the Lakers ineptitude in terms of their jump shooting.
The Lakers rank last in the league in terms of both shots from 25 feet and out (29.8 percent) and from 20-24 feet (33 percent) while also ranking just 22nd in the NBA in shots from 15-19 feet (38.5 percent) and 24th in the league on shots from 10-14 feet (36.7 percent), per NBA.com. Suffice it to say, the Lakers struggle in a major way when it comes to knocking down jumpers.
While you have to hope that rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell’s jump shooting improves as he goes into his sophomore campaign while hoping the same for Jordan Clarkson (assuming the Lakers re-sign him) as he enters his third year in the NBA, that still doesn’t totally address the issue. And bringing in DeRozan to anchor the team on the perimeter on a max contract would only exacerbate the problem.
DeRozan has been a notoriously poor jump shooter for most of his career. Though he can attack and score well at the rim, the 26-year-old is hitting on only 37.2 percent of his jump shots this season. That’s far from an anomaly as that number has actually climbed from last year’s mark of just 34.8 percent shooting on jumpers.
Adding DeRozan to the rotation only makes one of the biggest issues on offense in Los Angeles worse. While they don’t need to add a player that can knock down jumpers with the efficiency of Stephen Curry or anything, they do need to add pieces that can help move the team forward in that regard, not hold them back.
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The problematic potential of the Lakers signing DeRozan is furthered on the other end of the floor where the Lakers also need a tremendous amount of assistance. The perimeter defense in LA this season and last year as well has been an atrocity. The Lakers have conceded 46.2 points and 12.8 assists per game to opposing backcourts this season (per Rotowire), making them the worst defensive backcourts in the league.
While DeRozan’s athleticism might lead you to believe that he’s a capable defender, that hasn’t been the case over the course of his career. This season, Toronto is allowing 102.5 points per 100 possessions when on the floor. Considering that the Raptors as a team have a 100.8 defensive rating, that’s somewhat telling. What’s more damning, though, is that the Toronto defense improves by seven points per 100 possessions to a 95.5 defensive rating when DeRozan is on the bench. While that’s partially to do with playing against second units, that kind of drop-off is unavoidable.
Despite the potential that his athleticism and skills would suggest, DeRozan simply isn’t a quality defender both individually and in the concept of team defense. While that could still be improved at just 26 years old, paying a player that needs notable improvement in an area of concern for the Lakers a max contract is less than favorable.
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When it comes to name recognition and the narrative of DeRozan coming home, the Lakers targeting and offering DeRozan a max contract in free agency looks passable. When it comes to how it would affect the team’s performance and how it would aid their attempt to climb out of the league’s basement, though, signing DeRozan would be a laughably bad decision for this organization. He has value to many teams in this league—maybe even max contract value—but one of those teams is not the Los Angeles Lakers.