The Los Angeles Lakers made an unexpected move by shipping Marcelo Huertas to Houston before Thursday’s trade deadline.
In his second move as the Lakers’ president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson traded Marcelo Huertas to the Houston Rockets for Tyler Ennis. While the move was primarily a salary dump for the Rockets to free up salary cap space for the post-deadline buyout market, the move also gives the Lakers a chance to give a former first round pick some run time.
Ennis was taken with the No. 18 pick in the 2014 draft by the Phoenix Suns. The Lakers will be his fourth team in three years and he has not been given to the opportunity see the court very much. Out of a possible 222 games in his career, he has only played in 110. Averaging 11.5 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.8 assists and 1.2 rebounds in those contests.
These numbers do not give much reason to expect a lot of Ennis. Then again, his numbers might have been so underwhelming because of the situations he was in. He was a young player on teams vying for the playoffs in Milwaukee and Houston and in Phoenix, he was stuck behind Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas.
As for what to expect his on-court production to be for the Lakers, Ennis has not been a great shooter in the NBA so far. With career splits of 40.8 percent from the field, 31.6 percent from three and 72.7 percent from the free throw line, per basketball-reference.com. However, Ennis has not shown a strong ability to create for others. In other words, he is not going to be able to provide a boost to the now Lou Williams-less offense.
On the defensive side of the ball, he has only amassed 49 steals in his career and does not possess elite size for a guard at 6-foot-3 and 194 pounds, meaning the Lakers have not found the answer for the defensive woes that have plagued them all season.
How Ennis can get his Groove Back
At Syracuse Tyler Ennis was a star. He led the Orange to a 28-6 record and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. There were things that he did prior to his NBA career that made the Suns think he was worth taking in the first round.
Ennis just has to find out what those things are again to make himself a valuable contributor on the Lakers. Ennis just likely lost is his confidence, which can be everything for a young player. The only way to get that restored is by getting some action on the court. He has a mechanically sound jumper and decent handles, so he does have a path to become a beneficial piece of the roster.
Whether this happens or not is going to come down to whether Luke Walton wants to play him and if Ennis gets in the right mindset. He is most likely going to be the fifth or sixth guard in the rotation. Walton could give him some time on the court with the second or third unit now that Lou Williams is gone.
Ennis’ Future with the Team
I don’t think that Ennis will get a lot of run. It is more than unlikely that he will be on the team next year and there is little to no point in trying to develop a player that will not be with the team in the future.
The reason I don’t anticipate that he will be on the team next year is because next summer he is an unrestricted free agent and the Lakers can only offer him $2.6 million because the Rockets declined his fourth-year team option before the season started. He is sure to get paid more than that. If he doesn’t the Lakers will most likely want his salary off the books to make other moves anyway.
In an ideal situation for the Lakers, Ennis impresses the coaches in practice, shows a lot of promise on the court in the time that he is given so he decides that it is worth it to stay in LA for only $2.6 million. But that is unlikely to happen, and we shouldn’t get our hopes up too high for Ennis.
What do you guys think? What do you anticipate for the Lakers during the Tyler Ennis era? Let us know in the comments below!