Los Angeles Lakers could be playoff team if they kept Lou Williams
The 2016-17 Los Angeles Lakers had a pitiful season. Their first season in 20 years without Kobe Bryant featured inexperienced youngsters, and overpaid veterans who didn’t contribute nearly enough. This coming season, the team looks to be much better. But if they had kept Lou Williams, could they be playoff bound?
The Los Angeles Lakers were not good last season. They finished with the 3rd worst record in the league. Players were still trying to adjust to coach Luke Walton’s vision for the offense. The number two pick in the 2016 draft, Brandon Ingram, started out struggling in his rookie season.
Their starting five simply was not good enough to compete with the league’s elite teams, and even struggled against easier opponents. The one bright side to that roster was the bench. Led by Lou Williams and Jordan Clarkson, the Lakers enjoyed employing the league’s highest scoring bench.
Sweet Lou averaged 18.6 points per game (per basketball-reference.com). He was not only the Lakers’ leading bench scorer, but their leading scorer in general. He also led the entire league in points off the bench, with Clarkson not far behind, chipping in 14.7 points of his own per game.
Fast forward to now. The team has a much more promising starting five with the additions of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Brook Lopez, and Lonzo Ball. Brandon Ingram is a totally different player now, who will dominate rather than be beaten up. This is a starting lineup that should be able to compete with the better teams in the league.
Last season, the bench players would often get the Lakers back into the game. After the starters would get outscored, Lou and the second string crew would come in and light it up, putting the team back into the game. This begs the question, would the Lakers have been better off to keep Lou?
They will still have Clarkson as their spark plug off the bench, a role I expect him to thrive in. However, without Lou in the fold, I don’t see the Lakers having the highest scoring bench in the league this time around.
Los Angeles Lakers
With the new and improved starting unit, it would’ve been great to keep last season’s second unit intact. Let’s think about how things would play out if Lou were still on the roster.
If we hadn’t traded Lou Williams, we wouldn’t have Corey Brewer, for one. Also, we wouldn’t have had the 28th pick in the draft, which we flipped for the 30th pick and 42nd picks. So instead of Brewer, Josh Hart, and Thomas Bryant, we’d have a legitimate 6th man of the year candidate.
Lou was also on a cheap, expiring contract. It would not conflict with any plans to pursue free-agents next summer. He also would’ve been a nice piece to have for the next trade deadline.
At the time he was traded, the front office didn’t know they would be keeping their number two pick. They wanted to make sure they had a first round pick in the draft. Understandable.
However, if the newcomers gel with the team, and the starters play well, it would’ve been nice to still have the highest scoring bench in the NBA to back them up.
Unless Hart and Thomas Bryant impress me a lot this season, I’m going to wish that trade hadn’t gone down. Lou Williams could’ve been the last piece we needed this coming season to make the playoffs. The man can score in bunches, has a real knack for getting to the line, and is a great closer when the clock is winding down.
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What do you guys think? Would the team be better off for the 2017-18 season with Lou Williams? Or with Brewer, Hart, and T. Bryant?
P.S. They need to put a “T” in front of “Bryant” on that jersey.