Los Angeles Lakers: 5 reasons Avery Bradley will be an impact player

(Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
2 of 6
Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)

5. He can handle the ball

The Lakers badly needed another ball-handling guard, partly to take some of the burdens of pushing the ball upcourt and dictating the pace off the 34-year-old LeBron James. Rondo will help with that, but he should be coming off the bench and playing the majority of his minutes with the second unit.

Bradley, assuming he starts, can help the self-proclaimed king age more gracefully and stay fresh for the playoffs.

The 28-year-old is a very capable ball-handler, not just in the open court but also in the halfcourt. This way, LeBron can cede some of those responsibilities to him and trust him to make plays and limit turnovers in different offensive situations.

Everyone is talking these days about “load management”, especially when it comes to LeBron. Some of that has to include taking the ball out of his hands some of the time to lighten up his workload just enough.