Los Angeles Lakers: 3 things to watch for in the scrimmage games
By Ethan Temkin
3.) How will the Los Angeles Lakers’ new additions fit?
In the wake of Avery Bradley opting out of playing in the NBA restart and the recent injury to Rajon Rondo, it appears that the Lakers are in need of some guard depth.
Prior to the season being suspended, the team had signed Dion Waiters, although he hasn’t actually played on the court yet. With Bradley’s absence, the team looked to a face familiar to LeBron James; J.R. Smith, whom the team signed prior to entering the bubble.
Before this recent batch of news, these two were expected to play fringe minutes off the bench, but given that the team will be without Avery Bradley for the entirety of the restart and Rajon Rondo for a good chunk of it (6-8 week timetable for return), it appears that Smith and Waiters are in line for some significant playing time.
These scrimmages offer the perfect opportunity for these two to get up to speed on the Laker’s offense and it should be interesting to see how coach Frank Vogel utilizes them. Smith is a dead-eye shooter and already has existing chemistry with LeBron James, so he shouldn’t have too much trouble getting acclimated with the team.
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His capacity as a catch and shoot player, as well as his ability to create shots for himself, should add a new wrinkle to a Laker’s offense that at times lacks in outside shooting and shot creation outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Dion Waiters will prove to be a little bit more of a wild card, but at the very least Waiters is a big guard whose size allows him to capably guard twos and threes. He’s also another shooter who can help space the floor when he’s out there, which gives more room for the Laker bigs to go to work.
The thing that is most intriguing about Smith and Waiters is the fact that they give the Lakers two guys who aren’t afraid to take the shot when the opportunity is presented. Bill Simmons calls these types of players ‘irrational confidence guys’ and every championship-caliber team has a couple of them.