4. Signing Wesley Matthews
I love the signing of Wesley Matthews and it only comes in fourth in that list, highlighting just how good Rob Pelinka has been in such a short span this offseason.
The Lakers had a hole at wing after trading Danny Green and needed to replace it with more than just a depth option as wings are very important in today’s league. So what do they do? They sign a really solid wing player ona $3.6 million contract.
That’s it. The Lakers signed someone who could legitimately offer the team the exact same level of production that Green offered them last season for only $3.6 million. Yes, it seems far-fetched, but the numbers back it up.
According to Basketball-Index, Matthews posted a PIPM (player impact plus-minus) of 1.55. More importantly, his defensive PIPM was 2.37. By that metric, Matthews was the 16th best defensive player in the league last season.
Green was not one of the players ahead of Matthews, although he had a solid 1.13 defensive PIPM last season. Matthews can offer that same shooting stroke as Green as well. He shot 36.4% from beyond the arc last season (38.1% in his career) while Green shot 36.7% last season.