Why the Los Angeles Lakers must sign Andre Drummond if bought out
By Jason Reed
1. It is well known that the Los Angeles Lakers need some help at the center position
We have talked about this multiple times here at Lake Show Life and we will continue talking about it until the Los Angeles Lakers bring in some center help. Marc Gasol is a fine veteran presence who has not been great but certainly has not been awful. The depth behind him is concerning.
Montrezl Harrell is a solid bench five but he is not someone who can be trusted in crunchtime against certain teams. Harrell is in serious trouble against a team that is good in the pick and roll with their bigs, like the Portland Trail Blazers, or a team that has a great big, either the Denver Nuggets or Philadelphia 76ers.
I have laid out this situation time and time again and I will do it again here. If Gasol gets in early foul trouble or gets hurt what is the plan? The Lakers would be in serious trouble.
A Drummond-Gasol duo would be a bit unfair as it is the best version of this partnership but it would be fantastic. Gasol can be the veteran starter and Drummond can come off the bench, allowing Trez to essentially play the four and get that rim-protecting big next to him.
It is last year’s JaVale McGee-Dwight Howard combo on steroids. Gasol can stay at his current 18 minutes per game and Drummond could play around 20.
But where do these minutes come from? Markieff Morris would probably lose a big chunk of his minutes as should Kyle Kuzma. Trez should stay at his 24.7 minutes per game.