2. Damian Jones is not as good as some Los Angeles Lakers fans think
All respect to Damian Jones. The guy is a professional basketball player and is better at the sport than 99% of the world. He simply is not good enough to stick around on the NBA Championship-favored Los Angeles Lakers.
Yes, he looked really good before hurting his back against the Golden State Warriors. He was good on the offensive end and his defense was more impressive. But take into consideration the context of that game. It was a blowout. He was the only one that was really playing for anything.
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There is a reason why he has bounced from team to team and has never landed a consistent spot in an NBA rotation. Even when he got playing time, he was not all that special.
He is ineffective offensively. He has a career Offensive Box Plus/Minus of -2.1 in his career. He is an average defender, posting a 0.4 DBPM throughout his career, but that is nowhere close to enough to make up his inefficiency on offense.
Jones is tied for the 56th-best BPM among centers since he came into the league in 2016. He is tied with Kosta Koufos among 68 total centers that qualified (1,000 minutes played).