Lakers Rumors: High profile player number two: Steven Adams!
The center position is where Rob Pelinka dropped the ball this season which was well documented by the writers and readers alike. The front office shipped out Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee for Montrezl Harrell and Marc Gasol. In short, the Lakers shipped out defense and replaced it with offense.
The NBA realized it early. Anthony Davis got frustrated by the tenth game of the season and Andre Drummond’s overall body of work was summed up with a DNP-CD in the Game 6 season finale.
Assuming both Andre Drummond and Marc Gasol will be vacating the center position next season, and with the way AD needing to avoid as much pounding as possible, the Lakers need a physical presence in the middle.
Steven Adams might be the strongest player in the NBA and his physicality will work well alongside Davis. Think about how opposing players’ heads on a swivel worrying about Dwight Howard or JaVale McGee on the strong side with AD on the weakside. Couple that with LeBron’s famous chase-down blocks, the team was setting records in blocked shots during their championship season.
With Adams in the middle, those days will return.
Steven Adams was in trade rumors all season because despite having plenty more to offer, small ball makes him less attractive to teams with his contract. But the question is…what team gives him the situation that will maximize averages of 7 points and 8 rebounds in only 27 minutes in an analytics era where his style is frowned on?
The New Orleans Pelicans will start increasing their offensive pace to suit Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram so the Pels will try to move on from him. If teams continue to shy away from him because of his salary, the Pelicans may buy him out.
Adams would be a much better starter for the Lakers instead of Marc Gasol for this major reason. The Lakers can actually use Adams to play pick n roll offense and would be a solid lob partner for LeBron James due to all of his experience in OKC with Russell Westbrook.
Now that the starting spot is taken care of, let’s deal with the bench. Granted the starting center position had a huge void, but the backup situation was worse. Read on to see how the Los Angeles Lakers can not only fill a hole in the middle but in the locker room, where it’s plain to see by the end of the year was sorely lacking.
Moving on…