Los Angeles Lakers: Best-case free agents for final 3 roster spots
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers sign JJ Redick with the 14th roster spot
JJ Redick is the best shooting option that is left on the free-agent market. Redick is one of the best three-point shooting specialists in league history and is at the point in his career where he will take minimum deals to contend for a championship.
He is essentially a better version of what Kyle Korver was in the league four years ago. Redick probably has another 2-3 really productive years in the league and the Lakers should look to capitalize while the iron is hot.
Power forward might be a more pressing need but it does not hurt to add more shooting whatsoever. The Lakers are reportedly weighing the possibility of signing Isaiah Thomas, which just shows that they are at least considering a pure scorer for one of the final roster spots.
I say pure scorer because like Thomas, Redick would not play a lick of defense for the Lakers. He probably could not be used in crunch time unless they did a really good job of masking his defense.
Redick has never been known to be a good defensive player and that has only gotten worse with age. However, as someone off the bench that is playing against other team’s fourth-best guard, Redick will be just fine defensively.
It should also be mentioned that the timing of both Aldridge and Redick make sense and could explain why the Lakers have not made a move yet. Aldridge is still weighing his options and whether or not he will return and Redick has been on the record of saying that he is taking his time this offseason.