1. James Ennis is a cleaner fit on the Los Angeles Lakers
If you go back to the pros and cons of James Ennis article that I wrote you would see that the lone con is that Ennis is a bit redundant. That is true. The Lakers do have wings in Trevor Ariza, Carmelo Anthony and Kent Bazemore that are essentially all similar versions of Ennis.
Personally, I would like to see the Lakers sign a power forward next for reasons that have already been outlined. That being said, Ennis is still a much cleaner fit on this roster than Isaiah Thomas is.
Sure, Ennis would be a bit redundant but if there is one area that a team should look to have a lot of depth in it is at wing. Meanwhile, the Lakers already have five guards in Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, Malik Monk, Wayne Ellington and Talen Horton-Tucker.
The Lakers don’t really need another point guard, which is all Thomas can play with his size. Westbrook is going to play over 30 minutes, Nunn is going to be his primary backup and THT can provide minutes at the one when the Lakers want to run bigger off the bench.
Thomas does not really add anything to the Lakers that they do not already have. He is not some incredible three-point shooter and does not play a lick of defense, which is another component of Ennis’ game that he would bring to the table.
Just from an Xs and Os standpoint, Ennis is the far better fit. But even if we remove that contingency, and compare player to player, the needle is still far in Ennis’ favor.