2. Carmelo Anthony
The one hole on the Los Angeles Lakers is that the team does not have a traditional power forward behind Anthony Davis. LeBron can essentially operate as the four as a point forward in some lineups but the team does not have the true four to come off the bench if Davis were to play the five.
Backing up Davis at the position is likely going to be Carmelo Anthony and Trevor Ariza. Both are fine options to play the four in today’s NBA but they are better off if they are not the biggest forward on the court and can instead operate as the small forward.
This is especially true with Carmelo Anthony. Anthony’s value lies in stretching the floor and being a shooting presence. He is not someone who is going to add a rebounding presence and running him out off the bench at power forward with a traditional center and a smaller three would be less than optimal.
This is going to have a domino effect where Davis is going to play more power forward, allowing Carmelo to log more minutes with bigger guys on the floor that can handle things near the rim, which is what Laker fans want.
Carmelo is here for his scoring and his scoring only. His defense is non-existent and his rebounding is nowhere close to what it once was. Adding another big allows him to fit into this role with more ease.