2. Nemanja Bjelica
Yep, another player from the Golden State Warriors. There are some reasons why the Warriors are one of the best teams in the league this season and the Lakers cannot even get above .500. One of the biggest reasons why is the Warriors landed the right players for depth. The Lakers did not.
Bjelica is another player who I was pounding the table for in the offseason. He too signed for a minimum deal so it is not like he was priced out of Los Angeles. Bjelica was coming off of a really bad season and when I suggested that the Lakers could still capitalize on his ceiling there were some comments saying I didn’t know what I was talking about.
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Thankfully, Bjelica has proved me right. The problem is that he is proving me right on the wrong team. It does not matter if he plays well for the Warriors. We need him to play well for the Los Angeles Lakers!
I liked Bjelica for his three-point shooting the floor spacing he would add in the frontcourt next to Anthony Davis. Bjelica is the perfect big to play next to Davis as he can help on the glass like a traditional center but does not clog the lane for Davis’ offense.
Bjelica has proven to be more than a three-point shooter, proving that he can be a great defender in the right situation. He is slightly behind Porter in the DBPM rankings, checking in at 13.
His three-point shooting has not been as high as I would have expected (34.2%) but just getting someone who plays solid defense and can space the floor, even if it is with a mid-range jumper, would be so nice for this team’s floor spacing issues on offense. It would have been the best of both worlds and would have been a million times better than DeAndre Jordan.