Kent Bazemore: Predictable
I do not like to take victory laps often with my takes because it is pretty tacky, but this is a take that I got a lot of flak on before the season. I declared that the Kent Bazemore signing was not a good one and that he would revert to his old ways prior to his breakout season with the Golden State Warriors.
What happened? Bazemore was given a big role early in the season while the Lakers dealt with injuries and it quickly became clear that he should not have a big role in the rotation. It then became clear that he probably should not be in the rotation at all. Now, Bazemore is reserved for garbage time minutes or minutes when the team is hurt.
The Lakers had some better buyout options that they could have pursued and ironically, all of the great ones ended up with the Golden State Warriors. The team was in on Andre Iguodala, who chose to sign with the Warriors. I argued for both Nemanja Bjelica and Otto Porter, who both signed with the Golden State Warriors.
Would the Lakers be a top-two team in the West if they had Iguodala, Bjelica and Porter instead of Bazemore, Jordan and Bradley? Probably not.
But would they be better than the ninth seed with a risk of not even making the Play-In Tournament? Absolutely.
Just like Bazemore’s season was predictable, the Lakers’ season should have been (I was too optimistic) just as predictable after the signings they made.