7. Rodney McGruder
I now present you my Kent Bazemore nominee of the offseason. For those unaware, I was very against the Bazemore signing last offseason and wrote that he would be a disappointment for the team. There was some backlash from the Bazemore believers but he ultimately played himself out of the rotation in an extremely quick manner.
McGruder is coming off of a season with the Detroit Pistons that seems to indicate that his arrow is pointing up. That is similar to what Bazemore was coming off of last summer when he had a solid season with the Golden State Warriors.
However, McGruder’s success in garbage time on a bad team does not make him a better basketball player. Yes, he shot 39.7% from three last season and has shot 40.6% from three over the last two years. The problem is that he is wildly inconsistent with his shooting and is limited as an offensive player.
McGruder is not a horrible defender but he certainly is not a great defender. Granted, he is probably better than most of the role players the Lakers had last year, but he really is nothing special on either side of the basketball.
He is similar to Bazemore in that regard and for that reason, the Lakers should stay away.