Ranking the Lakers offseason additions by their preseason play
By Jason Reed
5. Damian Jones
Damian Jones was signed to be the Los Angeles Lakers backup center this season and there were some unrealistic expectations by fans. While the team pushed the idea that Jones and Thomas Bryant would fight for the starting role, it should have been obvious the entire time who would start.
We tend to only look at the positive things about a player when they are brought in and that was the case with Jones. While he had some promising, brief, moments in his NBA career, fans were forgetting about the level of player that Jones is.
Jones is someone who has scrapped by in the NBA and for a while was getting by on 10-day contracts. That is what his first stint with the Lakers consisted of and there is a reason why he has bounced around from team to team.
The playing time has actually been similar with Bryant but Jones has done far less in that playing time. Jones is averaging just 2.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game in the preseason. His three-point shooting has not come around like Darvin Ham had hoped, as he is shooting 33.3% from three.