Ranking the Lakers offseason additions by their preseason play
By Jason Reed
2. Patrick Beverley
Patrick Beverley may rank second on this list but he still has not been overly impressive for the Los Angeles Lakers in the preseason thus far. The intangibles have certainly been impressive and is something that this team desperately lacks.
The Lakers lacked fire last season and having someone like Beverley to be a leader on the court and fire up the team on both ends is going to be huge in the postseason… if the Lakers make it there. We have already seen that on display here in the preseason.
Numbers-wise the preseason has not been very kind to Beverley. While he is playing good defensively, the Lakers, unfortunately, need him to have an offensive impact on this team and that is just not the kind of player he is.
Beverley is being miscast as a three-and-D wing and he has been far from efficient on the offensive side of the court. The veteran point guard is averaging 8.7 points in 19.7 minutes per game while shooting 33.3% from the field and 30.8% from three.
If Beverley has to be the team’s third or even fourth-best scoring option in crunch time then it is going to be an issue. At this point in his career, Beverley’s biggest impact is on defense and with his leadership ability.