LA Lakers: How Aging Gilbert Arenas Would Cripple Lake Show's Offense

The Los Angeles Lakers are still looking at Gilbert Arenas. Recently, he worked out for the Lakers, and, according to Yahoo! Sports, "Two sources familiar with the workout said Arenas moved well and made a positive impression, but there was no sense of how quickly – if at all – the Lakers would pursue signing him to a free-agent contract."

If you're one of the Lakers fans that think that Arenas is a good idea, be warned, you don't want fool's gold in the purple and gold. 

Arenas is not the answer. In fact, he'll only cripple the Lakers' already struggling offense. Look no further than last year to see exactly what type of production he brings to the team. 

His numbers last year are a good indication of what the Lakers are going to be get from him, which is a poor-shooting chucker who wastes possessions and doesn't defend. He averaged 15 field-goal attempts and just a .366 field-goal percentage. His field-goal percentage the year before that was only .411. His offensive rating last year was a pathetic 92.

After he got traded to a team that wanted him, he proved he was incapable of carrying a significant role. 

Not playing is not the sort of thing that is going to make him get any better. 

The Lakers' answer on offense is not another shooter who is going to do nothing but force up bad shots. If they want more of that, just allow Metta World Peace to have more possessions. 

Arenas doesn't do what they need more than anything else, which is distribute the ball and defend opposing point guards. 

Adding him only ensures that the Lakers' big men, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, are going to get even less touches for more perimeter shots, because we know those attempts aren't going to be taken away Kobe Bryant. 

The clear question comes down to this basic point: Do you want a player that is going to feed the ball to the Lakers' bigs for more shots, or do you want their bigs taking fewer shots? If the answer is the latter, Arenas is your man. But that's going to devastate the Lakers offense. 

The much better addition is a player that isn't as good of a scorer but is a far better distributor and pick-and-roll player like Ramon Sessions. Granted, he's no great shakes on defense either, but Arenas is hardly clamping down on opponents. 

The fact is that there is no player available who can score 15 points, give you eight to 10 dimes and shoot from deep while defending the position well. Lakers fans need to reset their wish list. If that guy were available for the league minimum, he would have already inked with the Knicks. 

Sessions fills the biggest hole by allowing Gasol and Bynum to become more effective members of the offense. Arenas doesn't. Sessions makes the offense more efficient; Arenas makes it less so. 

That player is certainly not Arenas who has burned bridges everywhere he's played. Don't buy into the hype. Arenas is not the man.