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Lakers Rumors: LA Must Stay Far Away from Jodie Meeks
July 8, 2012
If the Los Angeles Laker sign free-agent guard Jodie Meeks then they will be making a loud announcement to the basketball world that they have no idea what the biggest weakness of this team is.
They may be making that announcement already. HOOPSWORLD's Alex Kennedy reported their interest in the free agent with this tweet.
The Los Angeles Lakers have expressed interest in unrestricted free agent Jodie Meeks, according to sources close to the situation.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) July 7, 2012
The reason this would be such a horrible signing for the Lakers has less to do with Meeks and more to do with them. Meeks is a nice player. He is a four-year veteran and has spent the last three seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers.
In his time with the Sixers, Meeks has connected on 36.5 percent of his three-point attempts. He is deadly on a pull-up or on the catch-and-shoot. The shooting would be a nice addition for the Lakers as they have sorely lacked the outside shooting needed to free up space for their bigs.
While the shooting would be nice touch off the bench, offense is not going to be this team's problem. Steve Nash will provide plenty of floor spacing for this offense, and that offense is clearly set to be the team's strength.
What the Lakers are not currently set to have is anyone who can stop an opposing point guard from getting to the lane. At the end of last season, it seemed impossible to think the Lakers could get worse in their ability to defend point guards, but they did. For as big a plus as Steve Nash is on offense, he is that much of a liability in man-to-man defense.
Meeks is not a good defensive player, and he definitely is not suited to guard point guards.
The Lakers are well over the cap, and any player they add in free agency will have to come via exceptions. This needs to be used on someone that can bring a little defense to the point guard spot. This will allow the team to give a different look, and throw someone in to disrupt the rhythm of an opposing point guard before he shreds them to pieces.