Bosh, Wade, LBJ to Miami, Lakers Should Now Look...Nowhere?
The Lakers need to look no further than their 09-10 season and summer League rosters.
Integrating Ron-Ron was painful enough, how many more additions do we need? Miami will have to work extremely hard next season to build the cohesion (Lakers, Celtics) of a championship.
D.Fish is obviously a must, and I can’t see him or his agent holding out long enough to be let go (Ariza already made that mistake). Everyone at this point is aware of his crucial playoff contributions and he has done too much for the franchise to skip town over one or two million dollars.
The next areas in question are the backup SG and SF positions. I’m not the biggest Shannon Brown advocate, but he got “it” done last season and he’s still maturing. So at least we can re-sign him.
D.J. Strawberry, currently on the summer league roster also has an outside chance of making the roster because of his on-ball defense. At 6-5, and prior NBA experience, Strawberry has the ability to contain and pester premier perimeter players. He would be a cost-effective alternative.
As good as T-Mac sounds, I want to leave him out of the equation for chemistry reasons. Anthony Morrow would also be a great addition but he is restricted and if the Warriors have any sense they’ll match whatever we can scrounge up.
I know summer league performances don’t always translate into the NBA, but I was pleasantly surprised to see our second rounder’s box scores.
Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter both played like they wanted roster spots.
Ebanks (SG or SF) scored a team high of 21pts (9-16), 2asts and 2stls in his debut (33mins). If you think that was impressive, you’ll find pleasure in meeting Mr. Caracter (PF or C). Caracter scored 20pts (9-14), 10rbs, 2asts and 2 blocks in 35 minutes.
20 and 10 in 35 minutes? I’ll take it.
Caracter is only 6-9 so it would make us a bit shorter, but to compensate his wide frame (275 Lbs) takes up half of the paint. He could be an option to replace Pau, or Drew when he picks up his routine early first quarter fouls.
You never know what good ol’ Mitch has up he sleeves. Even with the King (drama queen) headed to South Beach, we should all rest easy knowing we have a 3peat in us.
