Los Angeles Lakers: Searching for the Perfect Dump

Zubac MIGHT suit up and play some minutes this year. Hawes is a vet with proven passing and shooting skills. He's an awesome fit in GS's offense. What he could give us for <7M is really quite a bit more impressive than what most other players could. We do need a starting C, but I wouldn't shy away from Hawes because of that - and I wouldn't shy away from Hawes because of Black.

 

From what I've read, he was a top 20 talent that dropped because he insisted on being in the NBA this year. Mitch seemed to indicate the plan was for him to have a roster spot. Some scouts described him as the second most NBA ready 5 in the draft. I think they are intending to keep Black. If you are suggesting Hawes as the starting 5 then it could work, but there are better 5s available. If you are suggesting Hawes as a bench 5, I don't think there is room on the bench for three backup centers.

 

I would be a happy camper.

 

I'm suggesting that Hawes is better than Black and Zubac, and we could secure him for a pittance. We could sign a starting Center and a wing, and we'd be in pretty good shape. I don't imagine Zubac will get many minutes this year. He needs to play full time in the Dleague for the seasoning.

(I posted those scouting reports on Zubac. I'm very high on him, but he's raw.)

 

Yeah Hawes is at worst a good addition for depth purposes. If Hawes gets us a future 1st to boot, then hell yeah I make that deal. Bring it on. We've got money to spare.

Russell/???
Clarkson/Williams
Ingram/???
Randle/Nance Jr.
Horford/Hawes/Bats/Black

That team would still have 29.5 million to spend. For real.

 

Hawes is better than Black in passing and mid-range jumpers. Black is better than Hawes in rebounding, diving to the basket and finishing, and hustle. Depends a lot on what Luke values more for his squad.

Hawes probably is better than Zubac, but we don't know that yet.

My point is that from the perspective of the hints that Mitch has already given Black and Zubac are already slated for roster spots and we get both of them for less than what Hawes will cost. We really don't need a back up 5 presently. We need a starting 5. You are comparing Hawes to our bench 5s. He really needs to be compared to other potential starting 5s.

 

Mitch gets the hype. He hinted that he sees some Marc Gasol in him.

 

We see it differently then. Black in my view is already a nice backup for the kind of system Luke is going to run with him filling the Ezeli role. Zubac is an unknown, but I'm not presuming he can't play when scouts say he can and is ready to contribute at the NBA level.

 

Backup bigs often have to play way more than 10-15 minutes in today's NBA. I don't want Black to be our best backup. Terrifies me.

 

Ahh. So you want Black starting. Gotcha.

 

Black is a third stringer unless we have another big of similar skill to him. Just to be clear

 

I like Tarik a ton, but I'm with trodgers.

If we can get a stronger backup Center that's a huge plus for our team. Tarik is earnest but I'd prefer a bigger, more skilled body in that position.

 

Lots of starting centers don't play those minutes now. 25 is pretty common. Black is a replacement level player, meaning we see start disadvantage every second he plays. I like him, I think he will keep improving, but I don't want him to be our second string C unless we have lots of options at the 4/5

 

Only 28 bigs (4/5) averaged over 25 MPG last season. Several teams had two of them. Several teams had none.