He seems to stay in front of guys decently on defense and is reasonably quick on the ground PLUS the vertical threat and additional rim protection. What was the dig at him in GD last night about that he was “Kostas with slower feet”?
Looks like another good project for the Lakers. Unlike other teams they can work on fine tuning his ability to be the screener on the PnR and play tough defense. If he can keep out of foul trouble and add one or two offensive tricks then you have another keeper
I want to like Damian Jones and maybe if the Lakers had a full camp for him to develop next season, he might be a much better asset but he's incapable of rebounding the ball. The rebounding numbers are horrendous for a player his size. He doesn't box out enough as well. He's good as a temporary replacement but he's gotta be a better rebounder and inside presence if he wants to have a long career in the NBA.
i'm with you on this one. i haven't really seen anything to make me think we wouldn't be better off with a vet/journeyman backup c, tbh. would love to be wrong, though. he certainly has springs.
Good point, he may look better on the team just because we lack someone like him with AD out. A true C who can jump add aspects like the lob threat and rim protection the Lakers have been missing but overall would look a lot worse if the team had a replacement level similar player on the squad
I like him for his price and he's better than Kostas and Cacok. He deserves a spot over both of them. He has NBA level skills, even if limited. He can dunk, block, play in the P&R, and play good enough D in stretches... depending on the matchup. For a 13th man moving forward, count me in. For a couple 10 day signings until a buyout candidates shakes loose, can't ask for much more than that, either.
For what he's given us on these two ten day contracts, sure he's been serviceable. Good for him, and I'm thankful for his contributions, even if that may be be partially because we just don't need much from him and he's been able to provide that bare minimum. But I think his second ten day contract runs out in a few days, and I don't think you're allowed to sign a player to a third ten day contract. He doesn't qualify for a two-way contract, so we couldn't replace him for Cacok or Kostas even if we wanted to. So there's absolutely no way he's shown anything near good enough to warrant signing for the rest of the year and taking away our flexibility on the buyout/trade market. We'll have to be without him from the 21st through at least the trade deadline, and then MAYBE we bring him back if we strike out on getting someone better on the buyout market. Even then, I haven't seen enough from him to preclude the idea of trying out some other big men on the market instead. Maybe give Boogie a look or bring Kyle O'Quinn back from overseas. Or throw a 10 day contract to someone like Skal Labisierre or another G-League big man that our scouts have their eyes on.
I think you keep him. "Bird in hand" with vertical game and improving defense around the basket. Like manna from .... you know. Unless Rob has some other rim protecting, vertical threat in his pocket. We still have one slot left, as well as could waive McKinnie if needed for an additional.
We can pick him back up if we strike out on buyout players. That is if no one else picks him up in the meantime.
Sucks, but I think Rob must have a plan to replace him with someone better, so I'm actually excited for the prospect. I really did like him quite a bit though. Wish we could replace Kostas with Jones actually
Agreed and agreed and agreed. Still, what about bird in hand? We still had another spot open and could have had 2 if McKinnie had to be waived, or 3 if using injury clause on Dudz. I really thought he did enough and brings enough to stay. Have to trust Rob “has a brain” here I guess.
We might have a first right of refusal set up with him on the down low. If he gets an offer from another team, he will let us match kind of thing.
Rob doesn’t even have to have anything immediately lined up. The flexibility is more valuable than Jones, even if nothing ends up happening with it (in which case, Jones is probably still available to sign later anyways). Imagine a scenario where unexpectedly right before the deadline Rob is getting close to pulling off a trade that gets us a high impact player, but it would require us to take in an extra $1-2 million in salary... and so now we can’t execute the trade because we just had to lock up Damian Jones right away. It’s not about roster spots, it’s about hard cap. If you sign Jones now, that’s a big chunk of the remaining guaranteed salary we’re allowed under the hard cap gone. It doesn’t matter if we cut Dudley or McKinnie, that guaranteed money is still on the books. I don’t know the exact math, but a contract for Jones now would severely hamstring our options at the trade deadline and buyout market Come on guys, Rob deserves the benefit of the doubt. Of all things, how he decides to handle Damian Jones is not the reason to start doubting his GM acumen.
