Lakers Update

Okay, so a little quick Lakers update. The team has now signed 16 players to contracts and is looking to go into training camp with 18 players on their rosters. That means there are still two open roster spots. Who those other two guys are going to be remains to be seen. Also, only 15 players will make the official roster, so the rest will either be sent down to the NBDL or they’ll be released.

A few posts ago, I talked about the upside of a one Josh Powell. Well, he was signed to a Lakers contract before that post. So, sweet I say. A quick recap, he’s a relatively young journeyman who brings double/double potential, though only in some sort of warped, horrific world that sees Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom go down, will he ever even get a shot at getting those numbers.

Shortly after the Olympics, the Lakers also signed Chinese guard Sun Yue to a multiyear contract.

The 23-year-old, 6-foot-9, “Chinese Magic” was taken with the 40th overall selection by the Lakers in last year's draft. He averaged 6.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.33 steals in six games for China in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

I got to watch the kid a little bit. He didn’t really excel at anything particularly well, but he wasn’t horrible at anything either. He showed some range, showed some passing ability, showed some defense and had a fantastic block against the U.S. (though, I forget who it was on). He reminds me of a more athletic, though less fundamentally sound, version of Luke Walton.

Take that for what it’s worth.

One things for certain, he definitely can’t play point guard in the NBA. Well, not yet at least.

The Lakers also signed Joe Crawford, no relation to everybody’s favorite, loud-mouthed, spotlight-craving, bald-headed, Duncan hater.

Crawford, the 58th overall pick, averaged 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in four years at Kentucky, where he played in 127 games, 76 of them starts. The 22-year-old 6-foot-5 guard averaged nearly identical numbers in six summer league games last month: 11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists. 

I don’t know much about him, but, it’s fair to say he won’t get any playing time on this squad unless there is major tragedy.

Who would I like to see for the last two roster spots? On solely a personal level, Sam Cassell. This is 99.9 percent not likely to happen, though, wouldn’t that be something if he came to L.A. and won a championship after beating them in the finals the year before?

Also, not sure whatever happened to him after the Clippers waived midseason last year, but bringing back Ruben Patterson, aka “Kobe Stopper” might be kind of fun. He can bring some energy and defense off the bench, though, he’s getting up there in years and even when he was legitimately a solid player, he never actually stopped Kobe. Not even a little bit.

Might also be interesting to take a flyer on Shaun Livingston, though, he’d only get a one year deal and it wouldn’t be for as much as he was offered from the Clips. In fact, I hope Livingston doesn’t even consider something like this, because then I’d be forced to dislike the kid for bailing on an organization that stood by him through all of his injuries and disappointing seasons, only to walk across the hall and sign for less money.