Last summer the Los Angeles Lakers signed Rajon Rondo and JaVale McGee to 1-year deals. Early in the season, the Lakers pickups from the offseason were playing well. Rajon Rondo was being a great leader and mentor to second-year point guard Lonzo Ball.
JaVale McGee started the season as a defensive player of the year candidate and was then slowed down by pneumonia in late December.
JaVale McGee is a player that the Lakers should look to resign as a starting center. When healthy McGee has averaged 11.8 ppg 7.5 RPG 2 BPG on 62.3% from the field per nba.com. Depending on who the Lakers can bring in this summer to pair with LeBron, McGee is the perfect center to play in the middle of the offense. JaVale McGee is a pick and roll threat and a great shot blocker. The free agency class this summer for Centers is pretty deep with Demarcus Cousins leading the way along with Nikola Vucevic and Deandre Jordan. The Lakers have room for 1 max free agent and then they will have to fill the rest of the roster out with minimum contracts. Lakers Management will probably be in touch with JaVale McGee during the free agency season.
Rajon Rondo only played 43 games this year due to injuries. Rondo is a great leader and point guard on the floor for the Lakers. Lakers Management knew coming into the season that Lonzo and Rajon would battle for the starting point guard job. Due to injuries, Rondo was able to start in 26 games and Lonzo was able to start in 45 games. During the stretch where the Lakers were fighting for the 8th seed, Rondo’s impact on the game was not there. His defense and playmaking suffered in this stretch. Maybe his age had caught up to him as Rondo is 33 years old, or maybe it was the injuries. The Lakers should not bring back Rondo this summer to fully hand the point guard responsibilities to Lonzo Ball. Ball is the Lakers future point guard as long as he can stay healthy.
The Lakers need a backup point guard that can be more of a scorer as opposed to making plays. Lonzo and LeBron are two of the best passers in the league and one of them should be on the floor at all times. The Lakers offense needs better perimeter shooting and younger athletes to defend every night.
No doubt Rajon Rondo is valuable to any team because of his championship pedigree and playoff experience but for the Lakers moving forward it is important to allow Lonzo Ball to be the full-time point guard.
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