The Lakers have officially signed Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish, and Jaxson Hayes.
Reviewing the first signing they made, which happened to be Taurean Prince, who was not even available up until a few days ago if you did not know the Minnesota Timberwolves waived him earlier this week. I’m not really sure why they did it, but hey, I guess the Lakers will take it, and much like everyone else, he found out from what was on Twitter that he got Way by them. Truly, P can be a comedy.
I really wish I were joking about that but that’s often times how it works in today’s NBA in regards what the Lakers paid for him though it only took 4.5 million to get him nearly 3 million less than what he would have gotten paid by the Minnesota Timber wolves and for that price you really can’t argue against that Taurean Prince is your prototypical 3 and D forward he is a good but not great defender though he definitely is a great three-point shooter and in my opinion Taurean Prince is one of the best catch and shoot guys in the entire league and largely due to his shooting motion he is great at catching the ball in Rhythm and then as a very quick release to go along with that he only appears to be getting better at it too during the past three years combined now he had shot over 38 for three and then even more impressive he shot over 45 percent on Corner threes throughout that time frame you would have a difficult time finding a better shooter for that price and especially with one who can provide solid defense again I would not call him a great defender.
But I like that he can match up with two or three different positions he is strong enough to handle bigger wings but also mobile enough to keep up with a majority of shooting guards and that can make him a very valuable player if you don’t ask too much of him which they do need to keep in mind here I like the offensive fit of Taurean Prince within their starting lineup but I might change my mind if they have been defended the best swing player on the court every night as he is simply not the guy to do that the problem here is that neither LeBron nor Austin Reaves can do that either which could leave the door open for Jarred Vanderbilt to keep that spot or at least if he can show Improvement as a three-point shooter but regardless of when Taurean Prince enters the game he will immediately provide them without you.
And I am definitely looking forward to watching him space the floor for LeBron and Anthony Davis but now moving on to gay Vincent their second edition of free agency and while there is a bit of a debate going on right now about it I for one like it I don’t know why I keep seeing comments saying I would rather have Dennis shooter over them as they could not afford to give him a 13 million that he got from the Toronto Raptors, but we really need to move on from that I mean the Lakers very likely knew that shooter was gone and knowing that they did a great job finding a replacement for him the only other point guard that might have been a better fit would be Jevon Carter who quickly got picked up by the Chicago Bulls if they were looking to replace shooter they needed a guy who could play great defense at the point of attack and gave Vince and proved that he can do that not only that though.
But he very likely will be an upgrade over shooter offensively now he might be a slight downgrade defensively, but he can make up for it on offense the problem with shooter is that he cannot routinely fit with LeBron and Anthony Davis on offense one game he would provide enough shooting to make it work but then the next one he couldn’t knock down a shot to save his life, and then he was not a very good play maker either which often irritated Anthony Davis I mean it felt like he was already ignoring Anthony Davis at times between not giving him the ball in the post and then not being able to find him during pick and role plays it was hard to pair those two on the court on offense at times and don’t get me wrong here I love having shooter on their team in general, but we cannot deny the issues that came with him on offense and hopefully gave instant can be an upgrade over him in that regard he might only be a 33.9 career three-point shooter.
But he is coming off of shooting 38 during the playoffs and unlike Dennis shooter he can actually shoot from 3 at a high volume Gabe Vincent can get off a shot very quickly and that was another knock on Dennis shooter he simply took too long to catch and shoot the ball which often led to teams sagging off of him on offense.
I think that Gabe Vincent will end up playing a very similar role compared to him he will likely come off the bench but will often times be a part of their closing lineups and that’s where the game really matters anyways but now moving on to their third free agent Edition with that player being cam reddish a guy that they have been linked to for years now he will finally be donning the purple and gold but unlike Taurean Prince Sergey Vincent he will not be joining their team with a guaranteed role not that any role player should really ever be guaranteed playing time but a guy like reddish will definitely have to earn it the problem with him has never been individual Talent it’s always been about his commitment to being a winning player he often goes through defensive lapses that hurt the team and that’s in spite of him being a great defender when he wants to be in my opinion that should be what dictates the amount of playing time he actually gets if he plays good committed defense then he should definitely be a part of their every game rotation I’m really not even worried about his contributions to offense the only thing he needs to worry about is knocking down the occasional three-point shot other than that he should simply Let The Game come to him again worrying about points per game as often by his downfall they did not bring him in to be a scoring threat what they need from a Mr provide good defense and hopefully become a legitimate 3-0 player if Cam reddish can do that then I guarantee he will be valued much more highly next summer in fact that could completely turn his career around.
I believe he can do it but now finishing up with their latest edition with that player being Jaxson Hayes a 23-year-old Center formerly of the New Orleans Pelicans he really needed a change of scenery he went from being a noteworthy part of their future to then becoming an afterthought within their rotation only averaging 13 minutes per game and 47 total games thrilled last season and while nobody can deny his potential he’s had trouble putting it all together and I think playing for a contending team will help him with that much like cam reddish Jaxson Hayes tends to care more about offense than anything else and that’s in Spider-Man having great defensive ability as well I mean the guy can absolutely float in the air and while he definitely does utilise that for alley oops he does not take advantage of it enough on defense or maybe he’s not quite sure how a guy can have all the athletic ability in the world but it won’t matter without understanding team defense and that will be the final step in his development on defense it’s not like there isn’t any hope for him either he’s already shown to be a decent Defender and if we take a look at defensive Raptor rating he’s alternate a good defensive year with bad ones and again a lot of that has to do with commitment he certainly has the ability to provide value though both on defense.