In a league where the NBA Finals involved two teams who played as if it was the mid-eighties (85 LALvBOS 115-113) with an average score of 121 to 114 the question is if your rebuilding like the Lakers, do you even worry about how good your defense is. It has been my standard cry over the last two years since this current squad was being put together, they must get taller, longer and quicker in order to play better defense and compete. Julius Randle has been at the heart of what I’ve seen as the problem with this roster all offense can’t shoot from the perimeter, and especially being to short for his position and can’t guard in space. Despite that he has been perhaps the most consistent player over that time and works on his game every year to make himself an even more dangerous offensive weapon. But his in ability to guard his or multiple positions will always be a problem and with the number two pick this year we are about to learn exactly how the Lakers and Magic Johnson are going to deal with this. Right now they are debating whether to take Lonzo Ball vs Josh Jackson with the number two pick and that decision will give us a clearer view of their playing style choice and Randle’s future on the team
The drafting of Jackson who is the far superior defensive player, but who relies solely on his athleticism to score the ball and is limited to only improving his own stats on the offensive end would be a clear turning point away from the Randle style of basketball. It could also spell the end of Randle in a Lakers uniform. Their is no way you can play those two together and get any type of spacing on the floor as we saw often enough when they played a combo of Randle, Larry Nance and/or Tarik Black. Now add Jackson at small forward and drop Ingram to shooting guard I don’t think Jacksons defensive presence would offset the lack of outside shooting on the other side of the floor. More importantly it would damage any attempt to build a solid defensive core by having a weak link at your power forward position. So moving Randle in order to play a defensive player would be one of two options. The other would be to sit Randle behind Nance, Black, Thomas Robinson or someone new, which isn’t an option if you want a good locker room down the road. Randle is a starter in this league, just not on a team thinking defense first. So if the Lakers are going to take Jackson their first order of business is to trade Randle and find a defensive stopper at the four spot either from within or without. Simply replacing Randle with the best already on the roster option in Nance would work as far having a better defender out there and giving the same minutes he could probably produce similar points and rebounding numbers as Randle. But you would lose Randle’s passing and ball handling skills and they would only hope to make that up on the other end with Nance’s better athleticism. If they go outside the organization finding someone who could offset Randle’s offensive potential won’t be easy either, so they could just opt to trade him for future assets or in a move with other players to create cap space to make a run at some young free agents to help fill in the void.
If however the team decides to draft Ball as they should, because he is tall, long, and quick enough to play his position plus a good enough offensive weapon to offset his defensive liabilities, Randle’s future with the team may be more secure. Taking Ball means they will try to compete on the offensive side of the court first and foremost. Defense can take the backseat and take advantage of the modern NBA rules that are built to make it easier to score. With Ball, Russell, Ingram, Randle, Clarkson and even Zubac they would have a group of players each able to put up high scoring number on any giving night. With Balls outside shooting they become instantly better on offense because it would open so many more option in play calling and fives them better floor spacing. With everyone else working on improving their outside shooting this offseason the potential is there for especially Ingram, Russell and Ball to become 20 point per game scorers this upcoming season, then add in Randle’s mid-teens double-doubles plus the bench led by Clarkson and you have the makings of a real high scoring team. Especially with four players who can initiate the transition from defense to offense by bring the ball up themselves to orchestrate the fast break leading to early baskets and as we see with good teams good offensive players make other offensive players better by not allowing opposing team to rotate off of the guy who can’t score. Then depending on weather the team can stay in games just with their offense the can adjust their rotation or seek trades mid season. So if they chose Ball the chance are more likely the keep Randle for at least half the season and see how things go. And fortunately they also have the 28th pick or possibly higher if they package it and Clarkson as has been rumored to move up in the draft to get a stretch 4/5 like Anzejs Pasecniks from Latvia to further increase their offensive output who can also play defense.
With the contracts of Deng, Mozgov and Clarkson taking up some much Cap Space it’s hard to see them doing anything in free agency like going after Nerlens Noel to be the anchor on defense as the small ball center or replace Randle at the power forward position. Instead they will probably only add lower value two-way players who could compete for playing time like Vanderbilt Blue MVP of the Dleague last year while he played for their very own affiliate team the Dfenders and Christian Wood a still developing big who is only 21 years old. I’ve been advocating for these to players to be adding for a couple of years now, but hopefully with the tanking years behind us, as the Sixers will get next years pick regardless, maybe they will get a shot this offseason. But in the end this offseason is not about anything less than in which side of the ball this team and organization is going to focus on first as the foundation of the future and whether they see Randle as a part of it or not.
A $inGle Word 