Now that all teams are marching towards the regular NBA Season, Los Angeles Lakers in particular is finalizing things for their rotation and roster moves. With Kobe being riddled with injury, Lakers would have to prioritize their youth compared to their veterans in order to make some improvements.
With the young players leading the pack, league experts and NBA scouts are intrigued of what will be the performance of LA Lakers this season. Young players D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson would have to do their best inside the court especially that Lakers Coach Byron Scott has been known to prefer veteran players. Such preference have been noticed by some scouts in the league, an anonymous NBA scout in particular expressed via foxsports that;
"They're still going to be really, really bad. I don't see Roy Hibbert, Brandon Bass and Lou Williams as game-changers. The Lakers are in an identity crisis... Their focus should be on their young guys. That means D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson are the priorities. I'm worried that Byron Scott will ride the veterans instead and it goes down as a lost year."
The said preference of the Lakers team and Byron Scott over veteran players is likely felt with their extension of Kobe Bryant as part of the Lakers team. It can be remembered that such move was criticized by some NBA enthusiast. And in response to those criticisms, Executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss made it quite clear via bleacherreport that changes will not be made with regards to Bryant's contract. Buss stated that;
"You pay the guy. You believe in the guy. If he ends up (staying healthy), that's fantastic. Well everybody (in the media) cut me up for that, but I'd say over 200 fans have come up to me and said, 'Thank you so much for letting my kid see Kobe Bryant for two more years." And I'm like, "You know what? I'm glad I can see him for two more years.'"
This so called preference of the team and Laker's coach for veteran players was perhaps one of the reasons why a transfer rumor of Derrick Rose to Los Angeles Lakers appeared on the internet. On an article entitled 'NBA TRADE RUMOR: DERRICK ROSE TO THE LAKERS? READ CAREFULLY!' via marquelaries.sportsblog, the author postulated that Derrick Rose could be a potential swap for Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams. He then added that "Rose would add some box office attraction to the Lakers playing alongside Bryant." Be it as it may, still such theory would never materialize and would only remain as a rumor.
What do you think about the said preference in rotation and roster moves of the Lakers, and do you think Derrick would fill in the needed boost for Lakers if rumors were true? Feel free to share and comment below.
