Training camp cut Roscoe Smith is the latest in the procession of players the Lakers are bringing in for tryouts, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). The 23-year-old small forward, who’ll audition for the team today, joins Gal Mekel, Jordan Hamilton, Dwight Buycks, Quincy Miller and Tyrus Thomas, all of whom have reportedly either worked out for the Lakers in recent days or are scheduled to do so.
Smith signed with the Lakers for training camp on a non-guaranteed one-year deal for the minimum salary after going undrafted out of UNLV, and the team let him go in advance of opening night after he averaged 3.1 points in 14.9 minutes per game during seven preseason contests. The Lakers retained his D-League rights, and he’s put up 18.3 PPG in 35.5 MPG in three games so far for the Los Angeles D-Fenders. The Lakers must notify the D-League before the workout and ensure that Smith doesn’t miss a D-League game to avoid running afoul of the rules governing NBA teams and their D-League affiliates, notes Gino Pilato of D-League Digest (Twitter link).
The Lakers have won two in a row to improve to 3-9, but their 1-9 start was the worst in franchise history. They possess a Disabled Player Exception worth nearly $1.499 for Julius Randle and may also obtain another such exception worth nearly $5MM for Steve Nash, since both players are out for the season. Still, none of the players to whom the Lakers have been connected of late would appear to merit more than the minimum salary.
Ronnie Price and Wayne Ellington, who have partially guaranteed deals, are the only Lakers without fully guaranteed salaries, though Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report recently suggested Xavier Henry is in danger of being cut despite his one-year guaranteed contract for $1.082MM. Ellington had been on leave from the team as he mourned the recent murder of his father, but he returned to the Lakers today, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter link).
11-21-14: Lakers need height and muscle inside to plug up the middle on defense to prevent layups by the opposition. That’s a “center,” 7 feet tall or more, who’s quick, and a backup just like him for the bench. Import 2 Europeans bigs for this now. Play Hill at power forward, encouraging him to drive and shoot. Dump Boozer (too slow) and Sacre (can’t jump) for the two new bigs.
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Boozer is not the problem, he’s giving us about 18+ per game, his problem is that he breaks off his defense to soon instead of staying with it, he needs to work with a big that knows defense, although his defense is weak, he is not as bad as some claim. now although I like Sacre, I don’t know if he will improve much more and possibly it may be wiser to cut him or send him down to the DL but yes, we do need another C that is a rim protector, Davis is a PF (but a good rim protector), I don’t know if there is a good enough European that is ready for the NBA, right , right now. or any in the DL at this time. Lakers may just have to suck it up. So far I have not been impressed with BScot’s defensive scheme, I thought he was better than what I have seen but I was mistaken, he needs to play more man to man, he just does not have the talent necessary to play zone defense, his scheme just leaves to many open 3 shooters or alleys open for layups and worst yet he does not seem to be able to adjust, if we play more man to man there will be less open 3’s and try and force the man with the ball into more traffic in the paint, force that man to complete the play by himself and let our defense live with that, that’s bettter than open 3’s and open layups. IMO.
I agree about not zoning on D: allows too many 3s and layups. Yet they don’t use the zone that much. They are the worst defensive team in the league. Can’t be all Scott’s fault. They simply lack defensive talent. They have no intimidating big man to swat away potential layups. Pau Gasol? In “exchange” for letting him go, they acquired Boozer, whom the Bulls sat in the 4th quarter for defensive purposes. Boozer has become a small (slow) forward, good for 12-15 foot turnaround jumpers. They need a true power forward who can bang inside/block shots. They have none. It is a glaring weakness on defense. Ed Davis is okay, but has no offensive prowess one-on-one. Many other teams have tall, strong, bench players who could start at power forward for the Lakers, – have good D and who can shoot closer to the hoop than Boozer.
things look bleak !!!
why do they need to work out roscoe smith ? He was on the team during preseason until the last roster cuts right before the season started. … didn’t they evaluate him during preseason? !!!!