Wes to the Lakers

[llandz]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baske...akers-wesley-johnson-20130713,0,6445487.story

Oh well. Bye bye Phoenix. Now we have to get Arinze. Need to keep some Orange in the area. First Hakim, then Wes, now hopefully Arinze!
Good luck Wes. I knew he had been in LA the last 2 weeks.

 

[SUintheVille]

Maybe Kobe can mentor him and allow Wes to start to blossom into the player we know he is. Hope there's sufficient PT for that to happen.

 

[GFTakedown]

Maybe Kobe can mentor him and allow Wes to start to blossom into the player we know he is. Hope there's sufficient PT for that to happen.

Unfortunately, the Lakers will dump him next year when they have the cap room to get the big guns. Wish it was for more than 1 year but then they could use him for trading.

The Lakers might be trying to "tank" the season so they can get into the lottery for the draft.

 

[realorange]

Unfortunately, the Lakers will dump him next year when they have the cap room to get the big guns. Wish it was for more than 1 year but then they could use him for trading.

The Lakers might be trying to "tank" the season so they can get into the lottery for the draft.

I'd like to see you tell Kobe the Lakers are trying to tank this year.

 

[newmexicuse]

Maybe Kobe can mentor him and allow Wes to start to blossom into the player we know he is. Hope there's sufficient PT for that to happen.

Yeah right, Kobe will teach Wes how to pass the ball to him.

 

[Orangezoo]

hopefully wes can put up decent numbers on this shell of a team to earn himself another contract after that

 

[jekelish]

I could see this working out for Wes. He's a guy who could thrive in D'Antoni's system.

 

[cuseclappy]

I could see this working out for Wes. He's a guy who could thrive in D'Antoni's system.

assuming d'antoni doesnt get canned within a month of the start of the season

 

[OrangeDW]

Unfortunately, the Lakers will dump him next year when they have the cap room to get the big guns. Wish it was for more than 1 year but then they could use him for trading.

The Lakers might be trying to "tank" the season so they can get into the lottery for the draft.

I don't agree. If any of these minimum contract guys work out, the Lakers will have a ton of flexibility in resigning them and their cap holds will be very low. If Wes has a good year, he could be back.

Can't ask for a better situation on paper...D'Antoni would seem to be a good fit for what Wes can do, he'll play guys like Wes at SF, and right now there's only Nick Young to compete with at SF, and maybe someone like Chris Douglas-Roberts could make the team off the Summer roster. If Wes plays well, he can outplay those guys. And we'll see if Kobe really is ready to start the season, but if not there's only Jodi Meeks at SG.

Make shots, Wes!! That's all there is to it. He should have the chance to let them fly under D'antoni and with PT potentially available. Make shots!

 

[Francis03]

I don't agree. If any of these minimum contract guys work out, the Lakers will have a ton of flexibility in resigning them and their cap holds will be very low. If Wes has a good year, he could be back.

Can't ask for a better situation on paper...D'Antoni would seem to be a good fit for what Wes can do, he'll play guys like Wes at SF, and right now there's only Nick Young to compete with at SF, and maybe someone like Chris Douglas-Roberts could make the team off the Summer roster. If Wes plays well, he can outplay those guys. And we'll see if Kobe really is ready to start the season, but if not there's only Jodi Meeks at SG.

Make shots, Wes!! That's all there is to it. He should have the chance to let them fly under D'antoni and with PT potentially available. Make shots!

Great post and this is the best opportunity that Wes could have asked for to get his career back on track. Now it's time for him to take advantage of it.

 

[kirbivore]

I'd like to see you tell Kobe the Lakers are trying to tank this year.

Simmons had a decent article about the steps LA could take to tank the season. Boston and Philly are also in full tank mode for Wiggins.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9466869/lakers

 

[OrangeDW]

Simmons had a decent article about the steps LA could take to tank the season. Boston and Philly are also in full tank mode for Wiggins.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9466869/lakers[/quote]

I hope that works out for Boston about as well as it did when they ended up with Chauncey Billups instead of Tim Duncan, and Jeff Green instead of Kevin Durant. Tank at your own risk.

If Simmons and some of these guys had their way, 80% of the league would tank every year.

 

[quentin cassidy]

If Trevor Ariza can get a huge contract after playing with Kobe, so can Wes. Some guys take a few years to get used to the NBA - hopefully Wes can be one of those guys. It is a copycat league - teams have to be looking for guys who can play the role of Danny Green. Wes showed some potential the last couple months of the season when he avearged 13ppg in the Suns last 20+ games.

 

[Jeremy L.]

As the rapper Juicy J would say, "Now that's paper!"

Wes is probably in my top 5 favorite players to ever play at Syracuse. So good, and did it with so much class.

 

[moqui]

I'd just like to see Wes finally find some organizational stability under his feet . . . the Lakers are the 10th basketball organization (in 9 different states!) he has been affiliated with in the last 10 years:

• summer 2004: Dallas Mustangs AAU
• 2004-5: Senior year at Corsicana (TX) High School
• 2005-6: signed LOI to play for University of Louisiana-Monroe
• 2005-6: coaching change at ULM led him to back out, instead enrolled at Patterson School Prepratory in North Carolina
• 2005-6: unhappy at Patterson School, transferred mid-year to Eldon Academy in Michigan
• 2006-7: Iowa State
• 2007-8: Iowa State; transferred to Syracuse at end of sophomore year
• 2008-9: sat out a year due to transfer rules
• 2009-10: Syracuse
• 2010-11: Minnesota Timberwolves
• 2011-12: Minnesota
• 2012-13: Phoenix
• 2013-14: Los Angeles Lakers

 

[tee1222]

As the rapper Juicy J would say, "Now that's paper!"

Wes is probably in my top 5 favorite players to ever play at Syracuse. So good, and did it with so much class.

Welcome to the Century Club!

 

[Knicks411]

I feel like people are really setting themselves up to be disappointed here.

It is a copycat league - teams have to be looking for guys who can play the role of Danny Green.

It's early in his career, but Green has the 10th highest 3 point percentage in the history of the league. Wes is below 34% for his career from 3.

I love Wes a lot too. But he really hasn't shown anything that says he will be a productive member of an NBA rotation. Even the last 2 months of the season, where he got more run, he shot 43% from the field with a 51% true shooting.

I do agree this is a great opportunity for him though. Hope he takes advantage of it.

 

[Jeremy L.]

Welcome to the Century Club!

Thank you sir! It's a tremendous honor

 

[quentin cassidy]

I feel like people are really setting themselves up to be disappointed here.



It's early in his career, but Green has the 10th highest 3 point percentage in the history of the league. Wes is below 34% for his career from 3.

I love Wes a lot too. But he really hasn't shown anything that says he will be a productive member of an NBA rotation. Even the last 2 months of the season, where he got more run, he shot 43% from the field with a 51% true shooting.

I do agree this is a great opportunity for him though. Hope he takes advantage of it.

Green also plays on the most unselfish team in the league which has 2 superstars in Parker and Duncan, plus several other good players. Wes played on a dysfunctional team where the leading scorers were Goran Dragic and Luis Scola, at only 15 and 12 ppg. I would guess that a far greater percentage of Green's 3 point attempts have been wide open looks than Wes's attempts. I'm not saying Wes can shoot as well as Green (although they did shoot a similar % in college), but if he continues to work on his shot and can find his way onto a good team that generates open looks for its 3-pt shooters, there's no reason he can't get his 3pt% into the upper-30's. His overall skill set is similar to Green's (good defender, very good athlete, can't really create his own shot, etc). Don't forget, Green was a guy who barely played his first 2 years in the league. In some cases, all it takes is getting the opportunity to play in an ideal situation for an otherwise ordinary NBA player to become a household name.

I think Wes has a chance to offer very good value at his minimum salary. NBA free agency usually follows the pattern of the max contract guys getting signed first, then the $8-10m guys, then the $4-6m guys, etc. At this point, most teams are looking at guys in the $2m range, and I found it interesting that Wes was one of the first minimum contracts that went off the board, when many more expensive players are still available. I think that shows that the Lakers had targeted him as a player they think has a good amount of upside for his price.