preface
After sending away a number of young players in exchange for Wei Shao, the Lakers who make up the big three can be described as majestic and determined to play a little in the new season, but everything backfires, this season's Lakers are not at all like they think, but they are very struggling, currently only with a record of 21 wins and 19 losses in the West, not to mention whether the Lakers can win the championship, even the Lakers in the playoffs may have to play the playoffs to enter. The Lakers management is also worried about the team's record, and recently has also made a lot of moves, hoping to change the team's current situation, the most gratifying to fans is the signing of youngster Stanley Johnson, whose arrival has stopped the Lakers' decline to a certain extent.
Trade Rondo for Stanley
The day before the New Year, the Lakers announced a deal with the Cavaliers, the Cavaliers got Rondo, and the Lakers got just a wisp of air from Cleveland, poor Long's guidance, the front foot thought of bringing a championship trophy to the Lakers, and the back foot was given to the Cavaliers by the Lakers. It seems to be a white send, in fact, the Lakers have their own abacus in mind, after the trade of Long guidance, the Lakers saved 7 million luxury fees, Long coached this season's state is very bad, in the average 16 minutes of playing time can only get 3 points 3.7 assists data, three-point shooting rate is not even 30%, the hero is old, today's Long guidance can not bring positive impact to the Lakers as in previous seasons, so a large part of the reason for trading Long guidance is to make room to sign Stanley Johnson.
This is the case, this season the Lakers main small ball lineup, the state of the bad Long coach on the court will affect the speed of the Lakers, send away Long coach signed Johnson, the Lakers' flexibility will therefore be greatly improved. Beijing time on December 25, the Lakers announced and Johnson signed a ten-day contract, January 7 again announced and Johnson signed a ten-day contract, the league is a rule, a team can only sign a player up to two ten-day contracts, if you want to use it again, you can only sign with the player until the end of the season, all indications show that the Lakers are very likely to reach a formal contract with Johnson.
Work hard to impress the Lakers
During the first ten days of contract, Johnson played 5 games for the Lakers, averaging 6.8 points, 2.8 boards, 1.4 assists, 1.2 steals per game, of which the three-point shooting rate was only 23.5%, from the data point of view, Johnson did not play very well, so why did the Lakers choose to send Long to sign Johnson, in fact, the Lakers really looked at Johnson's offense, but his defense. You know, for today's Lakers' small lineup, defense is the biggest problem, and Johnson's arrival is just the perfect solution to this problem. Head coach Vogel publicly stated after the game against the Trail Blazers that "Johnson's physical fitness is good, his movement speed is fast and the confrontation is very good, his defense is officially what our team lacks at the moment", indeed, fans watching the game know that this game is precisely because johnson's pinch on the side of Lillard, which made Lillard play very badly in this game. Even the team boss James is full of praise for Johnson, he said that "Johnson's defense is very tough, can help the Lakers become a good team", the team boss has opened his mouth, Johnson will stay in the Lakers.
In addition to creating pressure on the opponent at the defensive end, Johnson's arrival will undoubtedly bring great convenience to James and Westbrook, James is somewhat unconcerned in terms of defense after changing to center, Westbrook is not to mention, the offense is OK, the defense is miserable, Bradley can increase the defensive intensity of the guard line, so Johnson's main task is to strengthen the Lakers' risk defense. With him, the Lakers can better explore James's offensive potential, Anderson can also play triple-doubles as carefree as before, and as for the dirty work of defense, it is left to Johnson to do.
There is a good chance it will be reused in the future
Many fans say that the Lakers will sign Johnson because of Davis's injury, signing Johnson is only temporarily stopping the bleeding, and Johnson will be abandoned after Davis returns. In fact, no matter whether Davis will come back or not, Johnson's role is very large. As mentioned above, Johnson's footsteps and confrontation on the defensive end are the most needed by the Lakers, and this role is still important in Davis' return. In fact, this season Davis is called the top defense and did not play very well, not that Davis's ability has declined, but Davis needs to take care of too much, the Lakers' internal line is not enough, in the game can be seen in addition to the big center on the other side, otherwise Vogel will not let Howard and Jordan Jr. play, and it is difficult to rely on these two people to support the defensive responsibility, so the burden on Davis is very heavy, which is also an important reason for Davis's poor performance and his injury. With Johnson, Davis' defensive pressure will be much less, so keeping Johnson is too worth it for the Lakers.
summary
Leaving Johnson can be said to be the most important thing for the Lakers so far, Johnson can not only bring a lot of gains to the Lakers on the defensive end, but also his attitude of fighting on the court is also easy to affect his teammates and mobilize their enthusiasm. But Johnson's shortcomings are also there, although the defense is good, it is more than enough to deal with ordinary players, but once it comes to facing star players, Johnson's defense is insignificant, if the Lakers are aimed at the championship, then Johnson on the front line is far from enough. At present, after the Lakers' guidance on the trade, there are still about 10 defenders on the guard line, for the championship, perhaps the Lakers management is already preparing for the follow-up transaction work, and it is not known who will shoot.