After missing the reinforcement before the trade deadline, the Lakers also did nothing in the subsequent buyout market, watching TT join the Bulls, Dragic joined the Nets, the Lakers wanted reinforcements but there was no news, but today, they finally made a move.
According to Shams, the Lakers will cut Jordan Jr. and sign veteran goalscorer DJ Augustine and young interior lineman Gabriel, the former will sign until the end of the season, while the latter will sign a two-way contract.
The signing of Gabriel is to ensure the depth of the interior, but whether it will win Vogel's favor is still unknown, but the signing of veteran DJ Augustine is likely to be a turning point for the rest of the season.
Shams revealed that the Lakers signed Augustine to help Westbrook find an experienced point guard replacement, which also means that Augustine will play an important role next, he will become Westbrook's stand-in after the break, supplementing the Lakers' number one position.
From a technical point of view, Augustine is a player who is very suitable for the Lakers' current roster;
First of all, he can share the pressure of James Westbrook's possession of the ball, although he is older and his form is also declining, but as an experienced veteran point guard, he averaged 10.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in the Rockets last season, and in the Lakers' still unstable lineup adjustment, he hopes to find his place in Vogel's rotation.
Second, he can improve the Lakers' outside projection threat, Augustine is a good 3-point shooter, last season in the Rockets' 3-point shooting rate of 39%, and this season despite the Rockets' reduced role, his 3-point shooting rate can still reach 40.6%, indicating that his 3-point shooting ability is still there, for a career 3-point shooting rate is stable at 38%, he clearly has the hope of bringing more help to the Lakers' outside shooting.
So, if Augustine gets Vogel's reuse next, don't be surprised at all, and the reuse he gets, on the one hand, can bring new energy to the Lakers' lineup, on the other hand, it may also stimulate the contradiction between Westbrook and Vogel, and even with management.
As a superstar who once won the league, Wei Shao's regression after coming to the Lakers is very obvious, and even has been regarded as the Lakers' poor record. This has been shown by Vogel's previous tacit approval from management to abandon Wei Shao at a critical moment.
However, the move to abandon Wei Shao at a critical moment once caused Wei Shao's dissatisfaction, because he believed that as one of the giants of the team, he should appear in the final lineup, and being abandoned at a critical moment was a disapproval and disrespect for himself. But the reality is so cruel, Wei Shao's projection ability, to a certain extent, does affect the Lakers' offense, although this is not his responsibility alone.
Therefore, after the arrival of Augustine, if Vogel prefers to put Augustine on the court at the critical moment and put Westbrook on the bench, then this arrangement is not surprising at all. After all, now that there is a point guard who seems to be more able to help offensively, Westbrook's role is likely to be further weakened.
Of course, whether it will lead to a complete outbreak of contradictions between Wei Shao and the coach and the team, we still don't know, but obviously, if Wei Shao wants to help the team better, perhaps he himself needs to make sacrifices to ensure that the Lakers retain the hope of finally impacting the playoffs.
It is clear that when Westbrook is replaced by a player who can pose a threat to the outside, the Lakers' offensive space will become larger, and the threat of James holding the ball will also increase, at least the opponent does not dare to completely empty Augustine, and James can also give the ball to Augustine to end outside the 3-point line after the breakthrough, compared to Westbrook, this is Augustine's advantage.
For Wei Shao, whether he can better adjust his mentality in the next appearance arrangement and accept some facts that he is not willing to accept obviously determines the direction of his relationship with the Lakers, and will also determine the fate of the Lakers' playoffs.