The Lakers’ signing of Andre Drummond after the trade deadline soured the franchise’s relationship with now-ex-Los Angeles center Marc Gasol:https://t.co/PcBMpHAofy
— Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) September 11, 2021
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LakerTom says
A move the Lakers should never have made.
John M. says
Seems out of character as well. Why would they hand the starting position to a buyout rental?
LakerTom says
It was a double mistake. First, they never should have signed him period as he was not a good fit. Second, they should never have promised he would start.
At least it appears they learned their lesson. Last year, we ended with three centers besides Anthony Davis: Andre Drummond, Marc Gasol, and Montrezl Harrell. That clearly signalled AD was not going to play much five.
This year, we only have two centers on the roster besides AD: Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan. That’s a strong sign AD is at worst going to play close to half his time at the five like he did during the bubble chamionship.
It’s also prima facia evidence Anthony Davis is likely to start at center. I would love to see him play the first and last six minutes of each half at center. That would represent 24 minutes or 67% of his expected 36 minutes per game.
Michael H says
The real bummer is that Gasol is a much better fit then DJ. We never would have went after DJ if Marc was coming back. While I hope AD starts, Marc was the only one of the centers that I could have at least tolerated starting. DJ is basically Dwight lite. Now we can only hope that AD does play a majority of minutes at the 5 with DJ barely getting off the pine because he hasn’t been the same dude for a while now.
LakerTom says
There’s no question Marc is a better fit in some ways than Jordan but to me the problem is the relationship with Marc was fatally damaged by the Drummond signing and promise to start. That was a mistake and not fair.
We don’t know whether the Lakers made moves to discourage Marc from wanting to return or whether the Lakers were just protecting themselves from Marc not wanting to return. Either way, the Lakers forced Marc out.
In the end, I’m glad Marc is gone because I think his presence would only enable Vogel to not play AD at the five. The way it is now, I think the Lakers have no choice but to start and end halves with AD at the five. That’s basically six seconds at start and end of each half or 24 minutes. Throw in 12 more minutes at the four and you have AD’s 36 minutes with 24 backup center minutes to be split between Dwight and DeAndre.