The Lakers will play in their final preseason game tonight, sorting out some unfinished business when they face the Warriors. After their last game was cut short in San Diego, tonight gives both teams one last chance to get in some game action before the regular season begins next week.
While this game is somewhat of a dress rehearsal for the real games, the Lakers still have a final decision to make on who will be in uniform when they play the Timberwolves six days from now. The roster is nearly set and the players below are virtual locks:
PG: D’Angelo Russell, Marcelo Huertas
SG: Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams
SF: Kobe Bryant, Nick Young, Anthony Brown
PF: Julius Randle, Brandon Bass, Ryan Kelly, Larry Nance Jr.
C: Roy Hibbert, Tarik Black, Robert Sacre
If the above group holds, there are three players left with only one roster spot to fill. One of the three players left is Jonathan Holmes, but he is almost surely going to get cut. His injury may complicate matters in the timing of this, but I do not see any way he actually makes the team.
This leaves only Metta World Peace and Jabari Brown as the final players battling for the single open roster spot. First, it’s important to note neither player has any incumbent or financial advantage in this race. While Brown was on the team last year, Metta was a long tenured Laker who helped them win a title in 2010. Both players have fully non-guaranteed deals, so money will not play an issue here either (though, it should be noted, Metta’s minimum salary is more than what Brown’s is).
This decision, then, will come down who the best fit is and what they bring to the table both in tangible and intangible ways. There are good arguments for both.
The Argument for Brown:
Brown is young, competitive, has a knack for scoring, and continues to show he will work hard to try and improve his game. While the growth in areas such as passing and playmaking for others hasn’t developed as quickly as I’d like, he has shown improvement as a spot up shooter while bringing a tighter handle and improved focus defensively this year. The reasons to keep him are pretty straight forward, then. The hope is that the other parts of his game come around enough that his ability to score isn’t the only note he’s hitting during game action. In the mean time, you develop him in practice and see where it goes. You are, essentially, betting on his upside. While guards of his ilk can be seen as fairly common, true scoring ability will always have value. Banking on him developing a three point shot (which he’s already showing) only increases that value. If you reign in some of his ball-hoggy tendencies, there are the makings of a viable bench scorer.
The Argument for Metta:
Metta offers experience, leadership, a mentor for Randle, defensive smarts, and can provide some spot minutes at SF should injury or matchups dictate he get some burn. He’s basically the same player the Lakers waived via the amnesty provision, both good and bad. His intensity, dedication, and competitiveness are all still very much there. So is his propensity to commit offensive fouls, some of his defensive gambling, and his slowing feet. The argument to keep him, then, is mostly based on what he can do off the court rather than what he can do on it. As a mentor for Randle and a general sounding board for the young players, he has real value. As a practice player who will compete hard and provide an example of work ethic, he can be a positive influence. But if you keep him, you do so knowing that a roster spot is going to a player whose helping more off the court than on. This is a conscious decision you’re making.
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If it were me making this decision, I likely keep Metta. While I think Brown has talent, I do not think his scoring is so valuable within the context of this roster that it outweighs the intangibles Metta brings to the team. Of course, the argument could be made that Brown’s (scoring) redundancy with Clarkson, Williams, and Young is matched by Metta’s (leadership) redundancy with Kobe, Hibbert, and Bass. That’s totally fair, but I think if pitted against each other, what Metta brings has slightly more value to this specific roster at this specific time.
Ultimately, I think this is what matters the most here. Brown likely deserves to be on some team’s roster as his game will likely only show more growth and maturity in the coming seasons. But what the Lakers really need is for the young players they have true investments in (Randle, Russell, Clarkson, Nance, and Anthony Brown) to take the type of strides forward which make Jabari an afterthought. If Metta can help accelerate that development — especially for Randle, but for Brown and Nance too — that’s probably worth a roster spot this season.
TheArmoTrader says
I’d go MWP as well since it is between him and Brown (and not Holmes/Upshaw/Frazier, else I would’ve gone in that direction).
Brown’s tunnel vision is what kills him here. He showed some good stuff last year but has failed to add a little playmaking to his game. He forces up shots wayy too much. Hopefully he grows out of that because he has a real knack for scoring.
But besides that, regarding the redundancy factor. I don’t think there’s much redundancy with veterans.
Kobe/Roy don’t play Randle’s position, so while they are helpful of course, they don’t provide that direct mentorship as say Kobe would to DAR/JC.
There is Bass of course, but from his interviews/demeanor, he does seem like a soft-spoken guy. I mean, he even said he learned a lot of things by observing.
MWP is of course the opposite of that. At this point, since we’re obviously not taking any fliers on any of the higher upside guys, I rather just add another veteran who has played Randle’s position.
J C says
Metta should be retained.
His intangibles are immeasurable.
The team has a nice mix of youth and veterans and he’s one of the most experienced vets we have. He’s a world champion too.
Brown is one of many promising young players and we already have more promising youth on the roster than we normally have.
This is almost a no-brainer to me.
If they cut Metta it will be depressing.
He’s also one of the most entertaining personalities we have.
Lastly, if Kobe goes down with another season ending injury, Metta can probably play meaningful minutes.
Jose says
First of all, sorry about my english, it’s not my native languaje…
I agree with Darius that MWP can do very interesting things off the court… but on the court he will be one of the last options, I used to like him, but he is not the same as he used to be, he is older now, slower, etc.
I think that Jabari Brown has shown some good things at the end of last season and in summer league. Right now he looks a little nervous, I think he’s trying to show off to impress the coaching staff and it’s not working, a lot of mistakes and me, me, me decisions. Beside this, I like his skills, and he can be a good bench scorer.
I don’t know if this is an option, but it could be interesting… make an offer to MWP to be part of the Lakers coaching staff and sign Jabari Brown… this will mean retirement for MWP but maybe it’s time to think about it… I don’t see other NBA team offering MWP a contract.
If this is not possible, I still prefer Jabari… there are a lot of players that can teach young guys, they don’t need to be on the team, they can be part of the coaching staff, we already have some…
Vasheed says
I’m in the pro-Metta camp too. I’m really amazed at his influence on Randle so far. He also backs up a position the Lakers are thinner at.
Jabari fills a position the Lakers have the most redundancies for and has been a detriment to the otherwise great team ball movement.
Clay Bertrand says
It would be a total shock if the Lakers kept Brown over Metta at this point. The truth is that Metta couldn’t barely get on the floor with the Knicks last year. The FREAKING KNICKS!!!! AND THEY WERE A LOTTERY TEAM (like us)!!!!! We can’t just keep players around because they won a ring with us 6-7 years ago and give funny interviews. While I do certainly see a value in his mentorship especially with Randle, clearly the Lakers are hedging their investment in the youngsters with veterans (particularly Williams and Bass) that are meant to appease those expecting ACTUAL WINS from this team. The lack of depth at the 3 will weigh at least somewhat on this decision although it should not have come to this.
Frankly, Metta vs. Brown for the last spot is apples and oranges….THIS or THAT. We know what Metta is at this point. I love the guy but his production is only decreasing. Like Darius says, it’s a conscious decision to choose Metta’s off court influence over Brown’s on court ability (paraphrased). Brown is a young player still growing who already can provide for the most part what Lou Williams and Nick Young provide in the bench scoring department. I would even go so far as to say his game is more efficient than Williams and Young. Obviously, he’s MUCH cheaper than those guys too. It shouldn’t have come down to “Metta or Brown.”
Who the heck looked at this team’s needs in the offseason and said, “What we really need is a VOLUME scorer off the bench!”???????? Lou Williams is a proven scorer. That’s his whole entire game. Period. A scorer. That was a team need so far down the list of priorities we didn’t even need to address it IMO. Knowing we couldn’t trade Swaggy too easily (YET), we could have just stood pat with Brown as our scoring guard off the bench. More upside, more efficiency, more youth, less money. I feel his ball hogging this preseason has been strongly related to the urgency to impress in very limited game time. He has nice shooting form and his 3 ball is ever improving. He attacks the rim and gets to the line too.
For those who keep mentioning how Mitch did great to get Lou so that we can trade him for some asset of value at the trading deadline later this season, to me, that is a flawed concept. If Lou could have been signed by a team for nothing, why would they trade a draft pick or a “star” player for him (and potentially other assets) 6 months later?? Is Mitch in the player FLIPPING business now??? Nick ultimately makes more sense to be moved down the line and his contract is really pretty palatable going forward if he’s shooting better than last year which I believe he will.
I just really wish we could keep Brown somehow though I strongly doubt that we will do so.
Clay Bertrand says
Vasheed, I respect your opinion and echo your sentiment on Metta’s influence on Randle. HOWEVER, the term “GREAT TEAM BALL MOVEMENT” should never be uttered in the same State where Byron Scott is coaching the Lakers offense. Lol. I’d LOVE to see great team ball movement from the Lakers and will be sure to post here if I ever do (somewhat tongue in cheek).
lil pau says
I think I’d prefer either to cut A. Brown or Ryan Kelly and maybe even Sacre over either J Brown or MWP, but if it indeed comes down to these final two, I prefer retaining MWP.
Something to watch out for: Mitch always prefers to leave an open roster spot available so he can absorb a two-for-one trade (or pick up a waived player). To those ends, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if two more players get cut (plus Holmes)… Again, I’ll be contrarian and say MWP endures regardless…
Also, a quick correction: there was a (quite enjoyable) game between the shortened game in SD and tonight’s game. We beat Portland at Staples on Monday night.
Kimberly says
Darius-
Good post. One thing I’d like to mention is that while Metta’s minimum is a larger amount than Brown’s minimum, the CBA provides an offset for veteran minimum salaries against the cap. This is specifically for 10 year vets I believe, which Metta meets.
Darius Soriano says
Kimberly, that is correct. I meant to mention that in the post as well, but it didn’t make it back in.
lil pau, I did not mean to make it seem as though the last Lakers’ game was against the Warriors. Only that tonight is their last game and that the last time they played they did not finish.
George Best says
Cut Sacre and keep Brown and MWP.
Pretty simple.
Anonymous says
This is so easy to pick you dont have to give up neither just get rid of sacre like u were suppose to do in the 1st place since both of these guys have way more value than that shmuck. who cares if ur only 2 deep at the 5. Metta we must have cuz hes arguably our best perimeter defender on the team so from that standpoint u must keep. Brown is another shooter that could make stuff happen on his own so u really cant have enough of those kind of players on a team. the decision is pretty clear for anyone to see. cut sacre the guy has no value and is just using up someones spot
Huertas / Russel
Clarkson / Williams / Brown
Kobe / Young / MWP
Randle / Bass / Larry Nance / Kelly
Hibbert / Black / Larry Nance
Clay Bertrand says
Anonymous, doubtful it happens but you may be onto something!!!!
Vic Rufes says
Cut Sacre! Keep brown and mwp…we don’t need cheerleader, we already have the laker girls!
Rolokovich says
World Peace doesn’t have to take up a roster spot to provide positive influence to the younger players. I hear he has practiced at the El Segundo facility a lot over the years.
I am still trying to make heads or tails out of Robert Upshaw being put on waivers. He was the first one cut, and then Scott says he’s crossing his fingers that Upshaw clears waivers so they can put him into the D-league. They could of saved him a roster spot if they really wanted to do that. Over the past few seasons, the Lakers haven’t even had a full 15 guys on the active roster. Sure sounds like BS. I still say Upshaw either showed up for practice smelling like weed, got in a fight with a teammate, called an assistant coach an MF, or all of the above. What do you make of it Darius?
matt says
I believe we are all fans of mwp but i would not keep him and i am glad fans do not make these decisions, j.brown is young and developable he is a scorer and our teams field goal percentage is low this preseason we need his scoring, mwp is terrible on offense and although we all like him because of his personality he needs to be cut, also no other team will pick up mwp of waivers
Rod says
It get the whole leadership, wisdom aspect with Metta World Peace, I really do. That being said, those of you who would rather keep Metta over Jabari Brown, just made your own arguments against yourselves in that if you all want to keep Metta for those reasons, then why not just keep him as one of the Lakers’ assistant coaches? I’m sorry, but at age 36, what more does Metta have to offer the Lakers on the court as a viable player? Not really? The Lakers would be better served in further developing Jabari Brown, who is much younger than Metta, and who could help the Lakers right now. The Lakers have a far greater need at shooting guard than they do at small forward, where anyone from Anthony Brown to Larry Nance Jr to Nick Young can filled that position nicely. Metta’s most valued asset at this point of his career is as a mentor and that’s what you have coaches for-to mentor young and developing players. Keep Metta as a coach and Keep Jabari as a player. You’d get the best of both worlds there.
Kimberly says
Rod-
I think metta as an assistant coach is a false alternative. It’s been mentioned elsewhere that it makes no sense for Metta to choose a lower salaried position of an assistant coach when he can still make much more as a player overseas.
Josep Jude C. Villaseñor says
MEtta should be retain as lakers. The team needs him defensively.
Monico Dolor says
PG: D’Angelo Russell, Marcelo Huertas
SG: Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams
SF: Kobe Bryant, Nick Young, Anthony Brown
PF: Julius Randle, Brandon Bass, Ryan Kelly, Larry Nance Jr.
C: Roy Hibbert, Tarik Black, Robert Sacre
With this roster. I do agree with some guys to get Sacre the outs and put in Metta and if possible Upshaw back. we do not need cheerleader on the bench if we dont have anything to cheer- this mainly is what Sacre brings. Sacre is a waste, which I am not sure what does the Lakers brass find in him. his on court movement is not fluid and he is at best help defender. So I would take Metta, take Sacre out and put Upshaw back.