Is Demarcus Cousins the missing centerpiece for the Lakers?
Lakers are looking to acquire free agents in the off-season along with having the second overall pick in the NBA draft; would trading for Demarcus Cousins fill their void at the center position.
A center is one piece they need in their lineup to be complete.
General Manger Mitch Kupchak and the Los Angeles Lakers landed the number 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft for the second straight year.
Now with Kobe Bryant gone, his contract expired the Lakers have cap space which is about $63 million and they can work with it in order to be able to acquire players in free agency, along with their two draft picks.
They have the 32nd draft pick as well which is excellent for the organization because they can go after great players that would be perfect for the team.
This would build competition for current players on the team and help them improve the game, which is what the Lakers need.
These players are use to coming off the bench or starting depending on their performance in practice and games.
For the most part you build a team from the center position and so on.
There are exceptions just like the Lakers such as Bryant, but then he had center Shaquille O’Neal who helped the Lakers win multiple NBA Championships together.
The 2016 Lakers already have multiple positions filled and the one important position they are missing is a center who is dominant and can contribute highly to the game.
The closest center they have on the team is Bass.
Bass is always giving effort while Roy Hibbert seem like he doesn’t want to be on the court.
Therefore why not trade for center Demarcus Cousins who they know wants to win games and a championship.
If you look at his stats averaged out season with the Kings they were good for a center and could be even better with the Lakers.
Basically he averaged a double-double every game, can you imagine him and Randle together crashing the glass.
It be a good front court tandem with both of them averaging double-doubles.
The Lakers have the money to afford Cousins and to save money they could even trade Hibbert for Cousins.
Both their their salaries are around $15 million.
The Kings know Cousins want to play somewhere else so why wouldn’t they trade him and what a better place than LA.
Also coach Luke Walton knows how to coach a player with an attitude like Cousins, because he did coach Draymond Green who has a similar attitude like his.
This Lakers core players are young and so is Cousins, even with only 5 years of experience.
He can be that rock in the middle for the team, then the team can focus on drafting two players with ball handling skills who can shoot.
Maybe even draft a power forward to come off the bench or play along side Cousins.
Despite Cousins questionable attitude he plays hard every game and he has the statistics to prove it.
He would be a better fit than she other free agent centers, because he is one of the most physical centers and one thing that separates him for the crowd, is now he can shoot three-pointers.
It is really up to him if he wants to come to LA and also the Kings drafted center Willie Cauley-Stein in the 2015 NBA Draft, which could be their future center as Cousins contract expires in 2018.
Cousins would be the missing centerpiece for the Lakers and have a major impact not he team and in the playoff and championship runs that they will make.
Teams usually build around a center and he could not be a more perfect fit.
Now they will be able to get player in free agency that plays the 2/3 position like Kobe did.
Then they can use their draft picks for their bench they need and they will have a complete team and will be ready to make the playoffs.
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Cousins would be good for the Lakers and Walton would know who to coach him because he played alongside Kobe with the similar attitude as well.
Cousins is a winner and he wants to win, just look at his game.