3 Lakers JJ Redick Needs to Stop Playing Immediately
By Cem Yolbulan
3. Armel Traoré
Everything we said about Koloko applies to Armel Traoré. The Lakers are desperately trying to find a solution at center and have been giving the French rookie a look in recent games. The undrafted big man is doing his best in short stints but hasn't made enough of an impact to deserve more playing time.
Through six games and 50 minutes of action, Traoré is 4/13 from the field and 2/7 from the free throw line. The Lakers were -37 in the 28 minutes he played the last two games. The 21-year-old is not only limited offensively but the team has gotten lit up when he was on the floor.
This is obviously not on Armel Traoré. He is an undrafted rookie thrown into the fire because of disastrous roster construction.
Instead of pressing all the buttons and seeing if anything will work, Redick needs to abandon the Traoré-Koloko plan. Until the Lakers are healthier in the frontcourt or get reinforcements, play Anthony Davis as many minutes as he can handle and have Hachimura and LeBron play the backup five. It will create issues defensively and on the boards, but things literally can't get any worse right now.
Plenty of teams around the league survive without traditional centers. The Oklahoma City Thunder play small forward Jalen Williams extended minutes at center in the absence of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. It behooves the Lakers to see if they can get away with it with Hachimura or LeBron playing that same role.
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