Brandon Bass A Great Signing For Los Angeles Lakers

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Brandon Bass Great Signing For Los Angeles Lakers
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers have swung and missed at a number of free agents this offseason, including LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Kevin Love, among others. Earlier today, the team agreed to a deal with free agent guard Lou Williams, which was a puzzling move, but general manager Mitch Kupchak and part-owner Jim Buss finally got one right. The Lakers have reportedly agreed to a deal with former Boston Celtics forward Brandon Bass.

The Lakers have overloaded their roster with scoring guards and have ignored the front-court for the last few seasons. Yesterday, the team acquired Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert in a trade, which will help the team defensively by providing a tremendous rim protector. Although Hibbert is 7-foot-2, one of his biggest weaknesses is his aggression and activity, especially when rebounding. He doesn’t go after the ball enough and continuously gets out-rebounded by shorter players.

Bass is the exact opposite of Hibbert, which is why I love this move for the Lakers. He’s an undersized power forward at 6-foot-8, but he plays with an edge and attacks the glass consistently. Bass also has some flexibility defensively, with the ability to defend three positions. Last season, the Lakers front-court was ugly to watch. Outside of Jordan Hill and Ed Davis, the team had no length or rebounding. After adding Hibbert and Bass, that area of the team will be much improved in 2015-2016.

While the Williams move still puzzles me, I do like most of the moves the Lakers have made this offseason. D’Angelo Russell is a future superstar in the NBA, and with the return of Kobe Bryant and Julius Randle from injury, the Lakers are going to surprise some people. While the team will likely still miss the playoffs because of the strength of the Western Conference, I could see the Lakers winning 35-40 games, which would be a huge improvement over last season’s franchise-worst 21-61 record.

Jason Fletcher is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.

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