Whether the new pieces fit and the team functions remains to be seen, but the front office did manage to stock up at every position—except for small forward.
Currently, L.A.'s depth chart has Nick Young listed as the No. 1 small forward, with rookie Anthony Brown as his backup.
The Lakers are probably going to want some extra insurance for the position.
For starters, you don't want to be starting Young. As a ball-stopper whose best attribute is volume scoring, he's not a great fit alongside Kobe Bryant and another high-usage guard like D'Angelo Russell or Jordan Clarkson. Plus, Julius Randle is going to need his touches this year as well.
Though Young is the best shooter on the squad, he's never been content to be a catch-and-shoot kind of player. Last season, Young posted his lowest-ever figure (by a significant margin, too) on assisted three-pointers and his lowest ratio of assisted two-pointers since 2009, per Basketball-Reference.
Young's durability is a concern as well. He hasn't made it through even 65 games in a season since 2010 and has missed about one in every three games (81 games missed in total) over the past three campaigns.
Nor can you rely on 2015 second-round pick Brown to soak up a large chunk of minutes at the 3 either.
Brown profiles as the perfect fit to the lineup. He's got great size for a wing, and his greatest strength is his three-point stroke, which flourished during his last two seasons at Stanford. According to DraftExpress, Brown was second in his draft class in points per possession in catch-and-shoot situations.
While he looks like the ideal candidate to space the floor at small forward alongside L.A.'s plethora of scorers and ball-handlers, the reality is that Brown will most l...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
