According to The New York Times‘ Marc Stein, The Phoenix Suns will buyout veteran big man Tyson Chandler. Chandler is expected to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers once he clears waivers. The 18-year vet spent four seasons with the Suns and was averaging 3.7 points per game in 12.7 minutes of play this year.
Chandler, 36, is a Los Angeles native who came into the NBA out of high school in 2001 where he would be taken with the second pick by the Los Angeles Clippers before being traded to the Chicago Bulls in the same draft. In his 18 years, he has won an NBA championship with the Dallas Mavericks in the 2010-2011 season and was named an All-Star with the New York Knicks in 2012-13.
This is a solid signing by Los Angeles. After rumors that the Lakers were going to draft now Knicks center Mitchell Robinson and then instead went with Moritz Wagner, who got injured in summer league play, LA has been looking for a big off the bench. When it comes to off the bench bigs, Los Angeles has played center by a committee in most cases this year.
Kyle Kuzma has been asked to play the five, Johnathan Williams has also played the five, but he’s on a two-way contract and limited to only 45 days in the NBA. The Lakers even reportedly wanted to try LeBron James at the center position as the team looks to play position-less basketball. However, the Lakers have had a problem rebounding the ball this season. Chandler solves that problem for you off the bench.
Chandler and JaVale McGee are the same player and are what most teams are looking for in a center. A big man who can rim run, block shots and catch lobs. Chandler has made a career off of doing those three things. He also brings veteran leadership to a young group.
The question is, can Chandler do that as efficiently as he did in New York and Dallas? He’s been irrelevant for the last four years in Phoenix because they haven’t been a good team. So that will be something to keep an eye on.
Also, this still doesn’t solve the Lakers problem of perimeter shooting. Although the Lakers have needed that off the bench center that’s going to do what McGee does, Los Angeles hasn’t been a great perimeter shooting team. But you do have to focus on one thing at a time and defense has been a more important focus in terms of what we’ve seen so far this season from the Lakers.
Although this helps Los Angeles short-term, what are you doing with guys like Wagner and Ivica Zubac? You needed veteran help with a young team, yes, however, does this hurt the younger guys development? The vets on this team want to play heavy minutes and Chandler will take a lot of those minutes from your young bigs. The Lakers are looking to turn around their rocky start, but you want to look at how this affects the youth movement with the Lakers. It seems the Lakers are in a mindset of win now and making a playoff push instead of letting their rocky start play itself out.
All and all, this is a solid signing and Chandler gives LA immediate help and potentially helps the team win now. He hopefully answers some questions as far as interior defense goes. In addition, you get him at a good deal by only having to pay him $2.1 million.
