Bontemps: Lakers may be 'a little worse' after adding Deandre Ayton

USA Today

2 days ago

Deandre Ayton, the Los Angeles Lakers' most recent get in free agency, has the ability to greatly raise their ceiling all by himself. The No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, he has career averages of 16.4 points and 10.5 rebounds a game, and he should be a great rim-running lob threat alongside Luka Doncic and Lebron James.
But he hasn't lived up to his potential, especially on the defensive end. In general, defense seems to be the big question mark for the Lakers, especially after they lost 3-and-D forward Dorian Finney-Smith to the Houston Rockets just days ago.
Tim Bontemps said on ESPN's "First Take" that the loss of Finney-Smith will be significant, especially since he is close with Luka Doncic.
'If the Lakers are gonna be a team that makes a run in the Western Conference playoffs, they have a lot of work left to do,' Bontemps said. 'One of Luka's best friends in the league is Dorian Finney-Smith. He just left to go to the Houston Rockets, a rival in the Western Conference. That to me is not a great sign for the Lakers doing what they need to, to show Luka Doncic, he should be there long term.'
While he admitted Ayton will help L.A., he feels the team will not improve this coming season — in fact, he said it may even regress.
'I do think Deandre Ayton will help them. He's probably the second-best center on the market this summer behind Myles Turner.
'… But this team still has a lot of holes on the perimeter, defensively. They have very little perimeter defensive talent. They're still lacking in shooting.
'They're a team that, when you just stack 'em up, player for player -- yes, they finished third in the Western Conference last year. I'd say overall, they're either the same or a little worse.
'... The Lakers are at best, staying flat and that's with LeBron James's future and his motivation in Los Angeles still being very uncertain.'
The Lakers, of course, went 50-32 this past season before losing in five games to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. Bontemps pointed out how, in his mind, several teams in the West have gotten better this offseason, including the Rockets, who have added future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant and backup center Clint Capela as well as Finney-Smith.
A highly motivated Ayton could get L.A. close to championship contention, but Bontemps' contention that the team lacks defensive ability on the perimeter is very true. However, it should still be very much a playoff team, barring injury.