Underrated 3D? Is Laravia a Lakers chance?

As the Lakers' first signing this summer, Jack Laravia, who once played for the Grizzlies and the Kings, is 23 years old and the 19th pick in the first round of 2022. For the Lakers, Laravia's biggest attraction at this stage is its outstanding 3D characteristics.

combined with Laravia's shooting distribution, more than 70% of the shooting last season were three-pointers on both sides of the three-point line and outside the bottom corner position, and also had a shooting percentage of 44.1%. This is the outside area where Finney Smith, who left the team, made the most common shooting in the Lakers last season.

Compared, Laravia and Finney Smith are not only of similar heights, but also have quite a overlapping area in the shooting distribution. From this point of view, we may be looking forward to Laravia's tactical positioning to replace Finney Smith next season.

Since entering the league, Laravia has shown stable external projection firepower in the past three years, with a career three-point shooting percentage of 37.1%, and a 43.2% base corner on the left. The base corner position happens to be an extremely important position in the modern basketball system that emphasizes space, and Laravia is already the leader in this area.

It is particularly worth mentioning that in addition to fixed-point shooting, Laravia has also had good empty-cutting ability since his college years, and this ability is particularly important in Redick's offensive system. Laravia in the new season needs to show a good sense of empty-cutting at the bottom line. In addition to the attack, Laravia's biggest selling point on the defensive end comes from the versatility of frontcourt defense. With his advantage and height, Laravia has excellent offensive footsteps, lateral movement speed, confrontational ability and defensive judgment. During the 2022 draft physical test, his three-second zone agility test and re-running data ranked among the top three rookies in the same class. It only talks about dynamic talent and hard conditions, this part is not Laravia's advantage. With a qualified height but limited wingspan, coupled with the lack of excellent physical fitness, these shortcomings have led to his limited contribution to the protection of frame protection and defense.

But this still cannot cover up Laravia's potential in assisting defense and home defense positions in the second line. In the past three seasons, he has shown outstanding defensive confrontation and aggressiveness, and is not afraid of physical confrontation. The wings and penalty area positions are his defensive range, and assisting defense sweeping is his greatest advantage.

With excellent awareness of assisting and excellent football players, even if they do not have top athletic ability, they can rely on excellent judgment and positiveness to interfere with the opponent's offensive route. It is foreseeable that Laravia will play an important role next season in the regional defense system that Reddick is most accustomed to.

In addition to this, Laravia's rebounding scramble is the most overlooked part. According to statistics, when Laravia played last season, it could greatly improve the team's offensive rebounding efficiency. When he was on the court, the team's offensive rebounding efficiency could be improved by 3.2%, while when he was off the court, the team's offensive rebounding efficiency dropped significantly by 1.6%.

Compared with Finney Smith, who has left the team, Laravia may not be a better choice in the short term, but at the age of 23, he still has room for development and is more in line with the team's youth policy, and is ready for the upcoming post-James era.

Before the deadline, although the Lakers' operations in the free market were not obvious, they were comprehensive enough. They signed Jack Laravia, Ayton, Hayes and others one after another, which also means that the Lakers have filled the team's 15-man roster. Considering that they only have one biennial special case and veteran basic salary to use, there are few candidates left in the free market, and it is expected that the Lakers will also strengthen in the future.

As the Western Conference teams enter the arms race, the Lakers' current lineup is basically only in the playoff position. If the Lakers want to fight again next year with James, it is naturally imperative to strengthen the defense of each position.

And no matter what players can be recruited in the special case, it is quite difficult to trade players at the defensive center level in the Lakers, such as Hachimura Shizuki, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Kleber and others. However, at this point of time, the Lakers should not be inclined to subsidize draft picks to trade. Judging from the current lineup, it should be similar to the Lakers' final lineup.