It’s hard to imagine that he’d drop all the way to 10, due to veteran respect alone. Last season, Melo played less often than ever before in his career-and still averaged 24.5 minutes. Anthony, for instance, is tabbed for only 10 minutes per game. Yet that theoretical minutes distribution also highlights the challenge that awaits Frank Vogel in incorporating all his players into a reasonable rotation. Only five teams in NBA history have been older. Assuming Gasol’s 15 projected minutes go to Jordan instead, the Lakers’ average team age would be 31.3. That projection comes from early August, so it predates the Rajon Rondo signing, still includes Marc Gasol in lieu of DeAndre Jordan, and doesn’t include any recent injuries, but it provides a workable baseline. For this exercise, we tried a few different ways, which all ended up pointing to a similar conclusion.įirst, we looked at a projection for the team’s minutes allocation, via Jovan Buha at The Athletic.
#Laker roster 2021 free#
The back end of the Lakers’ bench will probably skew younger with projects like Austin Reaves, which should reduce the team’s overall age-though it’s also possible they’ll dip back into the veteran well when a need for depth arises, via free agents or future buyout names.įor now, the best we can do is make projections using the 13 established rotation players on the roster.
#Laker roster 2021 full#
In 2018-19, the last full NBA season, every team used at least 16 players, with the average team using 21.
It’s impossible to know the Lakers’ eventual minutes-weighted age right now-not least because of the uncertain injury returns, and because we don’t yet know everyone who will suit up for the team. More broadly, dating back to 1951-52 (the first season for which Basketball-Reference features teamwide age information), the number of teams with an average age of 31 or higher is in the single digits: For those Jazz, 37-year-old Karl Malone, 38-year-old John Stockton, and 35-year-old John Starks all cleared 2,000 minutes apiece. For those Rockets, six of the top seven players in minutes were at least 34 years old, including future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon (35), Clyde Drexler (35), and Charles Barkley (34). The oldest group on record is a tie, at an average age (weighted by minutes played) of 32.0, between the 1997-98 Rockets and 2000-01 Jazz. So much so that a more interesting question arises: Could these Lakers be the oldest team in NBA history? With James entering his age-37 season, the Lakers have chosen to surround him with similarly seasoned vets. But LeBron’s take on the takes is beside the point. I’m not just saying that.”Ī since-deleted August tweet might suggest differently. “The narrative about our age,” LeBron said last week, “I kind of laugh at it. Or so he says, anyway, when it comes to the jokes about his Lakers’ revamped roster.
0 kommentar(er)
