Free agent profile: Courtney Lee

This is the 11th post in a series focusing on this year’s free-agent class.

Player: Courtney Lee

Former team: Houston Rockets

Type of free agent: Unrestricted

Positives: Lee represents everything the Lakers need as a backup shooting guard. He’s young (27). He’s deadly from three-point range, hovering just over 40% from downtown in three of his four NBA seasons. His hustle on defense fits Mike Brown’s vision in that area pretty well. Add these qualities together, and it’s likely Lee could assume some pretty significant minutes off the bench.

The Lakers lacked that presence last year and it cost them dearly. Ever since trading Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks, they didn’t have a consistent scorer off the bench. That heavily contributed to the unit finishing last in the league in points. With Jason Kapono a non-factor and Andrew Goudelock finding his way as a rookie, the Lakers played most of the season without a definitive backup for Kobe Bryant. That led to Bryant playing 38.5 minutes per game (five more than the previous season) and having too much responsibiity handling the ball. Should the Lakers acquire Lee, it would solve two of these major issues.

Negatives: It doesn’t appear that Lee will develop his game much. It’s still solid the way it is. But in terms of his production it’s pretty one-dimensional. Lee’s assists have mostly hovered around one in each season. He’s only averaged 1.6 free throw attempts per game. According to Hoopdata.com, Lee doesn’t take many shots at the rim. Lee didn’t score a single basketoff a pick-and-roll set last season, a concern considering newly acquired point guard Steve Nashwill run plenty of it.

Verdict: He’s a great pickup, but reports incdicate Lee has so many other suitors, including the Celtics, the Suns, Timberwolves and Bulls. The idea that the Lakers could acquire Lee in a sign-and-trade seems pretty far fetched.

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Free-agent profile: Jermaine O’Neal

Five things Lakers need from their bench

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