Looking for players to fill the spot on the wings behind Kobe Bryant is likely the biggest priority in free agency, first in ensuring that the Lakers' most important player doesn't overburden himself with too many minutes and secondly to solidify the Lakers' bench unit. In that regard, and to kick off what will likely be an epic free agent period due to the compressed schedule, the ever resourceful Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports throws the first salvo for the Lakers:
The Lakers search for perimeter shooting brings free agent Jason Kapono to their facility for a visit today, league sources tell Y!
Kapono is perhaps the most direct way the Lakers could have possibly imagined to solve the dearth of three-point shooting on the team, although perhaps too much so. A career 43.7 3P% shooter, Kapono definitely fulfills the need for a floor-spacing wing, but he's incredibly limited in every other part of his game. Probably as athletic as Luke Walton is right now, bad back and all, Kapono is a brutal defender and rebounder, and giving him minutes requires hiding on him an offensive non-threat. Moreover, teams have had remarkable difficulty in convincing such a good three-point shooter that he should stay behind the line, as he's shot more twos than threes nearly every season of his career. If this reminds you of a certain starting point guard on the Lakers, then you know how incredibly infuriating that can be.
Altogether, Kapono is barely more than an end-of-rotation player nowadays, and he couldn't get minutes on a Sixers team desperate for floor spacing. One can question whether he's a better option than simply playing rookie Andrew Goudelock, who was a lights out shooter at Charleston and would benefit from having some playing time to develop, whether as a situational shooter or occasional backup. In any case, we will continue to keep you updated on any developments that arise.
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