How Ben McLemore will fit with the Lakers

The Lakers rounded out the end of their roster by adding wing Ben McLemore following his buyout from the Houston Rockets. But even though he currently slots into their 15th roster spot and had struggled this season after the departures of Russell Westbrook and James Harden, there’s some hope he could regain his form from last season, where his shooting splits were above average from basically every spot behind the arc:

NBA.com

That certainly seems to be what head coach Frank Vogel is expecting.

“He’s a guy that we had to know where he was at all times during that Houston series because he’s such an elite shooter,” Vogel said on Tuesday. “And like I said, we’re trying to win a championship here, so as much firepower as we can get, as many weapons as we can get, we’re going to try and get, and Ben instantly elevates our ability to knock down threes on the backside when double teams come and play the drive-and-kick game that the modern NBA is made on.

“We’re thrilled about his addition and we’re looking forward to getting him some minutes in our program.”

I took a look at the data and film to decipher how McLemore might fit in with this Lakers team, and how the roster construction and gameplan could play to his strengths.

Agree? Disagree? Have more questions? Let me know in the comments below.

Dr. Rajpal Brar has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA. He also works at a hospital — giving him experience with patients in the immediate healthcare setting and neurological patients (post stroke, post brain injury) — and has been practicing for 1.5 years. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), and analyzes the Lakers from a medical and skills perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel.