Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
After finishing a very disappointing season last year the Los Angeles Lakers had just as bad of an offseason. Superstar Dwight Howard bolted to the Houston Rockets for a chance to play with James Harden.Then, with only the ability to sign free agents for the league minimum, the Lakers turned to low budget players.
One of those was former fourth overall pick Wesley Johnson. The 6-foot-7 forward spent his first two years in the league on the Minnesota Timberwolves, then his third season on the Phoenix Suns. Now he hopes to revive his career wearing the purple and gold.
The Lakers were able to grab Johnson really cheap but for good reason. Johnson has struggled during his three year career and has never been close to living up to being a fourth overall draft pick.
Johnson has averaged 7.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists a game over his short career. He did this in a little over 23 minutes a game, shooting 40 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from three point range.
Those are some pretty bad numbers across the board for Johnson. The problem is that he doesn’t particularly excel in any aspect of the game. He’s decent at a lot of things, but just not good enough.
It’s possible that he hasn’t hit his potential yet, as he is coming into only his fourth year. That is unlikely though, because Johnson is already 26 years old, which is about the age a player hits his prime.
Johnson will join some other newcomers in LA. Nick Young, Chris Kaman, and Ryan Kelly are some of the new faces set to join Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. With these players on board Johnson will get a prominent role on the team. This is a bad thing for a team wanting to win.
The Lakers will have a tough year ahead of them. They grabbed some cheap players that may have a chance to become greater than they have been., and Johnson will hope to do just that.
Kyle Lopez is a Golden State Warriors writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @_KL9_, or follow him on Google.
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Los Angeles Lakers 2013 Player Profile: Robert Sacre
