Jordan Clarkson, number 46 in the 2014 Draft, is one of the talents that the Lakers have in their roster; a player who can perform both as a point guard and as a shooting guard, and who showed great potential last year. The former University of Missouri player started in 38 games and averaged 11.9 points, 3.5 assists, and 3.2 rebounds in 25 minutes. Now, preparing for his second season in the NBA, Clarkson seems destined to lead along with rookie D'Angelo Russell, the number two pick in the last Draft, a Julius Randle already recovered from his terrible tibia injury, and Kobe Bryant.
"We definitely want to win games and hopefully we can make it to the playoffs. We will take it game by game", said the Lakers' combo guard in an interview for NBA Sirius XM Radio.
The reality is that, despite not having signed any big free agents, the franchise led by Byron Scott has indeed hired the services of several players who will undoubtedly help improve last season's results. Roy Hibbert will try to be the same player as in the 2013 Playoffs (he averaged 17 points, 9.9 rebounds, and almost two blocks), Lou Williams will continue to devastate second units coming off the bench, and Brandon Bass will contribute with his four-meter shot and a lot of fight in the paint from the power forward position.
However, despite all the mentioned, it seems difficult for the gold and purple team to finish among the top eight in a Western Conference where the Warriors, Spurs, Clippers, Rockets, Grizzlies, and Thunder seem to be clearly above, and Pelicans, Jazz, Mavericks, Suns, and Kings could be in the mix.
Will the Lakers be able to fight for the playoffs?