21Apr/076:12 PM

Scouting Report - Lakers pt. 2

By fanster.com

As promised, a scouting report on a few of the key contributors off the bench. You may be a bit less familiar with these players as they don’t get as much playing time as the starters, but they are every bit as important. The Suns have a tendency of letting players put up massive numbers who have no business putting up said numbers. I’m a bit tired of hearing “Player X has a career high tonight off the bench with 27 points”. Anyway, on with the post!

Name	Position	Height	Weight	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3PT%
Maurice “Mo” Evans	SG/SF	6′5	220 lbs.	22.8	8.4	2.9	1.0	0.5	0.2	43.2%	36.1%
Scouting Report

Mo Evans is having a career year in L.A. under Phil Jackson, and has finally found a spot where he’s getting consistent minutes. (He only played spot minutes in Detroit and Sacramento and was a garbage time player in Minnesota.) Mo Evans is a well conditioned player with very good upper and lower body strength, and is a tremendous leaper. Has a well rounded offensive game. He’s a decent shooter, he’s got a decent post up game, he’s a good finisher, and has a decent post up game. Not great at any one thing, but can do a bit of everything on offense. Is a poor passer and tends to get flustered when someone plays tight defense and the ball is in his hands. Moves well without the ball. Is able to absorb some contact and still finish due to his strength, though he tends to take it up a bit too strong when he knows he’s going to be taking contact. Good defender due to good lateral quickness and his strength, though he occasionally has mental lapses where his man gets away from him when he’s guarding off-ball. (When he’s matched up with Marion or Barbosa, look for them to take advantage of this.) Expect him to be guarding Leandro, Raja or James Jones while he’s on the floor. Might get matched up with Marion on occasion as well.

Name	Position	Height	Weight	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3PT%
Jordan Farmar	PG	6′2	180 lbs.	15.1	4.4	1.7	1.9	0.6	0.1	42.2%	32.8%
Scouting Report

You may hear a lot of talk about Farmar being Nash-lite, but he’s more like… Luke Ridnour-lite, or Dan Dickau-lite. (That’s not as backhanded of a statement as it sounds.) This rookie point guard out of UCLA is a bit out of place in Phil Jackson’s system as he’s actually a true pass-first point guard. He has good ball handling skills in the open court and in the half court, and has good court vision and passing skills. Still doesn’t seem to be quite accustomed to the NBA game though, and his game hasn’t translated as well in the NBA as it did in college due to his lack of athleticism. Is a poor shooter by point guard standards, though he can knock them down on occasion if he’s left open. Can go off the dribble both to the left and right (not nearly as effectively with his off hand though) but really can’t finish at the basket. (Nash actually went man-to-man with Farmar earlier this season and straight up blocked him once he got to the basket.) Is somewhat slow by NBA point guard standards. Defense is border-line atrocious. His passing skills aren’t as effective in the triangle offense as he doesn’t do as much ball handling as he could do with everything being run from the high post. Expect Nash to be on him any time they are both on the court, and Leandro to be on him for the time that Nash isn’t on the court. Marcus Banks may make an appearance to try to force some turnovers in the back court out of the inexperienced and mostly overmatched Jordan Farmar if the Suns don’t need the offense in the situation as much as they need the defense. (I’d love to see Marcus have some stints off the bench when Farmar is out there. There is no way Farmar can guard him in the open court or in the half court, he just doesn’t have the speed.)

Name	Position	Height	Weight	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3PT%
Andrew Bynum	C	7′0	275 lbs.	21.9	7.8	5.9	1.1	0.2	1.6	55.8%	0.0%
Scouting Report

The next “Big Thing” in L.A. by most accounts, he is coming along quite well, being as old as quite a few of the people in my own graduating class. (Not much older than myself, which is saying something since he’s supposed to be a big-time player some time in the near future.) With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar taking him under his wing and tutoring him, he’s made some very big strides to become more than just an exceptionally large and athletic kid out of high school with a raw post game. Has a soft touch around the basket, and good hands so he has no problems holding on to tough catches on entry passes. Has a fairly effective set of offensive post moves, including a baby hook going to his right that he uses the majority of the time. Extremely long arms and good athleticism, especially for his size. Has good timing and instincts as a shotblocker, but he is quick to bite on the pump fake. Foul trouble is a problem for him because of this. Has decent fundamentals on his man-to-man defense in the post though, minus the foul problems. (3 fouls per game in just 22 minutes.) Expect him to be matched up with Amare and Kurt Thomas the majority of the time. If he happens to get matched up with Boris on the defensive end, Boris should be able to abuse him from the outside, assuming he’s in attack mode. (Let’s pray he’s in attack mode, the playoffs will be much easier if he returns to the same form he had in last year’s playoffs.)

Some other notables:
Ronny Turiaf - 6′10, 250 lbs. PF/C - An energy guy off the bench who hustles the entire time he’s on the court. Fairly good rebounder and defensive player, though he’s foul prone. (Like most energy players, especially big ones.) The game against the Lakers on March 8th he went off for 19 points and 15 rebounds in just 25 minutes.

Brian Cook - 6′9, 258 lbs. PF - A good offensive player who can space the floor at the PF spot with his exceptional outside shooting. Has caused problems for the Suns in the past. Not a good rebounder or defender for his size though, his whole value lies in his shooting and offensive awareness on the other end of the floor.

Original post by Zei_Zao_LS and software by Elliott Back