23-24 season so far, Zhan Mei has a net efficiency of 7.8 in a total of 551 minutes on the court.
For comparison, among the two pairs in the league who have played at least 500 minutes together, only Durant and Booker's 9.3 is higher than James.
In other words, as long as Zhan Mei remains healthy, the Lakers have the possibility to win the championship. But the question is how Zhan Mei stays healthy.
explanation point: shot proportion. So far this season, 52.6% of James' shots have come from the inside, and 75.0% of his thick eyebrows have been taken.
More than half or even three-quarters of the shots come from the inside with stronger defense, which is obviously not conducive to maintaining health.
I have to mention Russell here.
Russell's true shooting percentage was 61.1% in games the Lakers won and 50.1% in games they lost. As far as data is concerned, it can only serve as the icing on the cake, but cannot provide help in times of need.
But the good thing is that this 1+1 contract with an average salary of 18.5 million still has a certain transaction value. You must know that VanVleet's immediate combat ability is similar to Russell, but he signed a three-year, 110 million contract with the Rockets.
In addition, as the schedule progresses, in addition to the Pistons and Jazz, there are also teams including the Bulls, Trail Blazers, etc. that are preparing to enter the reconstruction period.
Compared with the Bulls' LaVine and DeRozan, the upper limit of leading the team is not high. The Blazers' poor record is more due to Lillard leaving the Bucks. This is very much like the Rockets losing Harden - their record began to decline rapidly.
Based on this, the Lakers can focus on Jeremy Grant for reinforcements.
explains point 1: data. So far this season, Grant has averaged 22.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, which shows that he has good immediate combat ability. This is one of them. He averaged 9.2 breakthroughs per game and hit 46.3% from the field, which shows that he has good breakthrough ability. Potentially, it can share the pressure of James' attack.
Explanation point two: contract. Grant still has a five-year, $160 million contract with the Trail Blazers.
To sum up the above two points, Grant has good immediate combat ability, and the five-year contract of 160 million yuan is the breakthrough point of the Lakers transaction.
As mentioned just now, the Blazers' reconstruction is imminent due to their poor record. For a rebuilding team, what they most desire is salary space and draft picks. The Lakers have both of these points - Russell can be used to free up space, and the first round of 2028 can be added to the transaction.
From Grant's perspective, the Lakers are definitely more attractive than the Trail Blazers. This not only refers to the possibility of winning the championship, but also the increased commercial value brought by this ultra-high exposure.
For the Lakers, if they get Grant to form the Big Three again, the latter will not lose to the Nuggets in terms of combat effectiveness.
On the one hand, Zhan Mei’s immediate combat ability is not inferior to Jokic and Murray; on the other hand, Grant can also play the role of Aaron Gordon and Porter Jr. More importantly, on the defensive end, the Lakers also have two gatekeepers in Vanderbilt and Reddish.
Finally, the Lakers were able to get Grant thanks to Lillard's help. To be precise, it was the latter's departure from the Bucks that gave the Lakers a chance to acquire Grant.
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