JR SMITH, KA-TROPA NA ULI NI LEBRON JAMES SA LAKERS

Opisyal nang ka-tropa ni LeBron James sa Los Angeles Lakers ang veteran guard na si JR Smith nang lumagda ng kontrata sa team ang free-agent guard.

Si Smith din ang magiging kapalit sa naiwang posisyon ni Avery Bradley dahil tumanggi itong maglaro sa NBA restart. Bukod kay Bradley, ayaw din maglaro ng center na si Dwight Howard.

Sa pagkakadagdag ni Smith sa team, ikinatuwa naman ito ni Lakers superstar na si James at binati ang dating kakampi sa Cleveland Cavaliers.

Ikinatuwa naman ni coach Frank Vogel ang pagkakadagdag ni Smith sa roster ng Lakers. Kumpiyansda si Vogel na malaki ang maitutulong ni Smith sa kampanya ng Lakers na magkampeon.

Giit pa ng coach, kapwa pamilyar sa isa’t-isa si Smith at LeBron, kung saan ay magkakampi sila ng apat na season sa Cleveland; kung saan nagkampeon ang koponan noong 2016 NBA Finals kontra Golden State Warriors.

 “We’re not going to ask him to come in and be Avery Bradley,” pahayag ni Vogel.

“He’s going to come in and be J.R. Smith. He’s going to just fill that position more than fill that role. Avery’s loss is obviously a huge loss for us, but we’re a next-man-up team. J.R. is going to come in and help fill that need, but we have a lot of guys in that position that can do the same.”

 “That was a factor, his familiarity with LeBron,” ani Vogel.

“The way we’ve built our team around LeBron, there’s a lot of similarities to the way they built their team in Cleveland. That definitely is a factor in what we feel like J.R. can bring to the table in what is going to be a very short time to get acclimated,” dagdag pa ni Vogel.