Byron Mullens, after barely leaving the bench in his first two seasons with the Thunder, quietly became an alright-looking player with the Bobcats.
I say alright-looking, because he scored 14.9 and 14.2 points per 36 minutes in his two seasons with the Bobcats. But he took a lot of long 2s, didn’t shoot them that efficiently, rebounded at an underwhelming rate for his size and didn’t do much else. Basically, the closer you examine, the less appealing Mullens is.
But at least he’s shown he belongs in the NBA, which is an improvement from Oklahoma City. And the Lakers might even give him a raise.
Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
The Lakers also inquired about Charlotte free agent Byron Mullens on Sunday night, per a league source.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) July 1, 2013
The Lakers had precious few resources to upgrade their team this offseason, namely the No. 48 pick in the draft and the taxpayer mid-level exception (a three-year contract that could pay up to $3,183,000, $
3,326,235 and $
3,469,470 in each season).
They drafted Duke’s Ryan Kelly, an outside shooting big who seems to be a great fit for Mike D’Antoni’s system, with their second-round pick. Now. they might use their taxpayer mid-level exception on Mullens, another outside-shooting big man who fits D’Antoni’s system.
Perhaps, this is a sign the Lakers really believe in D’Antoni. Or maybe they’re foolishly filling their roster with marginal players who won’t fit the next system nearly as well once they fire D’Antoni midseason.
But, so far, the Lakers are giving D’Antoni the tools to succeed. Of course, the biggest tool is Dwight Howard, who’s still undecided.
