Tyson Chandler's choice of Lakers over Warriors has already paid dividends
Tyson Chandler revealed Tuesday that he narrowed a list of potential landing spots to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors before negotiating a buyout with the Phoenix Suns.
"It was, like, five teams, and I narrowed it down to two," said Chandler, who starred at Compton's Dominguez High School. "And then I had to do some heavy thinking and praying.
The Lakers (7-6) have won three straight games with Chandler on the floor and have won five of six entering Wednesday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers.nfl nike jerseys cheap china
The 36-year-old center is averaging 8.3 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals in 22.7 minutes off the bench. He has played crucial fourth-quarter minutes through three games, most recently notching a game-winning block on Trae Young at the buzzer to allow the Lakers to escape with a 107-106 win over the Hawks on Sunday.
"I mean, he's huge," LeBron James said. "We knew we had a [backup center] spot that needed some reassurance, and for us to be able to get Tyson in the fashion that we got him and to be able to just implement him in right away and the impact that he's made in what, three games?"cheap nike nfl jerseys from china
"You see a lot of game-winning shots. You see a lot of game-winning assists," James said after the win over Atlanta. "But for you to see a game-winning defensive block like that, you don't see that much in our league. So for him to go up there and get that on a guy that's shooting a floater and time it perfectly, we were all excited about that."
Prior to Chandler's arrival, Los Angeles skewed toward the bottom third of the league with a 111.5 defensive rating. With Chandler, the Lakers' defensive rating has rocketed to 97.4, first in the league, though a small sample.
While McGee has been playing some of the best basketball of his career (13.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.0 blocks), that has come with his most minutes since the 2011-12 season. Chandler's arrival allowed Lakers coach Luke Walton to find more opportunities to rest L.A.'s starting center.
But the veteran wanted to assure McGee that he was coming in to support all the Lakers.
"For me, I try to make it, it's not about me and him," Chandler said. "I am not here to take anybody's job. I am here to try to make the team better. My hope is to make his job easier, so he stays fresh so he can play throughout the year and give us the type of minutes that he's giving -- as well as me. The goal is for us to help each other, not go against each other."
