North Carolina Tar Heels: Lawson Signs With Kings
Former North Carolina Tar Heels guard Ty Lawson has signed with the Sacramento Kings.
As the off season of the NBA has dragged on, former North Carolina Tar Heels point guard Ty Lawson has found himself in a kind of limbo. Lawson is two years removed from being the starting point guard in Denver. His stint in Houston didn’t work with James Harden. There was the DUI baggage. He did little for the Indiana Pacers at the end of the year.
Free agency was supposed to be liberating, a new chance to prove his value. Not very many were listening. As others signed record contracts, Lawson was reduced to being a spectator. This was the state of affairs until about two days ago.
According to reports from Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical, Lawson has agreed to a new deal with the Sacramento Kings. He is expected to back up Darren Collison at point guard, although Lawson could compete for the starting job eventually. Collison is more of a defensive guy while Lawson is more offensively minded.
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The choice of the Kings is ironic, since many believed that Sacramento was where Lawson would end up when the Nuggets were trying to move him. George Karl was the Kings coach in those days and was familiar with Lawson from Karl’s time with the Nuggets. Instead the Kings signed Rajon Rondo to a one year deal. Then also fired Karl before the season ended.
The story of success for any player on the Sacramento Kings starts and ends with their ability to team with Demarcus Cousins and a distributor like Rondo was good for Cousins. With Rudy Gay and Ben McLemore also on the court, the point guard must take a back seat in the scoring department.
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Lawson can do that. He played on teams in college and with the Nuggets that possessed weapons who needed the ball. If he can play that way again then the Kings should be a good fit for him. However there is also the chance that the inner turmoil of the team will take him down with it.