The Los Angeles Lakers have made a lot of additions to their roster this offseason specifically to their frontcourt so playing time will really have to be earned. Roy Hibbert and Brandon Bass were brought in and Julius Randle will be coming back from a season ending injury he suffered a year ago. Because of this newfound depth Tarik Black is going to really have to earn himself a role as a backup for the Lakers but he doesn't just want to earn a role he wants to contribute in a lot of different ways, according to Jabari A. Davis of Lakers Nation.
Hibbert and Bass are expected to be the starters in the frontcourt for the Lakers this upcoming season and it is likely that Randle gets minutes as a backup if he isn't the starter. That leaves Ryan Kelly, Robert Sacre and Black competing for minutes as the backup center. Also take into account the fact that Byron Scott has said that the Lakers want to go small a lot this year which will also take away minutes from these backup big men.
Black split his time a season ago between the Houston Rockets and the Lakers but he was very effective in his time in Los Angeles. In 38 games (27 starts) Black averaged 7.2 points and 6.3 rebounds in just 21 minutes per game which would be a double-double if extrapolated to regular starter's minutes. Black is an excellent rebounder and is a great energy guy but he wants to be more than that.
"I want to be on both ends of the floor, I hang my hat on rebounding and defense, so I just want to get better and better and become more of a 'lockdown' defender and also become more of a threat on the offensive end to make people honest," said Black.
Black is not guaranteed minutes going into this year for the Lakers but he is coming off a year in which he was very impressive for them and is the type of guy who is going to work his butt off to get on the court. Black was undrafted out of college in 2014 so the fact that he's at this point is a testament to his work ethic. The 23 year old is also set to become a restricted free agent after this season so if he has a good season he could earn himself quite a lot of money and it would be tough to bet against him doing just that.
