World Peace Loves Buddha, Talks Lamar, Jordan

Metta World Peace is on the cut line for the Los Angeles Lakers' 2015-16 regular season roster, but he still manages to entertain reporters with his personality and unique charm

 Metta World Peace is a unique character. Yup, "character" is the correct word to describe the man that makes people laugh with his smile as much as he makes people chortle with his words. However, World Peace is not a conman potentially charming his way onto the Lakers' 2015-16 roster.

He fills a need for this Lakers' team, and that should do enough to keep him on the team.

From a positional standpoint, Kobe Bryant may be playing light minutes or not playing at all in several games this season, and that's if he's healthy and all goes according to plan. With only Nick Young and rookie Anthony Brown alternately available to play the small forward position—please let Ryan Kelly never play the three again—World Peace fills more of a need than , sad to say, Jabari Brown.

With Robert Sacre outlasting Robert Upshaw, the final cut appears to have boiled down to Jabari Brown and World Peace. Jonathan Holmes, who is out injured, expects to be the other required cut, though the Lakers will owe him salary until he has healed from a dislocated shoulder.

Jabari Brown can score the basketball, and he has improved on both ends of the court. In fact, he looks like an NBA-level scorer off the bench, but the Lakers already have Young and Lou Williams to provide points for the second unit. Most NBA teams would only have one of those pure scorers coming off the bench, especially considering Williams is the reigning 6th Man of the Year. If the Lakers keep Brown over World Peace, they will effectively have three bench players fighting to fill the same bench role.

Based on pure needs, World Peace fills a necessary void this team needs to fill. Also, he provides entertainment value in front of the microphones and television cameras.

World Peace Talks Kobe, MJ and Buddha?

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Asked if he's concerned about Kobe Bryant being out for the past couple preseason games with a lower leg contusion and subsequently being unable to practice, World Peace exemplified exactly why he is special.

"[Bryant]'s not out," World Peace said on Wednesday. "LeBron James is out. [Stephen] Curry didn't start. You know, [Michael] Jordan retired."

"Jordan's out, indefinitely?" World Peace continued the, um, conversation with reporters. "He said he might want to come back. I don't know."

Another reporter continued the fantasy and asked how many points Jordan would average if the 53-year-old tried to play because, well, why not?

"It depend how big his belly is," World Peace replied with ease. "If he has a flat belly, I say 20 [points]; if he has a big belly, 6-9 [points]."

As much as this may sound like a joke, World Peace appears to be doing his best to avoid talking about potentially being cut from the team, how he thinks he's done at training camp, what it would mean to make the team and why he thinks the team would be better off with him rather than without him. During the interview, World Peace repeated "keep it simple" or some variation of "simple" eight times and repeated the word "focus" about twice as often—default phrases the veteran used to avoid answering questions.

But World Peace is not hostile or a difficult person to interview. Asked about the Lamar Odom situation, the Queens, New York native and childhood teammate of Odom opened up and expressed joy at the current improving state of the two-time champion, wished Odom and his wife pleasantries at resolving their marital differences, and also shared his reflections on the tough times that arose from the news breaking.

"It was the worst thing ever," World Peace repeated twice with a face that suddenly turned as solid as stone. "It was bad. That was not a happy moment."

World Peace may be able to shift the subject of a conversation like a politician, but he often takes conversations to odd places. "People pray. I prayed to Buddha. I love Buddha. I don't know if I'm Buddhist, but I love Buddha."

This just in: World Peace loves Buddha.

World Peace as a Mentor

Along with filling a need on the depth chart, World Peace's value comes in the form of 20-year-old Julius Randle learning how to play at an advanced NBA level in a hurry. Randle is a big body with skills that have the Lakers excited. Already, James Worthy has become a regular, employed fixture at practice to help develop the promising power forward. World Peace's physical practices with Randle in the summer led to an invitation to training camp, where the veteran is either going to be the last man on the team or the last man off the team.

So, what does Randle learn from World Peace? The 20-year-old specified on Wednesday: "defensively; offensively; footwork; mental mindset; how to play without the basketball--a lot of stuff."

Told that World Peace may or may not be with the team after the final round of cuts, Randle responded in earnest, "Metta's knowledge and wisdom that he brings to this team is just amazing."

While all that basketball stuff may be true and World Peace should make the cut for all the right reasons, let no one discount the entertaining quotes and, best of all, the headlines that are only possible if the Lakers decide to give World Peace a chance.

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