Hmmm thats very interesting, lets say NY picks first, will they really pass on Okafor and select Russel? I know Phil likes himself the big guards but still. Then will Philly draft Mudiay and skip on the bigs since they already have Embiid and Noel? What are the chances of Towns and Okafor dropping down to 3rd?
If Phil gets the number 1 pick, I think he goes Okafor; his 2nd prospect on his board I believe would be Russell. After that, trade the pick.
1st - Philly select Mudiay 2nd - Knicks select Russell 3rd - Wolves select Towns 4th - Magic select Winslow 5th - Lakers select Okafor
Baxter Holmes@BaxterHolmes · 3h3 hours ago Scott said he likes pass-first PGs, like Rondo. “But I think in this day and age, you also need a point guard that can be able to score."
1. weird that Byron scott would even sort of comment on the Carlisle/rondo dynamic. seems out of bounds for a fellow coach, and it could be construed as criticism of Carlisle, who I think is the league's second-best coach. 2. lol @ rondo crapping on the media's lame breakfast questions.
If Byron does anything for the Lakers in his tenure as coach, it will hopefully be he is just too big a d*** to allow the Lakers to sign Rondo.
could happen, though it sounded more to me like Byron saying "I've kowtowed to a pg before, and i'll do it again!" remember that he had success with a poor shooting pg with kidd. he knows it can happen.
The league has changed a lot since then; surprisingly, Byron has acknowledged that with his rhetoric, and he's right, IMO. You never know, though; Rondo and the Lakers could lock eyes and boom, he's signed.
If we somehow lucked into drafting Towns and signing Middleton, honestly I wouldn't hate the idea of Rondo. That's the potential cornerstones of a tough team that will get after you on defense. For the first time in a long time this team could have a real identity and the importance of that can't be ignored. I'm afraid of rondo's age and injury history too, but we'd have a young core of Towns/Middleton/Randle/Clarkson//Hou 1st to build on going forward with Kobe expiring and the cap jumping up to 80-90M. I don't see the Rondo contract as something that would prevent us from building a winner around that young core.
I think signing Rondo would be a HUUUGE mistake. Even without JC I would hate to have Rondo on the Lakers. Injury prone, overrated Defense, bad attitude, can't shoot and his free throw % is in the mid 30s for Gods sake. Throw in the developing young talent we have in clarkson and I think its an even worse idea to get him. Most overrated PG of this generation.
I'm hoping we go with FA big like BLopez, Monroe or Hibbert, then draft ourselves a wingman or pg like Mudiay, Russell, Hezonja or Winslow. Brook Lopez Randle Hezonja Kobe Clarkson Monroe Randle Kobe Clarkson Mudiay or Russell Hibbert Randle Winslow Kobe Clarkson FO probably envisions these line ups though Okafor Love Randle Kobe Clarkson Okafor Randle Kobe Clarkson Rondo/Dragic
I like the strategy, but B lopez? Hibbert? Lopez is injury prone and can't rebound. Hibbert completely disappears in the playoffs and is also hurt often.
I have a phobia with so called defensive centers who can't ball DJ, Koufus, Mozgov and their ilk... Lopez looks great this late season...passable rebounding and great shot blocking numbers
I brought it up a few pages back. I'd do it in a damn heartbeat. I'd give up any and all assets not named Clarkson or Randle. Build around Clarkson, Randle, and Cousins. Add in whatever else you can afford with the 8 or so million left. You'd have a hell of a team and I think you're about 2 years from contention with some luck. Cousins is immensely talented and only 25 years old. I know he's a bit of a headcase, but a stronger coach and a stronger organization might do wonders for him.
