2015 Nba Draft Discussion: Russell, Nance Jr., Brown

And I suppose that is the difference. I always just wanted us to grab the guy we thought was best regardless of position. I won't argue that Okafor isn't a safer pick, but I get why would we go after the guy we thought was a superstar.

I definitely think the media focuses in on us and everything we do. Like Nance's tweet is getting tons of press while Portis' critical tweets of the Bulls aren't. But I wasn't sure Okafor was an example of it. i did notice a change in tone after we passed on him, but I felt like we had some legit questions about him.

 

All right my final thing on the passing over Okafor to draft Randall instead, and then I half to turn into glass half full guy again. I believe Okafor would have allowed us next year and for the next decade to score as many points much more easily, efficiently and with less energy expended and exposure to physical injury from the guards needing so much to break down defenses and create shots for others. There's no doubt in my mind he is going to want to kill us now whenever, and I'd already expected him out of the gate next year to be a double cover guy who was perfect for handling it. To often dominate as a rookie in his carefully chosen minutes. It's going to be for me at least painful as hell watching him dominate and only get better for years ahead on some other team. Bully Ball with the guys we would have had in place plus the easy option to play smaller and faster as well with Black. We would never had to fear getting out physical(ed) by other teams' lineups. Gonzo!!! Because certainly we may when we play his team.

Go Lakers guards and Julius and our FA signing(s) + hopeful contributions from the picks.

 

Have to say that was an absolutely terrible draft. Mitch went from possibly having his best one last year to striking out not once, not twice, but three times in this one. Really hard to justify anything he did last night. I'll come around, but until summer league or a home run in the FA, I'm soured from this f*** up.

I don't see it with Russell. I'm glad Mitch does and I'm thrilled the Logo does. They must know something I don't. I don't think he'll be bad, he'll be far better here than he would amount to anywhere else. I just don't see him being the second best player in this draft. He's still 4th on my board. I'm going to cheer for him and I'll hope every game that I was wrong. But it is going to take one hell of a year (with superstar flashes) to justify taking him at #2.

It's always been and always will be easier to build around a big just because they're so hard to come by. Yes, you have to have specific players with specific skill sets (mainly shooters), but that can be said of other positions and it's much easier to find specialists than it is generational talent.

It also makes free agency much more difficult for us. Getting Carroll and Mo Williams (or similar guys at SF and PG) is infinitely easier than luring SA bound LMA here. If you don't get him, then you're looking at s*** I have no interest in -- Love (injuries, no D, empty stats, PF only) or DJ (awful FT shooter, nothing without his athleticism, dumber than a bag of bricks). That's a massive gamble. Even if you have an understanding with one of them already, anything can happen until that ink dries.

Jah looked pretty bummed. Thinking he was going to LA to going to the Philadelphia 70centers (seriously! I swear they took at least 10 bigs last night). Maybe he'll come to LA the same way the rest of our centers have -- via free agency. Hopefully Philly won't make him forever unclean


Onto Mitch's next two f*** ups. I'll preface this by saying the Brown pick was my favorite of the night for us.

Larry MOTHER f***ING Nance?!?! Really? This is a rookie GM move. Mitch should be ashamed. I don't care if he had the best workout in the history of the Lakers. I don't even care if he ends up being rookie of the year. He was on NO ONE'S board here. There was not one single reason to give the kid guaranteed money. He would've been there 15 picks later. Trade down, move around in the 2nd, or take someone worthy of a first round selection. I think most of the guys we wanted were gone (RHJ and Anderson), still doesn't justify Nance. Honestly I would have taken Hunter, he at least has one great skill that will carry over, unlike Madsen 2.0. Nance's skill set overlaps with Kelly's -- making the pick even worse. Hunter also would've been a great pick to accompany Jah, too. If you wanted a PF, Mickey or McCullough would've been solid options.

My criticism with the Brown pick isn't Brown's fault. But had we been smart with the 27th, a very good PF in Christmas was right f***ing there for the taking.

Other guys we passed on in the 2nd that I would've taken over the poor twitter user Mr. Nance -- Montrezl Harrell, Joseph Young, Norman Powell, Dakari Johnson, Cody Lalanne, and JP Tokoto.

Honestly, I like our undrafted pick ups better than our draft selections.

 

^ Philadelphia 70centers

 

I sort of agreed with you last night, but have cooled down since. Listening to Kupchek today on Dan Patrick helped. The Lakers put a lot of hard work into studying all the players, and holding private workouts, interviews with them. I have to believe with all that's on the line they made intelligent choices on all 3 picks. Sadly I'm just not all that excited about these additions, but in a way that's just fine. If they would of taken Okafur, Hunter, Young, and I was pleased as punch only to find them all flops that would of been worse to me than if these selections flop. On the positive side if these selections prove to be what the Laker FO thinks they'll be My confidence in the FO will be sky high once again. There is still the possibility of trades before and during the upcoming Free Agent period that could change my outlook on why they drafted these guys. Now we've got to focus on getting a real center in Free Agency, Aldridge and Love are not that. Going into the season with Sacre, Black,and maybe Upshaw at the 5 is a sure bet for the 76ers to get another lottery pick.

 

I was so happy when the Hawks traded him. The highlight of the first round for me. I might have been forced to give him the Gump treatment if he was here in Atlanta. Luckily I'll never see him play since he'll be in DC. nearly vomited during his interview.

 

I've got something from watching Mitch's presser.

He says: "We were looking to buy a pick later in a draft, to secure player's rights, but were unable to do so".

I bet it was for Upshaw.

 

How would Kyler know that?

 

with the other guys who were there, he wasn't going to leap frog them (not when guys like RHJ, Portis, and Anderson dipped back into the 20s). He might have been rising but would've been there with our next pick. Pincus even mentioned Mad Dog similarities. Not saying that's a great NBA comparison, but I think he has an incredibly low ceiling. Yes, we did steal JC in the 2nd round because there were a couple of questions about him. So we didn't risk guaranteed money. We need every red cent for free agency and Mitch took someone with a couple questions surrounding him in the first (he didn't even do that with JC) because...*shoulder shrug* it beats me.

I'm not sure Kelly is back with Nance being picked. Black will likely split minutes at both front court spots. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that he and Upshaw are our centers going into next season. Unlikely, yes, but the well can dry up very quickly when you're not #1 on anyone's list.

I agree we need wings, which is why I listed 4 better than Nance. I would've addressed a wing first (trading down) and then a big, they lasted longer in the 2nd.

That's blasphemy from Pitino, I don't care how good anyone thinks Russell will be. Stockton, Nash, and Kidd didn't learn to pass overnight and should slap him in his face.

Magic opening his mouth is s bigger detriment than endorsement. Amazing player, great business man. Awful at anything else pertaining to basketball. His commentary, thoughts on the organization, and tweets are collectively as bad as MJ drafting Kwame Brown.

I do trust Mitch and West, like I said. So there's a silver lining.

example of chicken or the egg. He's had great PGs, but were they not great before and after Scott?

it's not like Russell is an effortless fit. He's going to fit well with JC, but there's going to be a rough learning curve while they figure out how to let the other handle the ball enough. Then there's the shot volume that he's going to want and for Kobe's 41 games, that's going to be fun.

If you think Jah would be bad defensively, what are you expecting out of Russell? Cause he's lousy at D too and doesn't have a 7-5 wingspan to fall back on. This also forces Kobe to the 3, where we were going to get a defensive player. Whereas DJ and Chandler are the only Cs we can hope for to prevent us from finishing 25th or worse defensively this year.

the bigs will cost more than the wings and guards would've (except Dragic) and we're not the top choice for any of them. If we don't get one of those 4-5 guys, who are everyone's top targets then it's gong to be a long season.