Lakers Draft Day Prospects June 22, 2023

i'll make my once-per-page plea to trade down and take kris murray. everyone's got him in the back end of the first round, but he's a legitimately-sized nba sf whose identical twin brother stepped in and started on the west's 3 seed last year. his numbers at iowa look something like his brother's, too, and i think people harping on the differences are missing that...they're identical twins.

 

Isn’t the Combine mandatory for everyone now under the new CBA?

 

ive rarely seen twins equal in talent/abilities, there is always a better twin

 

i've also rarely seen identical twins who both play basketball at a high level and they be that different.

i mean, marcus morris is better than markieff...but during their primes, not by much. i don't even remember which collins twin was better? jason?

i just think it's weird that keegan was a consensus early lotto pick and his twin--who did a lot of similar things in college, imo--is projected to go late 1st. this draft isn't that much stronger. i think people have gotten too wrapped up in the shooting differences between the two when kris shot nearly 40% the year before.

anyway, it's not that big a deal. we wouldn't be missing out on a star. i just think 6 or 7 wing players will be drafted ahead of murray and have less impactful careers.

 

I wonder which Laker FO types are doing the interviewing at the combine and if the stupid looking (my nothing opinion) Buss baseball cap is being worn there?

 

interesting that we got an interview with him. he should be long gone by 17, imo. i love him as a prospect.

then again, not a single team in that list is in his draft range, so who knows?

 

We have enough guards, Max should be ready to join the rotation next season. We need another big, I like that Lively kid out of Duke. 7'1 shotblocker/lob threat. He has some good lateral quickness too.

 

i mean, we already have bamba. i suppose if lively's there at 17 and we keep the pick, i could see it.

i like guys who have at least 1 offensive skill i can trust, though.

 

I'd take a flyer on Lively..he's 7'1 and can run the floor and block shots. I like the idea of Bamba sticking here, but if we could package him and Malik without giving up the pick, for something of value, I'd definitely target this Lively kid.


https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2023/05/draft-notes-risers-lively-girard-pack-post.html

 

I hope we keep this pick. Our scouting department is amazing and this draft seems to have good gems who may fall late.

It will also be nice to have another young guy growing with Austin, Rui and Max for the future as we prepare for our post-Lebron era

 

yeah, if we keep the pick there WILL be good players available at 17. and our track record says we'll find one of them.

i don't think we'll make this pick, though.

 

This should ramp up this week

 

Agreed I’m not going to be too attached to it. We also have a second rounder which in the past our scouts has made a killing on. But if some unknown Giannis, Kawhi or Butler types are still there then we’ll be set for another generation

 

interestingly, each of those was more foreseeable (not just hindsight):

kawhi was projected top 5, iirc, and fell as the draft process wore on. can't remember why. think shooting concerns?
giannis also had folks who thought he'd fill out and be a monster (including donnie nelson, who told cuban to take him at 13 instead of trading down...)
butler was one that i know i saw coming. it was similar to desmond bane for me: i watched the film and read up on his background and couldn't figure out why he wasn't a lotto pick.

so who's that this year? maybe i'll dig around in the coming weeks to make some guesses.

the gg jackson guy from sc is a big boom/bust prospect, imo. he could be a kawhi type with his physical profile, sort of like eason last year. the concern is that jackson didn't defend like those guys, though, which is a red flag for me.

i don't think there's a giannis prototype in this draft.

for a butler type, you're looking at a multi-tool two-way wing who's not known as a great distance shooter and is an extreme competitor. plus has legit nba size for the wing. no one's jumping out at me yet in this vein either.

 

I read somewhere that a lottery team passed on Kawhi because he sweated too much during a pre draft interview OMG

 

yeah I remember he was on our radar too but we traded for Schroeder

 

It could have been the creeper laugh ….