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

Let's be clear about something; last year, do you know who we would have chosen if we didn't land Randle? Doug McDermott. Ramona reported that after the draft; nobody knew that or at least I sure didn't. I don't believe anybody knows our board; I think the board is based more on need for the team than anything else; oh, and speculation. Let's get our pick, go through the workout process with these highly sought after collegiate recruits that will be picked high in the lottery and go from there before we assume anything...

 

Yes, I'm quite aware of all of this information, and I understand your argument. The worst was in 03; the Lebron, Bosh, Wade, Carmelo draft, yet I am sure you know who was picked number 2, right? A guy by the name of Darko Milicic. I think it was Dumars who made that selection. I believe he was the GM of Detroit at the time, but I could be mistaken. Within the past 12-15 years, I don't think any FO has got it right 100% percent of the time.

Reportedly, there was internal debate within the Lakers Front Office in the 1980 draft on who we should take; Magic or Sidney Moncrief. We probably had one of the greatest GM's of all time evaluating talent; additionally, we had the greatest owner of all time (arguably), Jerry Buss involved in that decision making progress. Looking back, 5 championships later, and I think we got that right. . Jerry West also drafted Kobe. 5 championships later; yeah, we get the story.

Nevertheless, we have got it wrong on multiple occasions, too. Devon Ebanks, Derrick Caracter, Sun Yue; Jerry Buss and Jerry West weren't always right but they were right more than they were wrong and the same goes for Mitch. Good FO's will gather all the information from their scouting department, run these players through the workout program, and even have surprise workouts (Randle) and will get a more clearer indication of all the players as a whole and who why they should select they players on their board.

It's fun to speculate as an armchair GM; it's the main reason I come on here. I love it. At the end of the day, though, I'm going to trust Mitch, Ryan West, Jesse Buss, and the rest of our scouting department, rely on expert opinion, and lastly go by my amateur eye test to do my best to gauge players. I respect everyone's opinion, and I love the debate. When it's all said in done, we all want the same thing for the Lakers, right? Championships.

 

Of course, I understand your first point. The good GM's strike out out less often than the bad GM's. My point is simply being more wrong than you are right in an equation of where you're taking a risk is the goal, IMO. By the way, and off topic, Mitch killed the draft last year; there was an unnamed Lakers person in the FO who said that Clarkson would be starting by the end of the year...we struck gold.

Interesting question, I'll be a good armchair GM and take the responsibility for the pick. Don't kill if I am wrong, though...

 

Interesting question that kinda got brought up in a Ford chat today: Let's say the Lakers end up with the top pick in the draft and Denver gets say the 5th pick. Would you consider dealing #1 for Ty Lawson and #5? What if the Lakers had #2 or #3?

Seems like a fairly realistic possibility for the Nuggets to make an offer like that, would be a tough decision.

 

I would never trade it for Ty Lawson. That's easy. Butler, Cousins, or even Harris; if/when you trade this pick, you're looking for players who are relatively young 22-25 years of age with upside, making $13-15 million because you could add 2 max contracts with the salary cap increase or coming up for an extension with their QO and their team is doesn't want to pay them i.e. the Knight situation in Milwaukee and why he was subsequently traded to Phoenix.

This got me thinking? Why would Denver trade their potential lottery pick and Lawson? That's a weird move to make now that I think about it. I don't think very highly of Lawson as it is....

 

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/assessing-the-emmanuel-mudiay-experiment-in-china/

Great piece.

 

3rd pick? Yes. I probably would. Lawson and say Stanley Johnson instantly improves two positions.

1st or 2nd? No. I wouldnt pass on a chance to grab Okafor or Towns.

 

Ha! I was just joking about something similar the other day. I would probably take Russell and have everyone in Laker Nation hating me and calling me an idiot.

 

I like the comparisons to Tyreke Evans. They have very similar traits. That's probably a realistic ceiling for Mudiay. However, if he develops a good work ethic to improve his jumper, and if he is a willing student of the game, he could end up becoming a Lebron Lite.

Some of these scouts need to stop comparing him to Russell and Wall though. He is pretty athletic but no where near the freak athletes those two are.

 

Yeah, he's not Russell and Wall; those two are rare athletes. Tyreke is a good comparison, though.

 

Wait, if Boston took randle, we were gonna take McDermott over Smart?