Lakers Draft Day Prospects June 22, 2023

Today's workout

 

sanogo interests me as a 2nd/udfa. big body who looks great on lots of metrics. funky a** shot that somehow goes in more than you'd expect, but his game is really just screens and boards and such.

 

you can get a ready made bigger version of that for cheap in Udoka Azubuike

 

i think it's likely sanogo would come cheaper and has more upside (can make an open set shot).

apparently he did well at the combine, so he's likely in the 2nd round.

his measurements are very close to kevon looney, and he seems to have a similar feel for the game despite not being super skilled (like looney).

hardest part to measure is their drive, though. looney plays hard and smart all the time and is a team-first guy.

edit: article says he's not projected to be drafted, sorry.

i'd invite him to camp for sure. one of the best bigs i watched in college last year.

 

There's always some left behind, but here's the 19 names the league feel the best about

 

Givony just put out his latest mock for ESPN Insider

Where he has some of the names we've discussed going:
Lively: 10
Bufkin: 12
JHS: 13
Coulibaly: 14
Wallace: 15
Hawkins: 16
Rupert: 18
Howard: 19
Murray: 24
Podziemski: 25
Miller: 26
OMP: 27
Lewis: 28
Sheppard: 29
Sensabaugh: 32



Some of the draft related rumor buzz...


We're looking at the option of moving down

Nets could be looking to consolidate picks

17, 47 and a future 2nd for 21 & 22?



Grizz looking to move up

Pacers too

Hornets could consolidate

 

if wallace is 2 picks ahead, i wonder how much it would take to get him.

i've been saying keep an eye on mitch. charlotte has 4 picks between 27 and 43, i think. that's been kind of our sweet spot.

could see it, though it would depend heavily on who's on the board at those spots for me.

if they didn't hate us, i could see something here. i also think they leaked this to prep the fans for them to move one of these for a heavily-protected future first.

see comment above. even if we don't trade down with them, we might be able to buy one of these seconds.

maybe we move 17 and 41 to move up a couple spots and get wallace, then buy a second to get someone we like.

 

What am I missing here? Cause I don't see it.

 

Regarding Hawkins, mocked at 18

 

glad i'm not the only one. i didn't watch enough college hoops or michigan games to feel confident about any of it, but his film doesn't jump out to me at all. must be something, though, right?

anyway, if he moves up, somebody moves down. green room has 19 invites and we pick 17th.

re: jett howard--i generally like sons of pros once they make it this far. feel like they have some advantages in terms of knowing what it takes to make it, etc.

hawkins also looks like a 10-year pro to me, for sure. i don't think we'll stay at 17, but if we do, we should get a good player.

 

He seems solid at a lot, but i'm not seeing a standout NBA skill that warrants climbing. He seemed perfectly fine in that 14-20 range I thought. If the Wizards like him, I really don't like him. They've been wrong on more wings than they've been right about dating back to Oubre. Maybe he's killing workouts and interviews. They say he's a smart kid.

I think Howard has a great chance at ending up a Laker. Bron and Rob both are close with Juwan. I'm sure Rob has seen him play since Jr high. Lakers like family pedigree (Pip). I think we can move down a little to get him. I do worry about his athleticism, side to side speed, defense and rebounding though (last two are really rough). I think in the mid 20s, that's easier to overlook.

If there weren't so many wings available, he'd 100% be my pick. Even with all the wings, I still strongly consider him. Having that level of shooting on a rookie scale is big and makes letting Beas go easier to stomach. It really just depends on how we plan to allocate our other resources this summer.

 

I like this guy. He's projected in the 20s but I think he's a steal.
Shot 42% from three.

https://fansided.com/2023/05/25/2023-nba-draft-scouting-report-dariq-whitehead/

He can be the 3 we need and he's young like Max, they can grow together and with Reaves, Vando and Rui form a supporting cast for the future with AD and another star. Every disgruntled star will want to come to a good Lakers team. We will be in the driving seat for the next big superstar that wants out a couple years from now

 

didn't whitehead have some injury concern? can't remember...

also, i always think of iggy as bigger and longer than green by a wide margin. weird to see them listed as basically the same size.

 

Yeah, he had 2 foot problems, that's why he's low on the draft, he was considered a top 10. That's the reason I can see the reach being justified

He has the build for modern NBA and only 18

 

yeah, that's substantial. the question for who drafts him is how patient are you willing to be? tbh, his foot concerns me less than mpj's back did (and does), and mpj still went 14th in his draft.

but legit sf size, nice shot, and pre-foot injury was considered a very good athlete.

 

Yeah, my read too. Don't think his injuries will become a recurrent thing, just bad luck.
We are also in a position to take a gamble, imo.

It's unlikely to get a guy who helps us now, we are in a different window so if we keep the pick, I would bet on a guy who can make sense for us in 2/3 years.
He would also have some space at the 3 if he shows he's NBA ready. It's a bit risky to draft a guy who we need (like a backup center for example) because if the guy isn't ready, we are screwed.
Hence, the justification to take a flyer without expecting immediate return.

On the general draft, I'm expecting 5 to 10 first round picks to be dealt until draft night. There's a bunch of teams with multiple FRPs (Utah, Indiana, Brooklyn and Orlando) and a considerable number of teams with picks (Dallas, ourselves, Indiana...) who are in a different window. OKC also has multiple picks in the future and would make sense to use them to upgrade a roster who already looks so promising (Shai, Giddey, Williams, Chet)