Where Do The Lakers Rank In The Best Young Team In The NBA?

The NBA has quite a few great young teams, that are all hopeful to be contenders down the road. My question is where do we rank legitimately?

Minnesota has probably the most hyped group with LaVine, Wiggings and KAT. It is fair to say that KAT is a surefire superstar and Wiggings at the very least a hell of a Robin and at least a star in the NBA.

Same applies to Milwaukee. Giannis is a surefire superstar and Jabari Parker is at least a star in the NBA. This duo is going to be excellent and at this point have proven themselves. They also have Khris Middleton who is an established NBA starter at this point. They also have other young prospects like Thon Maker, Rashad Vaughn and Malcolm Brogdon.

Denver has quite a lot of young talent with Jokic blossoming into a star. Mudiay, Malik Beasley, Hernangomes, Nurkic, Jamal Murray, Gary Harris.

The suns are a load in the future with Booker, Marquese Chris, Bender, Brandon Knight, Alex Len, TJ Warren etc.

Lakers have a crop of Russell, Ingram, Randle, Clarkson and Nance. Minny and the bucks are IMO in a better position because they have proven pieces at this point. But Denver and the Suns have more "depth" than the Lakers even though they might not have that "superstar talent".

honorable mention:

Orlando has Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon, Elfried Payton, Mario Hezonja, Vucevic...not really that spectecular and most rather unproven.


Where are the Lakers realistically without homerism? Recordwise right now all the teams are doing better except the Suns, who are almost identically bad with us.

 

I pretty much agree with tada. I don't know that we have a transcendent all time talent in our bunch. It sure doesn't look like it. They all have their upside but none of them competes with Giannis and KAT. I don't know.

I wish we could add one superstar in his prime to our deeper and more team-wide young talent. I mean the great news is that with Zu in the discussion, too, you've got a solid young talent at all positions and a couple extra bench players with Nance and Black. Russell, Clarkson, Ingram, Randle, Zu covers 1-5. So the good news is that we have balance. And I think we have the right coach to develop them and get them sharing the ball. Now if they'd only play better D!

 

Tough question to answer. What qualifies as a young team? If we're going by the teams you've listed, I'd say the only "young" team that I think clearly ranks ahead of us in talent is Minnesota.

Towns is a monster. Wiggins is better than I thought he'd be. LaVine and Dieng are both quality role players. If we're looking for a young team with more inherent talent, I go there first.

I don't think Phoenix has more talent. Chriss is an athlete, not a basketball player yet. Warren has cooled off after a hot start and looks like an average NBA player. Bledsoe is hit or miss. Knight looks worse and worse every time I see him. Len has tools, but no brain. Bender is an enigma right now who may be good or may be nothing. The only guy on their roster that's a for-sure hit is Booker. At the least he's going to be a good NBA player and I don't think he's come close to peaking yet. Still as of today he's not very efficient and his team is worse than ours.

Denver is full of kids dumber than ours. Jokic looks real, but after that? I haven't seen anything transcendent there. Mudiay has all the same problems as he did on draft day. Harris hasn't taken the next step yet as a player. Nobody else on that team looks like anything more than a body to me.

Milwaukee is almost unfair to include, but it's true Giannis is a young player still. Giannis and Parker look like a real strong starting point. Brogdon is an NBA player and then... nothing. Middleton can't stay healthy and none of their other players impressive me overly much. Still, playing in the East helps and Giannis looks like he could be something special and unique.

Orlando is a joke. Gordon has all the natural talent of some of the greatest athletes the game has seen and almost none of the actual basketball skill. He's a glorified Faried right now. Fournier got paid and stopped improving. Payton is vastly overrated by the organization. Vucevic they want to get rid of. Hezonja might be an NBA player, but I get the impression he's a pile of rocks. Ibaka could leave this summer. I'm not convinced by any of their players.

Meanwhile, as much as we sit by and analyze our kids they've got every bit the potential of the majority of this list. I don't think we have a Giannis or a Towns, but we've got a kid who could easily develop into Jokic. I think we've got a kid who could easily be the best PG/SG of all the names on here. I think we've got a kid who could be as good as Parker in the right situations. Honestly I think Ingram could still develop into a Giannis if he filled out accordingly, but that's hard to count on. We've got a deep roster of young talent, we really do. Our well here is deeper than most of these other teams, I'm just not sure we've got the top heavy piece we need to carry us to the top. I'd give up almost all of our kids for one Towns.

 

Well...or his friend Russell could convince him to come over when the time comes?

 

Given the new CBA, that time might not come for 10-12 years.

 

I'd give up any three of our young guys to get Towns. Say you give up Zubac, Randle, AND Russell you're left with:

Towns, Larry Nance Jr., Clarkson, Ingram, and Black.

I'd rather have that ^.

 

...and draft a Ball/Fultz to go with it? Towns takes out the sting of losing Zu. Fun little what if.

 

Embiid has played 31 games in three seasons. That terrifies me. I don't move Russell or Ingram for him. BTW, he has another lower body injury - knee contusion he's dealing with right now.

 

Yeah, I'm not touching Embiid. Big man with knee issues. Where have we heard that before? Never ends well.

 

Btw I forgot to add Zubac to the list.

Also Philly should be mentioned with Embiid and Simmons along with Covington, Okafor and Noel.