Lakers Draft Analysis 2015

Last Year we looked at how the roster was formed for Los Angeles LAKERS and I had many articles in the pipeline. They didn’t see daylight as my enthu went south, pretty much at the same rate as LAKERS’ season performance.

However I am committed this year to bring even more dedicated effort to my writings and analysis. Planned to get it rolling along with twitter feeds and bring more sense to my airy creativity. Also I would try to scout many more teams and give my perspective on how can they make moves for better future. Without further ado, let’s start with LAKERS this season.

Draft History:

LAKERS ended last season being the 4^th worst team. Yeah, you heard that right. I am rooting for one of the most successful franchise which suffered an all-time worst franchise record and it was still not worst in the league. Even crazy stat is that this year the 2^nd worst team was New York Knicks which has General Manager none other than the legendary PHIL JACKSON, one of the most successful coaches in NBA history and the man behind championship years of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Coming back to topic, LAKERS had 4^th worst record which meant that they  had 27% chances to move into top  3 draft pick selection, almost 31% chance to drop out of top 5. Why is this info necessary? Coz if they fall out of top 5, the draft will go to Philadelphia 76ers. Talk about a risk for a losing organization which is cash strapped and in transformation phase with little power over future to dictate forming super-teams.

After 3 years of misery finally, the basketball gods smiled on LAKERS luck and we jumped 2 places to get 2^nd overall pick in this year’s NBA draft.  LAKERS-nation went mad and crazy and this year’s draft class had franchise changing talent at top 4-5 which meant we do control some part of future in our hands and move ahead with it.

We drafted Julius Randle last year with 7^th pick and he could see only some seconds of action before breaking his tibia bone and being out for the whole season. He had a screw in his foot in his college year which was ok but needed to be removed eventually over a period of time. So LAKERS took opportunity and did 2 operations on Julius randle’s leg and he was pretty much done playwise and health wise last season. However important thing to note, he has all the skill set necessary to be the Power Forward for the future.  For my friends who don’t know much about basketball, its position number 4 and usually donned by the other big guy from centre position.

We then drafted Jordan Clarkson at 46^th pick by buying his rights from Washington Wizards and boy-o-boy did we get away with a robbery. Clarkson became the top shooting guard of the last year’s rookie class and was nominated for the All NBA rookie 1st team. Saying he is shooting guard of future would be a stretch as we have been spoiled by Kobe Bryant and not even Dwayne Wade or Carmelo can convince us that they can replace Kobe. However it’s awesome to see Clarkson play high quality basketball and is being touted as mini Westbrook. Honestly looking at his drive and speed and aggression I won’t deny that either.

Considering we had holes to fill all around the roster and prepare for the future we wanted young guys who can play really well. Over the course of last season we lost games but what I liked most was we got some good pieces for future. We got Tarik Black from Houston Rockets. Tarik can immediately replace Jordan Hill as an energy guy off bench. He is one guy who can get as many rebounds in a game as he can score points in as many minutes he play. You get what i mean to say.

We got Jabari Brown and recruited him to D-League and he was the highest scorer per game in the time he was there. We brought him back and he became lightning in the bottle for bench scoring.

However they are not long term starting options or the core future of the team if we want to continue winning championships in future. Its just like having Roger Binny or Axar Patel to give is quick 15-20 runs when others are building their innings. Again, catching my whim???

Draft This Year:

So here we are, we have shooting guard, power forward who can be high level starters next year in league. We have one guard and other pf/c for bench. So by my calculations we need point guard, small forward and a centre for our future.

This year’s draft was full of guys who can change course of a franchise for years to come. Sadly none of them were small forward. In PF/Centre there was a huge battle between Karl Anthony Towns and Jahill Okafor. In point guard it was DÁngelo Russel and Emanuelle Mudiay. Let me give you brief outlook on these guys as they would be household names in future.

Karl Anthony Towns [KAT]: Karl Anthony Towns Jr. is like ultra-dynamic modern day big. To give you comparison of his game let me say that if he realizes his potential he would be next Kevin Garnett. AWESOME!!! He was in conversation for top 2-3 pick all year but by the end of the year it became pretty evident he would go 1^st overall to Minnesota Timberwlves. WHAT? Kevin Garnett mentoring future Kevin Garnett under the coach who raised and developed Kevin Garnett….Thats freaking Garnettception.  If Timberwolves messed up and passed on him, they would be blamed for eternity for the stupidity and pretty much any of the other 29 team who would be picking 2^nd would snatch KAT. That 2^nd pick was LAKERS and Timberwolves didn’t out-think themselves and KAT went to Minnesota.

Jahill Okafor:  This guy is your throwback to the 90s centre who can demolish a team with his back to the basket post-up game. Player comparison would Tim Duncan.  If you are tired of seeing battles between Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett for being best power forward of their generation, I have a bad news for you. It will continue in the form of Okafor vs KAT. Jahill okafor has the most advanced post-up moves and he can toy around with NBA centres. Yes, he was that talented in college. He has upper and lower body strength to maintain against the NBA level physicality and the height and skills to be elite. The only knock on his game is that he is considered as a poor defender. However I would like to give him some grace marks in this critique. He was very less aggressive on defensive end as his team wanted him to not get in foul trouble. He avged 1.6 fouls per 40 minutes in college career. A Very-Very low number. Also he seems to have good numbers when taken look at advanced statistics. Opponents shot 30% lower than average when being guarded by Jahill okafor at centre. Not to mention he has 7’5’’ wingspan. That means he has ability to alter shots with small jumps and defensive positions and use his length to defend at high level.

 Emannuele Mudiay: This guy didn’t go to college. He had such supreme confidence that he took off to china to play among grown up men. He displayed enough talent and numbers that scouts said he is 2^nd coming of John wall and as aggressive as Westbrook - Another lethal combo. Bad news he suffered leg injury mid-season and had to pull out from the tournament which became a red flag for teams which wanted to draft him. Also he doesn’t have a good outside shooting range.

D’Angelo Russell:  Pop quiz. Who were front runners in 2015 MVP race? Thats right..Stephen curry and James Harden. What would you do if I say there is a prospect who is projected to be as skilful in handles, passes and shooting as Curry and has leadership quality and iso-play like harden. Thats exactly what I said too. SHUT UP AND JUST DRAFT THIS KID. D’Angelo Russell is a wonder kid of this draft class. He has sweet stroke, great handles and leadership qualities. Would it be enough to give you basketball orgasm if I say that scouts and coaches said he has passing ability as awesome as Magic Johnson? Ok. Next candidate please.

Coming back to LAKERS. LAKERS had huge interests in Jahill Okafor. LAKERS is known for its dominant  history of extremely Elite Big players at centre position starting with Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Shaquille O’ Neil, Pau  Gasol. So Jahill Okafor fits the bill perfectly for being the next big legend. Russell on the other hand was acing the draft workouts too. They were torn between the two of the most polished and awesome prospects in recent years.

But we also have another history of Lakers to tell you. LAKERS have a history of drafting the guards and trading for bigs. Right from Jerry west to Magic Johnson to James Worthy to Elgin Baylor to Kobe Bryant were drafted by LAKERS while the ones I mentioned were traded in subsequent years. This years’ free agency had notable names in power forward or centre position like Kevin love, Lamarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, and rumours about Demarcus cousins being available by trade. LAKERS took a bold step and drafted Russel.

Last year we took Jeremy Lin’s dinosaur contract of 15mn$ a year from Houston which we accepted due to deal sweetner of 27^th pick from Houston. We also had our own 34^th pick in 2^nd round of draft. Another pop-quiz. Guesstimate the amount of homework LAKERS did for these 2 late round picks?. Try. Guess some? They auditioned 66 people for these 2 picks!!!! Then they recalled 18 of them again 1 night before draft to zero in on few. WOW!! And I thought I had the most sincere dudes in my class.

LAKERS took Larry Nance Jr at 27^th Pick. Another power forward who is son of NBA player Larry Nance and was defensive player of year for the Wyoming.

At 34^th LAKERS took Anthony Brown, a small forward who specializes in 3 and D. Whats this? Will explain in future post.

Wait, the post is not ever yet. LAKERS also took Robert Upshaw who was undrafted. And it’s too early to say but scouts and general managers already calling him a steal of the draft by LAKERS.

So here we are. After facing one of the worst seasons of history of franchise [not hyperbole, it actually was] LAKERS have jumped back from the dead. They have a solid foundation for future. In future posts I will discuss more on the free agency part of LAKERS plan. But it gives me great comfort that LAKERS have D’Angelo Russel, Jordan Clarkson, Jabari Brown, Anthony Brown, Larry Nance jr, Julius Randle, Tarik Black and Robert Upshaw as future of the franchise.

More about in-depth analysis of LAKERS picks in coming posts. Also will discuss on some of the jargons I use and how I define players. If I have enough time on hand I will also discuss various strategies used by teams offensively and defensively. Till then Adios Amigos.