The Lakers & Hidden Gems

[Moranis]

Too bad they blew their picks at the front end of the draft

They actually did relatively well at the top as well.  Obviously Tatum instead of Ball would have been best pick (even before Ball injury), but they mostly picked well high.  Drafting was never Lakers' issue

No they didn't

Sure they did. Randle was absolutely the right pick in 14.  In 15 they took Russell instead of Okafor, though the Zinger would have been the better pick.  There is no one else till Booker at 13 that would have been better than Dlo and no one would have taken Booker at 2.  In 16 they took Ingram.  I think Ingram vs. Brown is a matter of preference, and that is with Ingram getting hurt. If Ingram stayed healthy, he'd have been better. Now, perhaps Murray should have gone 2 (and that wasn't a stretch).  The only other player in the entire draft you'd even consider is Sabonis but he went 11 and wasn't a realistic option at 2.  17 they obviously missed on Tatum by taking Ball, but pre-injury Ball was on track to be very good and arguably could have been better than anyone other than Tatum.  Obviously, Fox, Mitchell, and Bam have all been very good, but Fox was the only guy in that group taken in the top 10.

Ball over Tatum is the only really egregious draft pick and that was apparent almost immediately.

They should have taken jokic over randle.

Since the entire NBA missed, I can't really fault their management.  Let's be glad they overlooked him.

Yeah, you can't look back on a draft and say a 2nd round pick should have gone 1 and the team drafting at 1 failed as a result.  There has to be a realistic look back on things. Now if you are just doing a redraft, sure you put Jokic at 1, but that doesn't the teams in the lottery failed because Jokic hit it big.

Yeah I know I was not really being serious. But to be a little more serious how much credit to the lakers get for drafting guys like Randle or Zubac they just lose for nothing?

plenty for drafting them. The Lakers issue has not been drafting. They've been one of the better drafting teams. And they did well to position themselves to get James (which is why they let Randle go) and sold high on the young guys to get Davis. Everything else has been a mess though.

[celticsclay]

Too bad they blew their picks at the front end of the draft

They actually did relatively well at the top as well.  Obviously Tatum instead of Ball would have been best pick (even before Ball injury), but they mostly picked well high.  Drafting was never Lakers' issue

No they didn't

Sure they did. Randle was absolutely the right pick in 14.  In 15 they took Russell instead of Okafor, though the Zinger would have been the better pick.  There is no one else till Booker at 13 that would have been better than Dlo and no one would have taken Booker at 2.  In 16 they took Ingram.  I think Ingram vs. Brown is a matter of preference, and that is with Ingram getting hurt. If Ingram stayed healthy, he'd have been better. Now, perhaps Murray should have gone 2 (and that wasn't a stretch).  The only other player in the entire draft you'd even consider is Sabonis but he went 11 and wasn't a realistic option at 2.  17 they obviously missed on Tatum by taking Ball, but pre-injury Ball was on track to be very good and arguably could have been better than anyone other than Tatum.  Obviously, Fox, Mitchell, and Bam have all been very good, but Fox was the only guy in that group taken in the top 10.

Ball over Tatum is the only really egregious draft pick and that was apparent almost immediately.

They should have taken jokic over randle.

Since the entire NBA missed, I can't really fault their management.  Let's be glad they overlooked him.

Yeah, you can't look back on a draft and say a 2nd round pick should have gone 1 and the team drafting at 1 failed as a result.  There has to be a realistic look back on things. Now if you are just doing a redraft, sure you put Jokic at 1, but that doesn't the teams in the lottery failed because Jokic hit it big.

Yeah I know I was not really being serious. But to be a little more serious how much credit to the lakers get for drafting guys like Randle or Zubac they just lose for nothing?

plenty for drafting them. The Lakers issue has not been drafting. They've been one of the better drafting teams. And they did well to position themselves to get James (which is why they let Randle go) and sold high on the young guys to get Davis. Everything else has been a mess though.

I think you have a fair point about having to let Randle go for Davis, although I wonder if they could have got something before letting him go for nothing. In the case of Zubac they clearly didn’t value him that highly cause they traded him for Muscala. It’s like with the Celtics, I don’t give them much credit for drafting Joe Johnson when they were willing to dump him over other players (was it Kendrick brown?)

[Moranis]

Too bad they blew their picks at the front end of the draft

They actually did relatively well at the top as well.  Obviously Tatum instead of Ball would have been best pick (even before Ball injury), but they mostly picked well high.  Drafting was never Lakers' issue

No they didn't

Sure they did. Randle was absolutely the right pick in 14.  In 15 they took Russell instead of Okafor, though the Zinger would have been the better pick.  There is no one else till Booker at 13 that would have been better than Dlo and no one would have taken Booker at 2.  In 16 they took Ingram.  I think Ingram vs. Brown is a matter of preference, and that is with Ingram getting hurt. If Ingram stayed healthy, he'd have been better. Now, perhaps Murray should have gone 2 (and that wasn't a stretch).  The only other player in the entire draft you'd even consider is Sabonis but he went 11 and wasn't a realistic option at 2.  17 they obviously missed on Tatum by taking Ball, but pre-injury Ball was on track to be very good and arguably could have been better than anyone other than Tatum.  Obviously, Fox, Mitchell, and Bam have all been very good, but Fox was the only guy in that group taken in the top 10.

Ball over Tatum is the only really egregious draft pick and that was apparent almost immediately.

They should have taken jokic over randle.

Since the entire NBA missed, I can't really fault their management.  Let's be glad they overlooked him.

Yeah, you can't look back on a draft and say a 2nd round pick should have gone 1 and the team drafting at 1 failed as a result.  There has to be a realistic look back on things. Now if you are just doing a redraft, sure you put Jokic at 1, but that doesn't the teams in the lottery failed because Jokic hit it big.

Yeah I know I was not really being serious. But to be a little more serious how much credit to the lakers get for drafting guys like Randle or Zubac they just lose for nothing?

plenty for drafting them. The Lakers issue has not been drafting. They've been one of the better drafting teams. And they did well to position themselves to get James (which is why they let Randle go) and sold high on the young guys to get Davis. Everything else has been a mess though.

I think you have a fair point about having to let Randle go for Davis, although I wonder if they could have got something before letting him go for nothing. In the case of Zubac they clearly didn’t value him that highly cause they traded him for Muscala. It’s like with the Celtics, I don’t give them much credit for drafting Joe Johnson when they were willing to dump him over other players (was it Kendrick brown?)

They couldn't pay Randle his value and sign James. They had to let Randle go to create the cap space for James