The legendary franchises of the NBA seem to have fallen out of the top spot and are looking to regain their position. One of those teams are the L.A. Lakers. The rANT goes in depth of what needs to be done in this years upcoming NBA Draft.
Lakers’ Lucky #7
The Los Angeles Lakers (my favorite
team for those that didn't know) have the 7th overall pick in the 2014 NBA
Draft. This is both a blessing and a curse in disguise for LA's favorite NBA
city. They also have options on what can they do in terms of who they're going
to draft and or if they decide to trade it.
- Why it's a blessing..
It is a blessing because now we
have virtually no shot of drafting Kansas big man, Joel Embiid. Embiid is
everything you want in a big man in terms of size (7'0" - 250 lbs - 7'5"
wingspan), age (20), and ability (modest 11.2 pts, 8.1 rebs, 2.6 blks -
described as a "7 ft Serge Ibaka"). It's too easy to want the guy,
he's the favorite for the #1 overall pick, which the Cleveland Cavs have for
the 2nd year in a row (*cough*..CONSPIRACY..*cough*).
Ant you're making ZERO sense right
now! Why in the world is it a blessing that the Lakers have no shot at drafting
this guy?! He's a physical freak! (meant
as a compliment) The next Dwight Howard! Shoot, MAYBE BETTER THAN DWIGHT!
Because the guy is a big man with a
bad history with injuries (his back). Havent we seen this (terrible) movie
before?? (I hate watching movies over and over) For those who don't know the
answer, yes we have.. TWICE. The first was in 1984 (Sam Bowie - knee)
and the other in 2007 (Greg Oden - knee). I hear back injuries are a lot worse
and he's just going to get beat up even more in the NBA than he was in college
(look at Dwight Howard getting hacked over his NBA career). I don't want him
& Ive been saying it since he injured his back. I don't want my team having
any shot of picking him. Now he COULD fall to 7th, but the chance of that
happening is VERY unlikely. So in a way Im thankful we fell at least fell out
of the Top 3 (projected to be a Top 3 pick if he doesn't get picked #1
overall).
- Why it's a curse..
Easy answer. Most of the guys that
we'd probably want will probably be drafted before its our time to pick. I like
three guys: Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker & Donte Exum. Wiggins has all the
athleticism in the world, plays solid defense & can score. Parker (I love
everything about his game) doesn't mind doing the dirty work inside & can
play the wing and PF. Exum is the big mystery because he's from overseas
(Australia) but the guy has good size (6'6"), can handle the ball like a
PG & most of all: HE WANTS TO BE A LAKER (most
likely won't get his wish). There's other talent that we could miss on
such as Embiid (already described above), Julius Randle, Marcus Smart and Aaron
Gordon. But the draft is pretty deep so we should get someone pretty good, but
not good enough to solely build around in the period of A.K. (After Kobe).
- Options The Lakers Have..
1) Trade The Pick
There's a number of players that
the Lakers COULD trade the pick for. Two players come to mind very quickly:
Kevin Love and Rajon Rondo. Love is a big mystery because he will be a free
agent next summer and whoever the Timberwolves trade him to, he'll have to
agree to stay long term. This option is a long shot but it could be possible.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said he wouldn't trade Love before the trade
deadline next February. But Love has stated that the Lakers are on his wish
list so Im keeping my fingers crossed. Rondo is possible because he's the
Celtics' only asset, they have been open about trading him in the past, and he
doesnt want to stick around during a period of rebuilding for the 2nd time in
his career. They also have the #6 overall pick.. the pick right before the
Lakers pick so they could have back-to-back picks which is something they
might consider. The Lakers could also trade down and pick up an extra couple
picks if they don't like what they see right away to desperate teams who need
talent right away.
2) Keep The Pick
They could keep the pick and draft
a good solid player for the future. As I stated before whoever we pick most
likely wont be good enough (I could be completely wrong) to build solely
around long term but will be a good foundation player (2nd, maybe 3rd option).
We'd have to most likely choose our next franchise player through free agency
or trade but we do that all the time. We've done that for our last two
franchise players (signed Shaq as a FA in 1996 & also traded for Kobe in
the '96 Draft). In this league you need 2-3 really good guys to build your
team around and we could find one of them for the future in this year's draft.
All I ask is that we don't draft
a bust. The Lakers front office MUST do their homework & to make sure
we have the right guy to build around in AK. Don't draft a guy just because
he'll fit perfectly next to Kobe. In fact stop catering to Kobe
(more on that some other time). It'll be nice to get that #6 ring for Kobe but
that shouldn't be our main purpose.
Thanks for reading! Twitter: @the_rANT_
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