5 Things: Lakers Just Picking

In a mildly surprising affair the Lakers elected to simply pick at their respective draft positions. In general the Draft was a quiet one with few surprises, few trades and nothing landscape altering. I think a lot of teams are using this grace season to measure how the cost of the team they’re fielding impacts winning, at least for the first few months. So, instead of trading our pick(s) or player(s) we simply did the picking.

1. Jalen Hood-Schifino. Since I don’t watch college hoops I have no idea how this kid plays. Based on the various sources one could choose to peruse on the internet the obvious take-away is we drafted a big guard (6’6″) who can make plays out of the pick and roll, not very athletic, not a great finisher or shooter. So a defensive version of D’Angelo Russell. While not overwhelming (I was kind of surprised we didn’t draft the guy who went next, UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr.) it’s hard to argue with a couple of things: the Lakers success in unearthing gems in the draft and our track record of developing young players into serviceable NBA players. While not every project turns out like Austin Reaves, if we can re-create the defensive wizardry we had in Alex Caruso (solid team defender with decent ball hawk skills) and turn the floaters and midrange pull ups into more polished drives to the rim and catch and shoot threes at a decent clip we might have nice complimentary player off the bench. To my eyes Jalen looks a little more like a project than an instant impact player but that’s generally what you get outside the top ten. He also could show us something in summer league and training camp we’re not expecting.
2. Maxwell Lewis. A 6’11 PF/C with a lot of upside and questions about polish, focus and overall ceiling. Some drafts had him in the lottery, some in e the top 30, ultimately the Lakers swapped picks and paid some cash to move up a few spots to seemingly make sure they drafted him. He put up decent numbers but ona pretty awful college team. Not the best indicator of future NBA impact I expect Maxwell to primarily play with the G League affiliate for the most part next season, barring injuries. Like Jalen, I’m hoping our player development can get him to be more impactful on defense, clean up his decision-making and improve his overall game. he’ll also need to add some muscle, at 6’11 195 he’s going to get bounced and bullied out of position so I’m looking at a year or so down the line before his role is a meaningful one.
3. Colin Castleton. Immediately after the draft concluded it was announced that the Lakers had signed Colin Castleton to a two-way deal. A rare 5 year senior with the Florida Gators the 23 year-old posted some solid numbers in his final collegiate season and could see some time early in the season if the Lakers don’t immediately trade for a backup big and Mo Bamba continues to remain outside the main rotation for Darvin Ham as he did, for the most part, since his arrival. While not possessing a wealth of upside at 23, this is a solid, low-risk move by the Lakers to add some needed size that could fill in as-is right now. Some people will want to point out the similarities to Austin Reaves but Reaves and his agent turned down signing with other teams, potentially, and fell out of the draft completely as a result. While a top 100 draft prospect I didn’t see many (any?) draft boards that had Colin as a selection.
4. D’Moi Hodge. Another 5 year senior from Mizzou the one thing that jumps off the page when looking at this dude is 40% from three. Now, granted, that’s the short porch college three but his overall FG% of 47.7 is pretty solid for a college kid. At 6’4″ he can also play some defense so one has to start wondering how this guy didn’t end up getting drafted? Streaky shooting and playing the 3 when he probably out to be playing as a SG may have contributed to his fall. Other than 3’s he’s not the most elite scorer but that may also have been the role he was in as a college player on a team with a better college player on it. In the Lakers seemingly never-ending quest to find a decent three and D player we have landed on a project that could become just that in D’Moi. At 24 he’ll need to put it all together quicker than a lot of rookies if he wants to stick in the NBA.
5. Alex Fudge. Another major project player who came out as a sophomore but probably, for the sake of his career, might have benefitted more from another year of college. Regardless the young man is going for it and the Lakers are giving him a shot with an exhibit-10 contract. At 6’8″ and weighing 194 lbs, Alex made his mark on defense and rebounding, two areas the Lakers are pretty good at developing young guys into a serviceable NBA role player. Not much of a scorer he feels like a more un-polished version of Jarred Vanderbilt.

So welcome to all the new Lakers. None of them really strike me as “instant-impact” players but the Lakers need to continue to blend youth and experience as we begin to transition from the LeBron era to…whatever comes next. We have a pretty solid of polishing rough projects so here’s hoping that success continues. Speaking of LeBron, the news that he is “frustrated” with AD is all seemingly based off a Colin Cowherd podcast…from February. Also, based on their high five routine, everything looks fine. Still, I’ve long been of the opinion the Lakers should at least get feelers on what an AD trade could bring back. So, since it’s the NBA and “anything is possible” we’ll just have to see if anything comes of it but I kinda doubt it will.