Looks like we (maybe) learned another NBA GMing 101 lesson! Rob simply made the best choice available, didn’t get it muddled with illusions of drafting the next Wes Unseld at 17. They picked the best player available. Easy, right?
Based on last summer’s draft, evidently not. With questions as to what Jalen Hood-Schifino is even good at and Max Lewis struggle to shoot at a rec league level there were no guarantees we wouldn’t all be left scratching our heads when the dust settled.
Rob didn’t draft Bronny in the first round, something that didn’t seem plausible but was certainly possible. It would have been borderline criminal if he had. He just didn’t impact winning in a meaningful way. It could be argued not being drafted at all and playing overseas somewhere would benefit him more than trying to carve out a role in the NBA while still learning the game.
He didn’t pick a center that would just as likely (if not more likely) be a project that doesn’t align with LeBron’s timeline in any meaningful way. Just didn’t make sense to me with the number of available, serviceable centers on the free agency market, Hayes possibly picking up his option, Wood having already picked up his option, but mainly because we have AD at the 5. Plus we have a project center on a two-way deal in Castleton and some of our best line ups will probably have LeBron at the 5 in small ball situations as the “stretch 5”.
He picked Dalton Knecht, who on some boards I saw was as high as a top 5 pick but generally fell into the 7-12 range. To have him fall into our laps…like Whitmore and Jaquez did last season…seemed almost too good to be true. The only left was Rob not blowing it. Thankfully he did not.
It’s bittersweet for me because the bar for Rob doing his job is set to toddler low. We get excited when he does the obvious thing right. That’s unfortunate because there are better minds out there available right now. Maybe they don’t want to come work at The Lakers Family Circus, and honestly that gets more and more understandable as the years go by, but it would be nice to see someone who does the job well at the helm.
Basically I’m tired of watching guys learn on the job around here. When your relationships matter so much more than your experience, that’s problematic. When the head of the organization values loyalty more than savvy or honesty, that’s a biiig problem (see America, United States of). So, while I’m happy we picked the most NBA-ready talent out there who looks like he can contribute right away, I’m also annoyed that it doesn’t seem to be the norm. That we need to constantly learn these simple lessons the hard way.