The Lakers’ experiment with 1st-round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino is coming to an end: they have declined his 3rd year option.
They reportedly drafted Hood-Schifino over Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Cam Whitmore. pic.twitter.com/uikNe3UWrP
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 31, 2024
Lakers decline Hood-Schifino extension
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November 1, 2024 3 Comments
Final straw for terrible 2023 draft. JHS has more value as a low value expiring contract than as a legitimate prospect and Lewis will become a UFA unless traded. Wonder who was responsible for this draft? Buss Brothers or Rob Pelinka?
2023 was hopefully the anomaly as we didn’t even draft all that well in the 2nd round, either. I think, at the time, the Lakers were very concerned with having a PG on the roster that could at least handle bringing the ball up and being a live body in that role. DLo wasn’t fully in the fold, at the time of the draft.
In general I feel like we broke my only 2 draft rules:
-draft the best player, regardless of position (that was Cam Whitmore or B-Pod)
or
-draft the most NBA-ready player. That was/is/and will always be Jaquez.
Not sure what caused us to blow it but blow it we did.
Gives me hope for at least the possibility of a modest trade, though. Between JHS one of Wood/Reddish and DLo Lakers can now offer $25ish million in expiring contracts and maybe there are other believers in JHS that have more opportunities for him to play. Add in a 2nd rounder, maybe a 1st depending on the player, and you can make 2 interesting moves:
-trade out 3 for 1 opening up 2 roster spots and, if you work the deal right, lower our cap hit.
-that would allow us to sign another player or convert a two-way, or both.
One of the factors that probably wrongly influenced the front office during the 2023 draft was Darvin Ham being the head coach. Pelinka has no identity or vision. It’s always been the coaches who set direction for Lakers, which is why hiring Redick was so very important.
I have no doubt that had JJ Redick been the coach at that time, we would probably have drafted Whitmore or Jaquez. Imagine if we had Caruso and Jaquez on this roster. Thankfully, the BB Gods have given us Knecht.