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There is a serious hole at center, and thus, a serious opportunity for playing time. If Wagner can be somewhere between a kuzma and a hart level player in the first part of his rookie year, he is going to have a lot of mins to grab

He can shoot. And if he starts hitting a few three point shots on lebron/ball drive assists, he could start to stick out and be a weapon. He has a big opportunity to get as many mins as he is capable of playing

With the current roster the lakers need him to play 20+ mins a night and average about 10ppg as a baseline. He has an opportunity to do more than that thou. Outside of McGee the lakers have nothing certain at center.

I was thinking about this same topic. He got injured in the Summer league so all the hype was for Hart and Svi but I think we can expect at least Josh Hart like effect from his rookie season.

He can shoot and he can attack the closeouts, handle the ball, find the open man. What surprised me the most was his perimeter defense mostly and how active he was. He might be the perfect small ball C option for us going forward but hopefully he can show some flashes this year too.

I was more disappointed we didnt decide to go after the hyper athlete in Mitchell Robinson, dude is an athletic beast!!! We were rumored to have promised him if he fell to us and when we didnt get him, i was disappointed but willing to give Ryan West and scouts the benefit of the doubt.

I mean i understand why we got Wagner (stretch 5 who can run the floor, has some on ball skills, more "ready now") but in Summer Pro League his lack of speed/agility/strength is quite glaring for an upperclassmen big man. Robinson otoh, his physical dominance is mind boggling.

Had we chosen Robinson at #25 who knows, maybe Wagner woulda dropped, and we coulda traded the 2019 CHI SRP + cash for him instead of Bonga. If we didnt take Wagner in the 2nd round, we prolly woulda kept Thomas Bryant, due to his stretch skills, and let Zubac go. Robinson is rough around the edges, but i think having him play off of Lebron will do wonders.

But yea, for the 5 spot to not be an utter embarassment the Lakers need Wagner to be at least a Jordan Clarkson level hit, to be respectable.

Wagner will start this season bank on it. His game fits too well with LeBron. Our center rotation isn't too bad. I like Wagner, Mcgee and Zubac splitting 35 minutes with LeBron and Kuzma soaking up the rest.

Every year, there's some rookie that looks great in preseason or summer league that has a hard time getting minutes during the season.
Let's act like we been here before...

I hear you Kilroy. But certain mental aspects are either there or not. This guy has fire, competitive grit. He’s got Madsen like enthusiasm which is very contagious and he plays hard. Intensely competitive dude with soft, soft shooting touch. Silky smooth. Good confident handles, too. Other players seemed to like him.

Other than having to develop his game in general like all rookies, Wagner’s main glaring weakness is his physical weakness. He needs to fill out to be able to bang down low. But even before then, he can already be a pest for fives to have to guard out by the three. Once he can hold his own down low defensively, he’ll be tough to steal minutes from for sure.

He could be a top ten-fifteen C in two or three years.

Yeah, pick and pop with LeBron and Lonzo and Rondo should fit him just fine... Man, what a treat as a rook C. How about pick and pop/roll with Ingram? Tough to cover for opposing bigs or guards.

I love this roster.

Well we need him to because i think he will have to play well to justify why we passed on Robinson (especially since we passed up on him and Williams). We have the worst centre rotation on paper so someone needs to step up clearly.

In saying that, I think Zubac will be the one who will have to be the hit or else its fair to say he's done with the lakers (and maybe the NBA).

“In Mo I Trust”... Kid can play... He is the epitome of the future at the center position... He is 6’11”, can pass, rebound, stretch the floor, bang, has heart & a motor that doesn’t stop...

His energy was infectious at his try-out which is why the Jesse grabbed him... Mitchell may have more upside but Mo will contribute right away... I would have preferred a Noel/Mo combo but something happened with that Noel deal that was wierd (cheap)...

Lakeshow Baby...

Spens1 wrote:Well we need him to because i think he will have to play well to justify why we passed on Robinson (especially since we passed up on him and Williams). We have the worst centre rotation on paper so someone needs to step up clearly.

In saying that, I think Zubac will be the one who will have to be the hit or else its fair to say he's done with the lakers (and maybe the NBA).

Wouldn't that mean that Robinson turns out better? Let's not forget that they have yet to play a real game in the NBA. Summer league has created many legends.... that disappear by Christmas.

stan francisco wrote:I hear you Kilroy. But certain mental aspects are either there or not. This guy has fire, competitive grit. He’s got Madsen like enthusiasm which is very contagious and he plays hard. Intensely competitive dude with soft, soft shooting touch. Silky smooth. Good confident handles, too. Other players seemed to like him.

Other than having to develop his game in general like all rookies, Wagner’s main glaring weakness is his physical weakness. He needs to fill out to be able to bang down low. But even before then, he can already be a pest for fives to have to guard out by the three. Once he can hold his own down low defensively, he’ll be tough to steal minutes from for sure.

He could be a top ten-fifteen C in two or three years.

Yeah, pick and pop with LeBron and Lonzo and Rondo should fit him just fine... Man, what a treat as a rook C. How about pick and pop/roll with Ingram? Tough to cover for opposing bigs or guards.

I love this roster.

Oh I think Mo has a lot going for him too... I think he could be another late steal for the Lakers... But I don't think we NEED him to be...
And I think it's way too early to say he clearly will be starting too.

Landsberger wrote:

Spens1 wrote:Well we need him to because i think he will have to play well to justify why we passed on Robinson (especially since we passed up on him and Williams). We have the worst centre rotation on paper so someone needs to step up clearly.

In saying that, I think Zubac will be the one who will have to be the hit or else its fair to say he's done with the lakers (and maybe the NBA).

Wouldn't that mean that Robinson turns out better? Let's not forget that they have yet to play a real game in the NBA. Summer league has created many legends.... that disappear by Christmas.

True, granted Robinson looks to be a better fit for what we need than Wagner, at least as a starting Center (then again if Zubac actually returns to form, he'd do that job anyway).

I think you’d have to be really ignoring the moves the lakers made to not realIze they’re moving away from the idea of having a traditional center in the lineup.

Did everyone just forget about Magic and Pelinka talking about the need for:
1. Shooting
2. Intelligence
3. Competitiveness

What part of Mitch Robinson satisfies those?

dockingsched wrote:I think you’d have to be really ignoring the moves the lakers made to not realIze they’re moving away from the idea of having a traditional center in the lineup.

This. I think all signs point to Lebron playing a handful of minutes at center. Wagner was decent in the summer league, but to me Svi was a lot more impressive. Wagner can be a solid team/energy player off the bench at some point, but doubt he gets any consistent minutes this season.

If somehow he can hit the 3 at a .40 clip, he will play massive minutes at the 5. He is the ideal fit next to Bron, but I'm not sure about his defense.

Spanish_Laker wrote:If somehow he can hit the 3 at a .40 clip, he will play massive minutes at the 5. He is the ideal fit next to Bron, but I'm not sure about his defense.

He’s a fighter but if Stephenson blows air on him he might fall over.

dockingsched wrote:I think you’d have to be really ignoring the moves the lakers made to not realIze they’re moving away from the idea of having a traditional center in the lineup.

Exactly this. The entire league is moving away from "traditional centers". Instead of having one on the roster and barely playing him (the Greg Monroe's of the NBA), the Lakers are experimenting with just . . . not having one.

If modern basketball really is positionless, why have such a narrowly defined position taking up a roster spot?

Modern basketball is only “ positionless” because of an extreme lack of quality centers. The only thing close is Embiid and he’s an injury waiting to happen.

If a Ewing, Olajuwon, Jabber, O’neal or Robinson, (Duncan too?) were to play today opposing teams would have to field different lineups to keep a Star center from scoring every time down the court.

I’m sorry but a Draymond Green/Andrew Bogut combo would foul out in the first two quarters if they had to defend Shaq. I’m not saying GS wouldn’t still be very good but I’d like to see how effective they’d be if their bigs had to defend against a quality center.

And before somebody says but but but.... I’m sorry but Karl Anthony isn’t that special...

AcecardZ wrote:Modern basketball is only “ positionless” because of an extreme lack of quality centers. The only thing close is Embiid and he’s an injury waiting to happen.

If a Ewing, Olajuwon, Jabber, O’neal or Robinson, (Duncan too?) were to play today opposing teams would have to field different lineups to keep a Star center from scoring every time down the court.

I’m sorry but a Draymond Green/Andrew Bogut combo would foul out in the first two quarters if they had to defend Shaq. I’m not saying GS wouldn’t still be very good but I’d like to see how effective they’d be if their bigs had to defend against a quality center.

And before somebody says but but but.... I’m sorry but Karl Anthony isn’t that special...

I agree in that a team with a quality Center does not have to play positionless basketball to be successful and that a lot of teams are moving in that direction because of this lack of quality centers. However, I don't think there's been an era that all teams have been stacked with great centers. During the showtime Lakers, there weren't really a lot of Centers who were close to how good Kareem was, same can be said during Ewin and Olajuwon's era or even Shaq's. In the current era, its Embiid or even KAT... depending on who you ask. The point is, there has never been a lot of them.

IMHO, positionless basketball seems to be a trend that is working and I won't necessarily pin the trend due to a lack of great centers because there's never been a lot of great centers at any given era. However, in the past years, we've seen centers who have been offered almost max contracts in the past being traded and not even be offered contracts. Centers with very good low post games but without rim protection almost thrown out of the league.

Instead, I think positionless basketball is a result of tall players who would normally be pegged as centers or power forwards, learn how to shoot, dribble and drive to the basket. In years past, Magic was an abnormality being a 6'9 point guard. But now you have Giannis, KD and even BI as 6'10 guys who are wing players, can handle the ball, shoot and run the floor. Unfortunately, the big lumbering Center can't be switched of any of these fast wings who sometimes play either forward positions or even center at times.

So with this development, the only real bigs who will survive in today's NBA is one who can adapt by being able to shoot from outside, is strong and fast enough to guard athletic bigs or is dominant enough for the other team to have to adapt to his mismatch.

Dr Aki wrote:Did everyone just forget about Magic and Pelinka talking about the need for:
1. Shooting
2. Intelligence
3. Competitiveness

What part of Mitch Robinson satisfies those?

Three probably. Tell me he doesn't compete.

Their should also be an other part, defensive capabilities. Can Wagner actually defend?