The #2 Pick

[Michael Lucky]

I would take "the bigs" over Russell (just not that impressed for some reason), but Mudiay is intriguing as hell.

I, admittedly, don't really have enough info and "watch-time" to proclaim his greatness and/or superiority over "the bigs", but, again, he's damn-sure intriguing.

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

[DEEP3CL]

I would take "the bigs" over Russell (just not that impressed for some reason), but Mudiay is intriguing as hell.

I, admittedly, don't really have enough info and "watch-time" to proclaim his greatness and/or superiority over "the bigs", but, again, he's damn-sure intriguing.

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

I was too, until I saw him play summer league and realized he was gonna need more than just a few seasons. Then I was glad we didn't get him once Clarkson carved him up twice.

[Ericb5]

I would take "the bigs" over Russell (just not that impressed for some reason), but Mudiay is intriguing as hell.

I, admittedly, don't really have enough info and "watch-time" to proclaim his greatness and/or superiority over "the bigs", but, again, he's damn-sure intriguing.

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

I was too, until I saw him play summer league and realized he was gonna need more than just a few seasons. Then I was glad we didn't get him once Clarkson carved him up twice.

I still am high on Exum. I think he had a better than expected rookie year, and for stretches he REALLY looked good. He is the youngest guy in the class, and just wasn't ready for the NBA. If he was going to college this year he would be a player of the year candidate.

I still think he has an all star ceiling, and a good chance of getting there. He just is a few years away.

I like Mudiay a hair more than Exum.


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[ALL HAIL]

I would take "the bigs" over Russell (just not that impressed for some reason), but Mudiay is intriguing as hell.

I, admittedly, don't really have enough info and "watch-time" to proclaim his greatness and/or superiority over "the bigs", but, again, he's damn-sure intriguing.

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

That's the problem. Why were you on the bandwagon of a player you knew nothing about?

I'll never understand that.

I'm not on the Mudiay "bandwagon". I just think he is very, very intriguing.

I'd have more of a definitive opinion on him if I knew more -- I don't. From the little I have seen (not nearly enough to form an educated opinion), he looks dynamic as hell -- Gary Payton-like (without GP's intimidating, East Oakland intangibles).

[Michael Lucky]

That's the problem. Why were you on the bandwagon of a player you knew nothing about?

I'll never understand that.

I'm not on the Mudiay "bandwagon". I just think he is very, very intriguing.

I'd have more of a definitive opinion on him if I knew more -- I don't. From the little I have seen (not nearly enough to form an educated opinion), he looks dynamic as hell -- Gary Payton-like (without GP's intimidating, East Oakland intangibles).

Simple, while Wiggins and Parker's game were being picked apart while getting tons of exposure, Exum who no one saw was constantly being praised. That's why now when people are criticizing Okafor's D or D'Angelo's athleticism, I take a step back and look more at the positives.

[ALL HAIL]

Again, why were you on the "bandwagon" of a guy you knew nothing about?

Unless you watched the Australian basketball league, you had no busy riding on that wagon to begin with.

[jay51024]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/607037142611554304[/tweet]

[TyCobb]

Surprised Hezonja is getting zero hype. I still prefer him to Mudiay.

[Lakersteve20]

Alex Kennedy ‏@AlexKennedyNBA
In talking to execs, I've heard Jahlil Okafor compared to Tim Duncan and Karl Towns compared to David Robinson. How lucky were the Spurs?

Alex Kennedy ‏@AlexKennedyNBA
On Basketball Twitter, there's this perception that there's a huge gap between Towns and Okafor. Executives literally laugh at that.

Alex Kennedy ‏@AlexKennedyNBA
Sat with several coaches. Here were comparisons (ceilings):
Okafor: Duncan
Towns: Robinson
Russell: Kyrie
Winslow: Butler
Hezonja: McGrady

[LApwnd]

Surprised Hezonja is getting zero hype. I still prefer him to Mudiay.

Is he gona work out for anyone?

[Curuch13]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/607037142611554304[/tweet]

Great pick for you guys if we don't snatch him up.

[Mirjalovic]

Yeah, i agree with the exec, you can't go wrong with both Okafor and Town.

i still lean towards Okafor..

[kblo247]

the Laker way is, was, and always has been draft and invest in the damn small from the days of Buss and West. It's never been take a big because none of their bigs have amounted to anything unless if they have been bought including Bynum. Muiday is better than Towns easily at this level just like he was in high school, and maybe better than Okafor too since he struggled vs big bodies.

I get that kblo, but that narrative is dead now...that more than anything has been the Lakers problem, we haven't evolved much in terms of talent. But I'm old school and will remain that way, I get tired of these 30 something reporters harping that the game has changed....NO THE GAME HASN'T CHANGED, THE PLAYERS HAVE.

Basketball is still and will always be a big mans game no matter how wingers or guards want to change it. It's hit or miss with these ball dominate guards. Russell, Mudiay and others are no different, they pound the hell out of the ball and look for themselves as option 1.

You can use a dominating big who can pass and score....he can stretch the floor just the same as these teams that rely on perimeter shooting. I'm wondering if anybody paid attention to the 4th quarter last night and saw how both teams struggled to score ? They struggled because they can't get the easy buckets that a solid interior scorer could bring you.

Yeah we may never see dominate post players such as Shaq, Olajuwon, Abdul-Jabbar in the form of other players ever, but you can have one that if he commits to his post game...he could in a lot of ways start to bring it back.

For me I just don't see in hope of the Lakers getting back to relevance if they draft a guard, a position they can fill in free agency. And guys keep mentioning "well we can just go for Gasol, Aldridge"...etc, but lets be real and stay real about it those dudes ain't leaving their teams. And if they by some chance do leave, LA won't be the destination. We have too much work to do to improve and those guys are in "hunt for a ring" mode. That's just real talk, guys need to stop believing we can just snap up Love, Gasol, LMA and anybody else...it ain't happen'in.

I don't want us to be like 29 other teams, lets be different....if we build it right it can work.

I just don't see game changer from these bigs.

I see a B guy in Okafor, who can be your second guy and not really your leader ala Pau. He struggled vs anyone with size in the allstar games and even vs Frank the Tank who I remember outright ripping the ball from him. He wasn't the leader of Duke, he let other guys do that. I see a solid ass dude but not a leader or a beast.

I look at Towns and I see a phony. People keep hype him up but the guy didn't even play half a nba game on average. It's going to be a world of shock when guys see him blow up, which he did at times last year. Those dribbles won't happen in the league because unless if you're Odom at that size and can cross over and change direction, you're getting ripped. That defense of his better but it's not amazingly game changing as he's not anchoring anything as a 5. Hell he's likely a 4 tbh, and his lack of post moves and affinity for the 3 he's been practicing reminds me of Sheed more and more. He's not going to be your leader, hell people overlook it, but he led Kentucky no where and he didn't even put up great numbers at all like Randle the year before or Okafor. He's a ton of hype, and he's not even fully grown, so it reminds me of Bynum too without the ability to be the biggest mf on the court nightly.

I'm not buying the Russell train fully. He has a great shot. But I don't see Kyrie. He just doesn't have the handles or separation to be Kyrie, curry, or even harden. I see him as a SG who you set screens for and that runs you ragged all Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton wise, just that he will be able to throw a pass by changing a few shots off those screens. He's not stopping anyone or killing it on the glass,

I've said it before that I was in the Mario or Muiday group. I only saw the others as assets. And as much as I like what I see in Mario, he's too petulant at times. I really like Muiday. He's tall, he's strong, he works on his body, and he's a leader. He always keeps his dribble, keeps his head up, talks, aware, and gets after it on that end. He reminds me of a hybrid of Payton and Kidd when he played with the suns. Its different from Exum. It's readily easy to get a hold of multiple Muiday games off ioffer or even youtube, not even highlights but lul triple full games where you can scout him. You see directly why he was the number 1 consensus guy of the 4 before the ncaa got to exploit the other 3 while he went to make money for his family. He wasn't jr or Jennings overseas, he was a guy who was praised for being respectful, treating teammates with respect, trying to learn the language, and being a leader. He wasn't this party guy he was a gym rat. Hell the first thing he did when he came back with said money was hire a shooting coach to remove that hitch from his shot and a trainer to reorganize his diet. He is very firey and reminds me much more of what we expected from our past in Kobe, magic, west, Gail, worthy, and so on. He's much more laker tradition of a small you pick, build around, and back, and then get a big to come join IMO.


And deep I'm also the guy who is saying go for Hibbert and Carol/Green or go Tobis and Tyson. Not crazy enough to think Marc comes, I'm not really sure about Aldridge since the spurs have no say in that Manu/Tim do, and I really don't want Monroe personally

[kblo247]

Surprised Hezonja is getting zero hype. I still prefer him to Mudiay.

Is he gona work out for anyone?

I'm thinking he gets picked by the Bobcats to be their wing star. I can see MJ taking an interest in him. He could also have a guarantee from Denver IMO if they don't plan on using that pick to sell off Faried and Lawson

[MikeYi30430]

I would take "the bigs" over Russell (just not that impressed for some reason), but Mudiay is intriguing as hell.

I, admittedly, don't really have enough info and "watch-time" to proclaim his greatness and/or superiority over "the bigs", but, again, he's damn-sure intriguing.

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

You guys are going to very disappointed. That's not how the draft works and that's not how it ever has. You have no idea who the guy who is " going to be good " is. Towns and Ok could be busts and Mudiay could be an MVP. Steph Curry went 7 and Kawhi went 15th. The draft is a crap shoot frankly. That's why GMs are very open to trading picks because at the end of the day you have no idea what'll happen with these guys unless they're a LBJ which no one in this draft (or most drafts for that matter) is.

[Speedlot]

I would take "the bigs" over Russell (just not that impressed for some reason), but Mudiay is intriguing as hell.

I, admittedly, don't really have enough info and "watch-time" to proclaim his greatness and/or superiority over "the bigs", but, again, he's damn-sure intriguing.

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

You guys are going to very disappointed. That's not how the draft works and that's not how it ever has. You have no idea who the guy who is " going to be good " is. Towns and Ok could be busts and Mudiay could be an MVP. Steph Curry went 7 and Kawhi went 15th. The draft is a crap shoot frankly. That's why GMs are very open to trading picks because at the end of the day you have no idea what'll happen with these guys unless they're a LBJ which no one in this draft (or most drafts for that matter) is.

SO, what's your point?

[ArC_man]

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

You guys are going to very disappointed. That's not how the draft works and that's not how it ever has. You have no idea who the guy who is " going to be good " is. Towns and Ok could be busts and Mudiay could be an MVP. Steph Curry went 7 and Kawhi went 15th. The draft is a crap shoot frankly. That's why GMs are very open to trading picks because at the end of the day you have no idea what'll happen with these guys unless they're a LBJ which no one in this draft (or most drafts for that matter) is.

SO, what's your point?

His point is that his team drafted a bunch of busts so he wants us to believe we're going to draft a bust.

[ALL HAIL]

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

You guys are going to very disappointed. That's not how the draft works and that's not how it ever has. You have no idea who the guy who is " going to be good " is. Towns and Ok could be busts and Mudiay could be an MVP. Steph Curry went 7 and Kawhi went 15th. The draft is a crap shoot frankly. That's why GMs are very open to trading picks because at the end of the day you have no idea what'll happen with these guys unless they're a LBJ which no one in this draft (or most drafts for that matter) is.

SO, what's your point?

His point is that Lucky's comment is silly.
Lucky's premise that drafting an "unknown" (to the public) player is somehow related to or decreases the odds of said player being good is ridiculous.

The poster's point is that there are no guarantees, and just because one or many people may be ignorant to how good (or bad) a player may be, doesn't make that that idea reality.

The idea of passing on Mudiay because of Exum is ridiculous, and the idea that somehow Okafor and Towns are more of a sure thing by virtue of their increased exposure, making them the guys that are "going to be good", is nonsensical.

As the poster said, it's an effin draft.

[Slava]

I don't know. I was on the Exum bandwagon last year. I learned my lesson when it comes to unknowns. Let's just pick the guy we know is going to be good.

I was too, until I saw him play summer league and realized he was gonna need more than just a few seasons. Then I was glad we didn't get him once Clarkson carved him up twice.

I still am high on Exum. I think he had a better than expected rookie year, and for stretches he REALLY looked good. He is the youngest guy in the class, and just wasn't ready for the NBA. If he was going to college this year he would be a player of the year candidate.

I still think he has an all star ceiling, and a good chance of getting there. He just is a few years away.

I like Mudiay a hair more than Exum.


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If Exum was anything more than the 5 PER player he is, Jazz would have made the playoffs. That's how good their frontcourt and defense were in the latter half of the season.

[Danny Darko]

http://www.nba.com/lakers/video/1506061on1Mudiayl

Not sure how to read his chill attitude, but I still don't think he's a guy I would pick top 2.