The #2 Pick

[kblo247]

Any video of Russell from today's workout yet?

Shooting on Lakers Twitter and Mark medana tout

They are not showing the reaction tests like with Randle though beyond pics

[iamworthy]

Any video of Russell from today's workout yet?

Shooting on Lakers Twitter and Mark medana tout

They are not showing the reaction tests like with Randle though beyond pics

Thanks

[ArC_man]

1 on 1 interview w/ Mike Trudell
http://www.nba.com/lakers/video/150608D ... on1Russell

[DEEP3CL]

I want one of the bigs. Really hope we don't cave in and get one of the guards...

Count me with you ScHoolBoy B....will keep saying it over and over, we can find a guard, sign a guard, that can do what these rooks can do. We need a damn big that can one day be the most dominate big in the league. That's what I see in Okafor, no doubt in my mind he'll be the best big in like 5 years.

[DEEP3CL]

Im on the "take one of the bigs" with the number 2 pick bandwagon but if by some miracle the Lakers picked Russell that would indicate that Russell is very very special.

He better be damn near Kobe like for me to buy in. I still remember seeing Kobe in summer league in 1996, even though he was raw you knew underneath a diamond was gonna shine bright one day.

[ak7]

I want one of the bigs. Really hope we don't cave in and get one of the guards...

Count me with you ScHoolBoy B....will keep saying it over and over, we can find a guard, sign a guard, that can do what these rooks can do. We need a damn big that can one day be the most dominate big in the league. That's what I see in Okafor, no doubt in my mind he'll be the best big in like 5 years.

That's a heck of a feat DEEP. Think there is one in NOLA who may laugh at that remark.

I don't think Towns or Okafor can even become 3/4's (relatively speaking) the player that AD is.

[jPHENOM5]

Would anyone consider trading Clarkson or Randle for another lottery pick in this years draft?

If there was a way to get Okafor and Russell by trading a combination of Clarkson or Randle and picks 27and 34, would you do it?

[Goudelock]

Would anyone consider trading Clarkson or Randle for another lottery pick in this years draft?

If there was a way to get Okafor and Russell by trading a combination of Clarkson or Randle and picks 27and 34, would you do it?

If by some miracle you could convince Hinkie to trade 3 for Clarkson, 27, and 34, then sure. But I can't see the Lakers giving up Randle, so the chances of that trade happening is 0.00000000000000001%

[iamworthy]

Ryen Russillo is dropping some strongs opinions on his twitter.

[Gus McCrae]

He is going to do damage copying Reggie Rip and Ray. Run you ragged off picks to get his separation away from the ball and splash them, and then if you alter his shot or close quick by his passing which none of them had. He's not going to break you one on one at this level when he's got a top wing on him

I didn't see him in college just watched his draft video and some homer highlight reel. But it sounds like Bradley beal with better passing?

[kblo247]

He is going to do damage copying Reggie Rip and Ray. Run you ragged off picks to get his separation away from the ball and splash them, and then if you alter his shot or close quick by his passing which none of them had. He's not going to break you one on one at this level when he's got a top wing on him

I didn't see him in college just watched his draft video and some homer highlight reel. But it sounds like Bradley beal with better passing?

He's a much better playmaker and shooter. He just really needs to tight that handle up. If its tight I like the Manu comparison. That and add in some jab steps or step backs and he will get to where he wants much easier. It could have been part college scheme at fault, but his struggles came from lack of separation vs bigger stronger wings in the NCAA. He can definitely shoot and has in the gym range and vision. He just needs gym time. He will never be Bradley on D as they are two different players. He talks about it somewhat in his video when he speaks of playing with Kobe possibly and coming off the ball. He can cause havoc at the nba level if he's conditioned enough to run like Reggie, Rip, and Boston Ray. It would open a floor up and utilize him better than trying to let him be Steph and break someone off. He has talent, it's just not that ooh awe athletic ability you see from Mario, Winslow, Mudiay

[john248]

@john248...Understand that I said he had the natural ability to be a 20 points scorer. This means he had the body type,footwork,could hold his post position easily, was a more than decent free throw shooter....all these elements play into that.
It's not about me having some attachment to him just because I saw him in high school. Hell the center for my high school team use to muder Campbell on a regular basis when they matched up because he was a bigger guy than Campbell. You just never heard of him because he was the classic academic failure who didn't make it.

Hell Elden wasn't even a 20 point scorer in college because he played with NBA ready guys such as Horace Grant at Clemson.

Weather you like it or not you have to be utilized properly by your coaches and Harris was a bad coach for Campbell because as kblo247 pointed out, it how he used him. Harris basically wanted Campbell to be a scraps guy.

Except that he was never close to being a prolific scorer who you could build an offense around. You're misunderstanding skill set and some physical ability with actually putting both of that together along with the mentally to do that for 82 games. That's not a good offensive player nor would I classify that as a 20 ppg type.

Whether you like it or not, Campbell wasn't as good of an offensive player as you thought he was. Career best per36 ppg of just under 18 in his final year as a starter. Maybe if you play him the full 48 minutes, he can be that 20 ppg guy you're describing, but we both know that's not what you mean. A career 105 ORTG guy isn't screaming awesomeness either. At some point you're going to have to stop bailing him out by using his coaches as an excuse and put some of it on him for just not being good enough.

[Gus McCrae]

So do you see him leading the team in usage? I'd been thinking even at SG he was going to be our playmaker and primary ball handler...the rip and Ray comparisons aren't overly attractive to me where manu and harden sounds much more appealing. In a perfect world what kind of PG would you want next to him?

[DEEP3CL]

I want one of the bigs. Really hope we don't cave in and get one of the guards...

Count me with you ScHoolBoy B....will keep saying it over and over, we can find a guard, sign a guard, that can do what these rooks can do. We need a damn big that can one day be the most dominate big in the league. That's what I see in Okafor, no doubt in my mind he'll be the best big in like 5 years.

That's a heck of a feat DEEP. Think there is one in NOLA who may laugh at that remark.

I don't think Towns or Okafor can even become 3/4's (relatively speaking) the player that AD is.

You can't say that unequivocally. Davis was raw as meat when he came out, I for one didn't like his frame, his offensive arsenal was limited. He worked real hard to improve his game. The best thing that happen early on for him was making that 2012 Olympic team, being around Kobe, LeBron, Melo, CP help show him how to put in work.

I stand by my statement on Okafor, because looking at guys who try to play strictly in the post....Okafor will be the most dominate one. Davis game is more of a hybrid of today's 4, Okafor is a true 5...it's irrefutable.

[john248]

14 and 8 type player meaning we have someone when shaq misses his fourth of all games every year and wouldn't overload Horry. It would have basically been giving us what Horace gave us for all those years instead of the Green, Horace, Samaki, Slava, etc experiment

Was there something better than a 3 peat that I'm missing? Because you're talking about overloading players and experimenting. You're talking as if Campbell was some missing link when the reality was a 3 peat occurred. WTF are you talking about.

So you're saying...it was "giving us what Horace gave us instead of the Horace experiment". LOLWUT???

[kblo247]

Count me with you ScHoolBoy B....will keep saying it over and over, we can find a guard, sign a guard, that can do what these rooks can do. We need a damn big that can one day be the most dominate big in the league. That's what I see in Okafor, no doubt in my mind he'll be the best big in like 5 years.

That's a heck of a feat DEEP. Think there is one in NOLA who may laugh at that remark.

I don't think Towns or Okafor can even become 3/4's (relatively speaking) the player that AD is.

You can't say that unequivocally. Davis was raw as meat when he came out, I for one didn't like his frame, his offensive arsenal was limited. He worked real hard to improve his game. The best thing that happen early on for him was making that 2012 Olympic team, being around Kobe, LeBron, Melo, CP help show him how to put in work.

I stand by my statement on Okafor, because looking at guys who try to play strictly in the post....Okafor will be the most dominate one. Davis game is more of a hybrid of today's 4, Okafor is a true 5...it's irrefutable.

Deep it doesn't worry you a bit how he struggled vs big guys? I mean I remember Frank the tank just pulling the ball from him. I could see Mozgov, Kufos, etc giving him some hell at first. Hell I would probably pay Kufos to be his backup and beat his ass up in practice tbh if we drafted him just tis peed up the growth now that I think about it.

I love his touch, I like how he sees the floor. He reminds me of Pau on the offensive glass with the way he used his arms to get things with minimal jumps. I'm not selling him short, just thinking he will need to improve his d, watch his weight, get a little bit tougher (towns has to get much stronger compared to Okafor who needs to work on hand strength), and hoping he doesn't meet the big man curse all nba rookie bigs seem to get hit with where they miss a **** ton of games coming over from college in recent years

[kblo247]

14 and 8 type player meaning we have someone when shaq misses his fourth of all games every year and wouldn't overload Horry. It would have basically been giving us what Horace gave us for all those years instead of the Green, Horace, Samaki, Slava, etc experiment

Was there something better than a 3 peat that I'm missing? Because you're talking about overloading players and experimenting. You're talking as if Campbell was some missing link when the reality was a 3 peat occurred. WTF are you talking about.

So you're saying...it was "giving us what Horace gave us instead of the Horace experiment". LOLWUT???

We win 4 since that last year was all about guys being worn the hell out from Shaq healing on company time and us having no big better than Madsen. Horry was dead and fox feet gave out from playing some 4 that year to cover for Shaqs drama. The Kobe and Shaq team won 3 in a row but la management was lazy as **** at giving them talent. They lost so much depth year to year, just in 01 it was over looked because Kobe and fish became so much better, but by 02 they dragged threw the playoffs because all they had was 7 guys, and by 03 Kobe, Fish, Fox, Horry, and George all had been worn out. Phil's teams were never blessed with that kind of depth we gave to the likea of Del Harris

[DEEP3CL]

Deep it doesn't worry you a bit how he struggled vs big guys? I mean I remember Frank the tank just pulling the ball from him.

I mean I watched a ton of Duke's games. When you say struggled...I mean it wasn't like he was overpowered every game. You gotta remember kblo, college was the first time he matched up to guys at his position that was either 2-3 years older and knew the little tricks on how to defend down low. I mean let's take the game against NC State, Okafor went 23 and 12 while being checked by like Kyle Washington, BeeJay Anya and Abdul-Malik Abu. He was double and tripled all game but he held up. I'm not worried about that, he'll get a lot stronger and his footwork will make him more elusive in the interior. Secondly the last few weeks of the season Jahlil was never quite bouncy seeing as he hurt his ankle and didn't take much time off. The injury affected his base strength, this is why Kaminsky looked equal to him in strength...he's nowhere near Okafor in that department.

I could see Mozgov, Kufos, etc giving him some hell at first. Hell I would probably pay Kufos to be his backup and beat his ass up in practice tbh if we drafted him just tis peed up the growth now that I think about it.

Maybe early on most of the bigs will out trick him, but Jahlil is smart and seems to be a quick learner. In the end his speed and agility will make them look like nails in wood.

I love his touch, I like how he sees the floor. He reminds me of Pau on the offensive glass with the way he used his arms to get things with minimal jumps. I'm not selling him short, just thinking he will need to improve his d, watch his weight, get a little bit tougher (towns has to get much stronger compared to Okafor who needs to work on hand strength), and hoping he doesn't meet the big man curse all nba rookie bigs seem to get hit with where they miss a **** ton of games coming over from college in recent years

Agree with a lot of this, only time will tell. But I'm willing to take that ride.

[LApwnd]

I know its only peoples opinion of their ceiling but if russell is manu and okafor is duncan, id take Duncan potential regardless of how pg/sg dominant this league is now

[Kilroy]

Just from what I've seen, I'd take Mudiya over Russel, but there's a gap between Towns and Okafor and Mudiya....

Towns
Okafor
.
.
Mudiya
Russel
.
.
.
Rest....

Mudiya is in better NBA shape, and is more polished and athletic.... Russel is more skilled but he's less athletic, has no real first step, and was a single cover even in College and in his highlights... I also don't think his shot is going to translate well to the NBA. His release is a little low and his motion is slow. For a guy that wants to be Curry-like, he's missing the best part.

I think guys rooting for Russel/Mudiya are ignoring how freakishly talented those 7'ers are at their age... Just based on what's out there of them, I think it'd be a pretty big mistake to pass on Towns or Okafor if we have the chance to draft either of them.

This is all based on clips I've seen of each of them... Obviously if we pick one of the Guards, I trust the FO knows more than I do.