Ranking the Los Angeles Lakers' Biggest Needs in the 2015 NBA Draft
Hope always springs anew. For the Los Angeles Lakers, the 2015 NBA draft can set the franchise on a course to reclaim their former glory.
Los Angeles has two first-round draft choices coming their way, including a juicy top-five selection—assuming the lottery balls don't bounce the wrong way—to add to last season's two promising rookies, Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle.
The Lakers have holes up and down the roster, which may actually be a good thing when it comes to the draft. They won't be seduced into drafting a "correct fit" over the best talent because pretty much anything will fit at this point.
That being said, there are some target areas it would be beneficial to zero in on. Here are L.A.'s three biggest needs to address in the draft.
3. Three-And-D Wing
According to 82games.com, the two least productive positions for the Lakers in 2015, by PER generated, were shooting guard and small forward, so bolstering their wing rotation is crucial.
In today's game, employing wings who can defend on one end and space the floor on the other is key—especially when you have a guy like Kobe Bryant slotted in at one of your wing spots.
Bryant's days of being a defensive stopper are long gone, and his enormous offensive responsibilities behoove him to conserve energy on defense. Sliding a player next to him with the inverse characteristics would make for a snug fit—someone who can check the opposing team's best perimeter threat on defense and provide a spot-up target for Bryant and other playmakers on the other end.
When you look at the sample of players league-wide who suited up in at least 35 contests and played at least 18 minutes per game, all of L.A.'s regular wing players fell in the bottom 35 percent in true shooting percentage, per NBA.com.
And according to Basketball-Reference.com, Lakers wings who played at least 1,000 minutes all had individual defensive ratings of 110 or worse—an atrocious figure.
The Lakers can look for a player to fill this void with their second first-round pick, coming to them via the Houston Rockets. Some names to keep in mind are Devin Booker, R.J. Hunter, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Justin Anderson.
These players won't be perfect fits right out of college, but all of them excel on one side of the ball or the other. With the right development, they can become the three-and-D wing L.A. needs.
2. Point Guard
This would have been L.A.'s No. 1 need were it not for the ascension of Clarkson down the stretch of last season.
It's a point guard-driven league, yet somehow the Lakers have been seemingly the only team bereft of a competent starting point guard for years.
Clarkson's emergence changes that dynamic, but that doesn't mean L.A. should feel set at the position. The modern game demands multiple ball-handlers capable of breaking down opponents.
Defenses have become so good at stopping an initial pick-and-roll action that you have to be able to bend the defense a bit with the first pick-and-roll set and then skip the ball across court to a secondary playmaker to go straight into another pick-and-roll against a scrambling defense, in order to open up good options on offense.
Teams are leaning on dual point guard lineups more and more heavily. Some, such as the Phoenix Suns, are playing that way for virtually the entire game.
So, the Lakers should look for someone who can play next to Clarkson rather than replace him entirely.
Even if you bring Clarkson or the other rookie off the bench—and Clarkson has the skill set to be an excellent sixth man—they will likely share the court for large swaths of time (assuming head coach Byron Scott knows how to recognize an optimal lineup).
There are two great options at the top of this draft in Emmanuel Mudiay and D'Angelo Russell.
Russell is the better fit next to Clarkson because of his sweet shooting stroke. His lefty game also would give defenses a different look and could cause some confusion as they rotate from one side to the other.
Mudiay, however, is an NBA-level athlete who may have the higher ceiling. Perhaps the better decision is to draft him and trust in the coaching staff to develop his—and Clarkson's—jump shot.
Both prospects have great size (Mudiay at 6'5", 190 lbs; Russell at 6'5", 180 lbs) for the position, as does Clarkson (6'5", 185 lbs). That is beneficial on the defensive side of the ball because it allows the Lakers to switch more fluidly. Switching defenses are being popularized by great defensive teams like the Golden State Warriors and may be the next overarching trend to sweep through the league.
1. Center
That leaves the gaping hole at center as the one the Lakers will be most desperate to fill.
Los Angeles will pray for some lottery luck because the top two projected picks in this year's draft are potentially franchise-altering centers.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor have grappled over the top spot on draft boards all year, with Towns seeming to have wrestled it away during the NCAA tournament.
Okafor possesses one of the most well-refined post games to hit the college scene in years, while Towns anchored a Kentucky Wildcats defense that propelled the team to a 38-0 entrance to the Final Four.
On the surface, the Lakers should favor the defense and Towns. They were miserable defensively in 2015, ranking next-to-last in points allowed per possession, according to NBA.com. They had no basket protection to speak of, and opposing centers rang up a sparkling 20 PER against them, per 82games.com.
Towns could be the answer to those defensive woes. Plus, he would fit better next to an offensive-minded power forward with defensive limitations like Randle.
And Towns could still develop a nice offensive game. He's already a terrific free-throw shooter, suggesting that he can develop into an Al Horford-type pick-and-pop threat in the pros.
However, Okafor is not to be discounted here. Having an offensively dominant center can be game-changing. The Lakers understand that better than any franchise in the league, having produced so many themselves.
With the league going to a more pace-and-space style, defenses are geared to stop perimeter threats and don't always have the capability to stop a great post player. There's something to be said for zigging while every other team zags.
Having two offensively capable post players playing side by side also is a viable path to title contention, as the Memphis Grizzlies—and to a lesser extent, the Chicago Bulls—have shown.
That slower style also may be a better fit for Coach Scott and what he wants to prioritize.
If the Lakers can come away with a couple more core pieces in this draft, they will be ready to begin the next successful chapter in the organization's storied history.
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