Early-Season Report Cards for L.A. Lakers' Key Prospects
With about a third of the 2015-16 season in the books, a picture is beginning to form for the Los Angeles Lakers’ wave of the future.
The games themselves are often not pretty—an amalgamation of fits and starts embellished by Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour. With a lowly record of 4-23, this isn’t a team that’s headed toward the playoffs. But the season can still be useful from a formative sense as embryonic talents learn to compete effectively in the highly competitive NBA.
Accordingly, report cards will only be handed out to the prospects who are regularly playing key Laker roles. That omits second-round rookie Anthony Brown and sophomore Tarik Black, who have been shuttled between the Lakers bench and the team’s D-League affiliate—the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
For Brown, an athletic three-and-D wing buried in the rotation, the D-League is an obvious place to get some seasoning. He does get called to the main stage on occasion—an example being Saturday’s 40-point blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, with the rook starting in place of a shoulder-sore Bryant.
It was a baptism by Kevin Durant, and the results weren't pretty, as Mike Trudell of Lakers.com noted:
Black’s case is more puzzling. He’s a high-energy defender who also rolls well to the basket at the offensive end. But L.A. head coach Byron Scott hasn’t called Black’s number since late November, giving those minutes to utility center Robert Sacre instead.
The emphasis in L.A. is clearly on youth and the future. The Lakers could get even younger in June if they hold onto their top-three protected pick. There will also be important decisions to make about roster members who will be free agents as well as available talent on the open market.
The hope is, by then, these current young prospects will have shown enough to help entice more established players to join the Purple and Gold cause.
D’Angelo Russell
D’Angelo Russell is truly a work-in-progress, showing demonstrable improvement as a 19-year-old rookie while sorting out his role in Scott’s Princeton-based system. Russell has also had to contend with rotation shifts and inconsistent minutes.
It was generally assumed that the prized No. 2 overall draft pick would be an instant starter in Los Angeles. That hasn’t exclusively been the case, though—the Ohio State guard has recently fluctuated in and out of the first unit, as well as often sitting during crucial fourth-quarter situations.
But whether it’s in spite of those challenges or because of them, Russell is demonstrating increased confidence as the season progresses.
“He’s reading the floor of the game much better,” Bryant recently said, per Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “That comes with time and experience. It seems like he’s more comfortable with the tempo of the game. Instead of reacting to plays, he can read in advance what’s going to happen. That puts him in more control.”
Even so, establishing a leadership mantle has been a tenuous process, as Medina pointed out:
Russell’s not the quickest guard in the game and has a tendency to get beat off the dribble defensively. And, while running the offense, he’s more comfortable as a ball-handler than a facilitator. It is certainly fair to question the efficacy of the system he’s currently operating out of or Scott’s logic in handing the starting nod to Lou Williams during a season in which the development of core young players should be paramount.
But despite some bumps in the road, Russell is fourth in scoring, third in assists and third in steals among other rookies. He’s growing his game, even if it’s sometimes a case of two steps forward and one step back.
Report Card: B
Julius Randle
Julius Randle has also had to contend with a recent demotion—the loss of his starter’s mantle compounded by a reduction in playing time. But despite seeing just 23.4 minutes per game over his last five outings, the 6’9” forward has averaged a sturdy 9.6 boards.
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak recently assessed the 21-year-old’s progress during an interview with Mike Trudell for Lakers.com:
"With his competitiveness and effort, I think he’s always going to put up rebounding numbers. But the rest of the game will take some time. Even though this is his sophomore season, last year, with the exception of training camp, he did not play. On top of that, you’ve got to come back and regain confidence that you’re healthy. That was a nasty, nasty injury last year. It’s really only been a year and a couple of months since the injury. If you think about it in a 14-month period where he was and where he is today, it’s impressive.
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Besides a natural flair for snagging boards out of midair, Randall has a great aptitude for ball-handling, running the floor and creating plays. He’s not a strong rim protector, however, and also has to work on staying in front of opponents at the defensive end.
Additionally, the Kentucky product has a jump shot in need of tuning, from mid-range out to the perimeter. He’s working with first-year Lakers shooting coach Tracy Murray to correct bad habits and improve his form.
“If you watch in warmups or practice or shootaround, he'll knock those shots down,” Murray said per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. “He has to transform that mentally to the game. I think he's a little too fast—adrenaline.”
Randle will be a legitimate force in the years to come, but he has some catching up to do.
Report Card: B+
Jordan Clarkson
There’s little doubt who the youth brigade's most consistent member has been.
Second-year guard Jordan Clarkson has started every game he has appeared in, averaging 14.9 points in 31.8 minutes. He has also evolved his shooting stroke from his rookie season, with a healthy 37.8 percent from three-point territory.
Clarkson was last year’s Cinderella story: the No. 46 draft pick who received All-Rookie First Team honors. He has shifted duties somewhat—from the point to more of a pure scorer’s role. Per Basketball-Reference.com, 95 percent of his playing time has been as a shooting guard, often meshing well with Russell in a two-pronged attack mode.
Another big difference is the presence of Bryant, who missed much of last season with a shoulder injury. Clarkson is assimilating his new role while also playing alongside a high-volume shot-taker.
“I think he’s improved his shooting,” Kupchak said of Clarkson, per Trudell. “Sometimes that’s tough when you’re not shooting the ball as much, too. Sometimes he’s coming off screens and catching and shooting. Sometimes he’s got the ball in his hands and is creating and trying to get to the rim.”
With good length at 6’5” and tons of speed, the 23-year-old continues to be an overachiever with a ceiling that hasn’t yet been reached. On the down side, he sometimes gets lackadaisical on defense, losing track of his man or failing to rotate properly. He does have quick hands, however, with 1.1 steals per game.
Clarkson’s developing into a fearless and well-rounded scoring threat. Now he just needs to become a ball-hawk on the other end of the floor. He’ll be a restricted free agent next summer, and there's little doubt that other teams will come calling. But what will his market be?
The answer is tricky, due to the complicated Arenas Provision Umbrella in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The most Clarkson can make in the first year of a new deal is $5,628,000, which represents the non-taxpayer midlevel exception, with a 4.5 percent bump the following year. But the gloves come off for the third year, in which he can earn over $20 million.
That’s an annual average of about $11 million. The Lakers should be prepared to match that.
Report Card: A-
Larry Nance Jr.
The Lakers surprised many draft-day observers when they picked Larry Nance Jr. as their No. 27 selection last June. Scott also raised some eyebrows when he recently handed Randle’s starting job to the less heralded rookie.
But make no mistake, the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 has game—diving after every loose ball and throwing down some monster jams as well. Bryant recently challenged Nance to dunk on the Houston Rockets’ Dwight Howard. The one-time Laker center made light of his former teammate’s shade, per Medina.
“I saw it and just laughed at it,” Howard said. “No, it’s either going to be a hard foul or a block.”
But when the teams actually met on the floor, Howard managed to avoid the rookie in the paint, leaving Nance to posterize Donatas Motiejunas instead. The Lakers provided highlights of the "nasty" dunk:
Nance’s father—Larry Nance Sr.—was the first winner of the NBA slam dunk contest and a three-time All-Star who played 13 seasons in the Association. Recently the first-generation power forward visited a Lakers practice and was asked by Serena Winters of Lakers Nation about his son’s prospects.
“He can play in this league,” Nance Sr. said. “He’s got to continue to work and improve, and he’ll really be successful and have a long NBA career.”
Nance Jr. arrived in Lakerland without much hype or expectations last summer. The four-year man from Wyoming isn’t exactly a stat-stuffer, averaging 4.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 19 minutes per game. And there’s also the question of where he’d fit in a great rotation.
But the 22-year-old has a super-high motor and a phenomenal work ethic. And right now, he’s being handed a chance to prove himself.
Report Card: B-
Statistics are per ESPN.com and Basketball-Reference.com and are current as of the start of games, December 21.
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