No. 2 Draft Picks by Lakers - Concerns?

[Lonzo-Lite]

D’angelo Russell (2015) - After only 2 years, Lakers traded him to bring in a new PG, so I guess we can cross him off as a failed Lakers pick.


Brandon Ingram (2016) - Having an up and down season in his 3rd year. Shown flashes of his potential but still very inconsistent and can disappear for a number of games. Can do a lot of everything, but not great at any one thing. Based on the players in his draft, only Simmons seem to be the only sure pick for now, maybe Murray, so can’t fault the Lakers on taking Ingram unless you’re in the group that believes we should have traded the pick that year, or even traded his potential last year for a star like Paul George.


Lonzo Ball (2017) - He was brought in to be the new PG that Russell couldn’t be. Also having an up and down season in his sophomore year but more downs than up it seems. Has been steady with defense and doing other things. Struggling a lot on his scoring and shooting, averaging lows in shot attempts this season, looking like his shooting is all mental. Players in the draft after Ball: Tatum, Fox, Markkanen, Smith Jr., Mitchell.
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Tacos

[Mike@LG]

None.

Lonzo and Ingram are projects, especially, but people expect immediate high impact.
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[Nash Vegas]

The whole take that “even though Lonzo can’t score he at least does other things” like play defense, rebounds, set screens, etc. you know that’s actually good! No, really it’s good. If Lonzo was a later pick in the draft in the teens, most Lakers fans would take that and be content. But.......as the #2 overall pick that’s supposed to be the face of the franchise? Just playing defense, rebounding, and setting screens is just not enough.

If Lonzo’s shooting really is all mental and if he can’t recover and it’s affecting his ability to score, and he just ends up as a PG who just plays defense, rebounds, sets screens, then he would be labeled by most as a 2nd lottery draft pick bust.
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[DA1]

DLo is a failed Lakers pick cause the FO gave up on him too soon?

Dude has been balling on the Nets, especially now with LeVert hurt.

Patience is the answer...

otherwise the FO is gonna trade Zo & BI too soon as well, will be labeled "failed Lakers picks," as they start showing out and coming into their own on their new team.

[Cutheon]

If you already want them gone, you are far too impatient. If you have no concerns, you need to put down the pipe. There's a balance to everything. I'm patient and still on-board with both players, but LBJ accelerated the timeline, whether you like it or not.

[VicXLakers]

[activeverb]

1. There wasn't a consensus #2 pick in any of these guy's draft classes.

2. They were reasonable picks at the time.

3. None of them has thus far been particularly impressive for a #2 pick.

4. In hindsight, I'd say Russell should have gone no higher than #4. It's too soon to say how Ingram and Ball will compare to others in their draft class; however, right now both of their draft classes look fairly weak.

5. So I can't get worked up that the Lakers should have chosen someone else. But it's not clear if any of them are going to become better-than-average players.

6. Having an expectation of how someone will perform based on their draft position is a fool's game. Recent #2 picks include Jabari Parker, Victor Oladipo, Michael Kidd-Christchurch, Derrick Williams, Evan Turner, Hahseem Thabert, Michael Beasley, and Kevin Durant, so getting a franchise player at this spot is more the exception than the rule.

[SuperboyReformed]

The concerns would have to do with expectations. I hear a lot of fans talking about these young guys like they will be stars at some point. I don't see any of the BI, Kuz, Hart, Ball becoming all stars at any point. *maybe* BI for like one year. Bi is the most open ended so far. THe others, no way. Lillard can barely make the all star team, you think Hart ever will? no way. Kuz? nope. Lonzo? only if he gets a bunch of different teammates and starts averaging like 12 assists pg.

I think they are all serious trade bait, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are all gone in a couple of years. As soon as a big star is interested in us, these 4 will be up on the blocks...so however all that salary cap stuff works out, that's where these guys are headed.

This is for the lbj era, as in, assuming we are trying to win a ring NOW.

[RG73]

Lets look at the other #2 picks over the last decade, shall we?

2009 Hasheem Thasbeet--out of the league, Memphis missed Curry and Harden
2010 Evan Turner Philly missed on Cousins, PG, and Hayward
2011 Derrick Williams out of the league Minny missed on Kawhi, Klay, Kemba, Butler
2012 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Charlotte missed on Beal, Lillard
2013 #2 Oladipo, Orlando gave up on him too soon, missed on Giannis, Gobert, McCollum
2014 Jabari Parker, Bucks passed on Embiid
2015 DLO, passed on Porzingis, Booker
2016 Ingram, not necessarily any huge obvious misses so far, maybe Murray, Brown?
2017 Ball, passed on Tatum, Mitchell, maybe Fox

So if we look at the #2 pick over the last decade there's been one all-star selected. The #2 pick is almost always a miss.

Go back further....98 Bibby picked #2 over Vince, Dirk and Pierce, 99 Francis, but Ginobili, Lamar, Baron, AK47, hell even Metta could all be argued to have had better careers 00 Stormile Swift, 02 Jay Williams over Amare, 03 Darko over Wade, Bosh, Melo 04 Okafor over Ariza, Iggy 05 Marvin Williams over CP3, 06 they got it right with Aldridge, 07 Got it really right with Durant, 08 Major whiff with Beasely over Russ and Love....

The expectation then should be that the #2 pick is going to suck because historically this is almost always the case. If looked at through that lens, then Zo and BI are pretty typical #2 picks.

[CantStopJM]

Don't lump BI with Lonzo please.

[The Juggernaut]

I regret us not trading Kuzma and BI for Kawhi. None of our young guys are a home run superstar especially with the type of player development we have. Our best move is to flip these kids while GMs think they still have untapped potential for a proven superstar.

[numero-ocho]

Lots of concern we spent #2 overall picks on role players. How often does a team get three consecutive #2 overall picks?

Lonzo is the bigger concern because his draft class looks really strong. No one, other than Simmons, looks like a star from Ingram's draft class.
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"Suck it up. Don't be a baby. Do your job." - Kobe Bryant

[Nash Vegas]

[NYClakerguy]

them guys are the most disappointing number 2s ive seen since hasheem thabeet

[KindCrippler2000]

[King Randle]

Neither one will ever be an all star imo....I would cut my losses and deal both along with KCP for Kemba and Kid-Gilchrist. Let another team be patient and wait for something that may never happen.

[PHILosophize]

there are certainly concerns
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one dog goes that way the other dog goes the other way

[Raijin]

Laker FO has missed on all our #2 picks. Not a one of them has lived up to what a #2 pick should be(all star or franchise player). How far do we keep pushing back the timeline here year 3, year 4, year 5? Oh well at least we got LeBron and good end of the 1st round draft picks.
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"It was tough," Kobe Bryant said. "But when it got really tough for me, I just checked myself in."

[governator]

Learning period with a ball dominant LeBron, deep breath

[NYClakerguy]

[ringfinger]

[Megaton]

I’m ready for them to go in a package for AD now at this point.
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[ringfinger]

[dcarter4kobe]

I would like more consistency from both to say the least.
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[LandsbergerRules]