Guard D’Angelo Russell was the Lakers’ first round pick in the NBA Draft. (Getty)
It didn’t take long for the NBA Draft to make a splash Thursday night.
With the second pick of the first round, the Los Angeles Lakers opted for point guard D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State, bypassing Duke center Jahlil Okafor.
Let’s be honest, the Lakers are a bit of a mess with a ton of holes on the roster. There’s an aging Kobe Bryant coming off an injury and a bunch of spare parts really.
Russell will be given every opportunity to start. At 6-foot-5 and athletic, Russell is a stat-sheet filler. He can score (19.3 ppg), rebound (5.7) and dish the ball (5.0); and did all that as a freshman. You can’t really argue with the pick here.
Bryant isn’t going to be around much longer, and you can guarantee the Lakers are banking on him being a mentor to the 19-year-old Russell.
Jeremy Lin was the starting point guard in 2014-15, but averaged just 4.6 assists per game. L.A. also has Jordan Clarkson, who has a similar game to Russell.
With Russell and Clarkson, the Lakers appear to be stockpiling Russell Westbrook-types. Not a bad idea.
Los Angeles needs big men. With their second first-round pick, the Lakers went with Larry Nance Jr., whose father played over 15 years in the NBA. Nance Jr. is a 6-foot-8 power forward from Wyoming. It was a surprising selection, but the pedigree is there. And Nance is versatile as he can mix it up on the inside, but also knock it down on the perimeter.
There are also attractive front court players expected to hit the free agent market like Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Marc Gasol. I’d bet one of them will be in a Lakers uniform next season.
With the Lakers’ third pick of the night (No. 4 of the second round, 34th overall), Los Angeles took Anthony Brown, a 6-foot-6 forward from Stanford. Brown isn’t a great athlete, but he can drain the 3, hitting 44 percent of them. And he’s smart, coming from Stanford and playing four years of college ball. Only 5 teams hit less 3s than L.A. last season.