Getty Cam Reddish of the Duke Blue Devils, who may fall in the NBA draft to the Lakers.
Despite entering the season as a consensus top-five draft pick, Duke’s Cam Reddish saw his draft stock slide a bit playing behind RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson. Despite seeing his draft stock slip, Reddish occasionally showcased the skills that made him such a highly ranked prospect, to begin with. Although he may fall out of the top five in the NBA Draft, that does give the Lakers an outside chance to land the supremely talented wing scorer.
While streaky at Duke, Reddish showed that when he gets hot there really isn’t a shot on the court that he can’t hit. His streaky shooting can most likely be chalked up to the fact that he wasn’t a primary scoring option at Duke and was relegated to playing a floor-stretching role where his shots came off kick-outs from Williamson and Barrett. More of a volume scorer in high school, Reddish likely needed the ball in his hands more than could be afforded at Duke.
While the floor-spacing role is likely more of the role he will need to fill in the NBA, he showed an ability to adapt as the season went on and has the physical tools to be an elite defender at the next level. Also capable of creating his own shot if need be, Reddish projects to offer quite a bit of versatility at the next level, so long as he can consistently knock down the three.
Lakers 2019 NBA Draft Target: Cam Reddish Among Top Options In Latest Mock Drafts
Projected to pick either 10th or 11th in the NBA Draft (with an outside shot at a top-four pick) it would take a decent slip for Reddish to find himself on the board when the Lakers pick. However, the three-point shooting percentage last season of 33% might scare off a few teams and could give the Lakers the opportunity to draft the talented and athletic wing. Perhaps Reddish’s most promising freshman stat was his 1.6 steals per game. Despite playing on a loaded Duke defense with Tre Jones and Williamson, Reddish still looked impressive on the defensive end and was adept at both poking balls free and jumping passing lanes.
Currently, mock drafts have him going all over the top ten. Our own Jeff Smith has Reddish going 7th overall to the Pelicans. Sports Illustrated has him going fifth overall to the Hawks while NBAdraft.net has him going 10th to Minnesota.
Lakers 2019 NBA Draft Biggest Team Needs
The Lakers are actually fairly set at the wing position. Assuming they don’t get decimated by injuries again next season, they have multiple players whose natural position is at small forward. While adding more depth at the wing is never a bad route, just ask the Boston Celtics, the Lakers have glaring holes at both the guard and big man positions. While Ingram can slide down and play the shooting guard, the Lakers desperately need a reliable shot creator and three-point shooter from the shooting guard spot. Lonzo Ball doesn’t look like he will ever become that sort of player and as a result, having three shooters on the court with LeBron James and Ball becomes all that more important.
The Lakers also need a versatile center that can protect the rim as well as step back and knock down a three-pointer. They had the right idea with Moritz Wagner last season but he was never really a long term option at the position and projects to be a career bench/role player. Big men possessing these sorts of skills are extremely rare but given the players that the Lakers are committed to heading into next season, it becomes almost a must.