Getty Talen Horton-Tucker & Frank Vogel of the Los Angeles Lakers.
As if the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t already have a stacked roster.
There’s been chatter in the past about how Talen Horton-Tucker has a bright future ahead of him. Well, that chatter hit a new level after he put together a very impressive preseason. He played so well that he’s forced his way into the Lakers rotation. Horton-Tucker has almost already played as many games this season as he did last.
It’s still too early to suggest that he’s going to be a big star but he hasn’t done anything to disappoint the Lakers quite yet. In fact, there are those around the league who are very on the young guard. Bill Oram of The Athletic was on The Forum Club podcast recently and dropped some very interesting information.
“I was on the phone with a scout the other day, kind of at the peak of THT hysteria, and this is not somebody who works for the Los Angeles Lakers, and they said ‘if you put Talen Horton-Tucker on one of these s***ty teams, like the Thunder or Charlotte, then he might average 20 points a game … This is somebody who does make money to watch (basketball). An NBA team pays for this person’s opinions, and that’s how highly people view him right now,” Oram said, via ClutchPoints.
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THT Hype Train Is out of Control
Something about playing for the Lakers leads to overreactions. It’s very possible that Horton-Tucker develops into a star and averages over 20 points a game. That said, we should wait until he scores 20 points in a regular-season game before we suggest that he’d do it on a lesser team.
The young guard has a ton of upside and there’s no doubt the Lakers are excited about him. If the team wasn’t so stacked, he’d probably be getting more playing time. Horton-Tucker only recently turned 20 so he’s still got a ton of developing to do. He’s off to a great start to his career but it’s going to take time before he becomes a consistent threat.
Lakers to ‘Lean’ on Horton-Tucker This Season
Last season, the Lakers didn’t have a lot of capable scorers outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The additions of Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell should help fix that issue this season. However, head coach Frank Vogel will also be relying on Horton-Tucker to score when his superstar on the bench.
“We’re a ball movement team, so whether he’s out there with LeBron or AD, he still gets the ball on second-side action and has shown to be very effective with that,” Vogel said, via Silver Screen & Roll. “And obviously what he did in the preseason games with those guys out has been very impressive.
“We like what he brings to the table if we’re asked to lean on him as a primary scorer (and) playmaker like we did in some of those preseason games, but he definitely has shown that he can be effective playing off of other guys as well.”
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Scout Suggests Lakers Player Could Score 20 a Game on a ‘S****y’ Team