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The NBA Draft is Thursday, which happens to be today. The Los Angeles Lakers own the 48th pick overall (18th pick in the second round) and they'll be picking the next young player to wear purple and gold.
When: 7 p.m. ET
Where: ESPN
Draft Primer
Ben Rosales (our resident draft junkie and researcher extraordinaire) took the time to go deep into what the Lakers could do with the 48th pick. Be sure to check out his full draft primer which is overflowing with fantastic information.
Draft Profiles
Ben has also been keeping up with the latest mocks and wrote a few profiles of potential players in the Lakers range to check out:
Archie Goodwin, a shooting guard who has tumbled after being highly recruited by Kentucky.
And ultimately, this is what it comes down to: whether the Lakers can be patient with Goodwin as he fights through the inevitable mistakes he is going to make along the way. A heavy amount of D-League seasoning is likely in order from the outset of the season assuming Goodwin isn't pressed into duty as Kobe Bryant recovers from his Achilles injury. While Mike D'Antoni will no doubt appreciate Goodwin's ability to create in the pick-and-roll, that lack of shooting is a big problem.
Ray McCallum, a point guard who can get to the rim and run a team, but lacks shooting touch.
Altogether, McCallum is a solid overall prospect. He will have to move his 31.7 3P% mark a bit closer to respectability and grow more comfortable as a distributor instead of a guy expected to score all the time, but he does possess a lot of good tools for a guy expected to go in the mid second round or so.
When we observed the Lakers' weaknesses going into this offseason, their defense and overall athleticism on the perimeter, especially with Metta World Peace almost certainly going to be a victim of the amnesty provision, were their key needs. Roberson is probably the most emphatic way of directly addressing those problems and is only a spot-up jumper away from a very long career in the league.
The Lakers worked out a handful of prospects (Kenny Kadji, Peyton Siva, Brandon Triche, Dewaye Dedmon, C.J. Harris & B.J. Young) and Ben was gracious enough to discuss them as well.
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Enjoy the draft everybody!