Podcast: Lakers 2018 draft review

As has been the case for most of the last few years, the Los Angeles Lakers surprised just about everyone late in the first round. Moritz Wagner, a big coming out of the University of Michigan, apparently really impressed the front office and jumped up their big board as a result.

Go through as many mock drafts as you like, and I can’t imagine you’ll encounter very many that predicted Wagner in that spot. Given their recent track record, though, it’s probably a good idea to give the Lakers scouting department the benefit of the doubt at least until we see their picks on the court.

To review the draft, I welcome Pete Zayas (as has become custom every Wednesday and Friday) and Harrison Faigen, as we and others gathered to watch the draft together.

(Fair warning: the audio quality is slightly off because of where and how we were recording. Hopefully, we make up for that with the chemistry improvement that comes with recording in the same room.)

One thing we all noticed from the Lakers’ picks was that they seem ready to contribute right away. Yes, Isaac Bonga is more of a project than either Wagner or Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, but he can be a cheap project while the other two have the chance to step in and fill peripheral roles around whoever else joins the team this summer.

Speaking of, this draft seems to be the kind you have if you think someone else is coming. Maybe that’s LeBron James. Maybe it’s Paul George. Maybe they pull off a deal for Kawhi Leonard. Hell, perhaps all three wind up as Lakers by the end of the offseason. But Mykhailiuk and Wagner are both capable of producing in small enough roles on cheap deals or are good at important enough skills to be movable to just about any team.

We also discuss who on the roster currently might not have liked what they saw, as painful as that might have been for Harrison.

Listen to the full conversation below and as always, please check out old episodes or guarantee you won’t miss any ever again by subscribing on iTunes.