A new report confirmed the Los Angeles Lakers are eying a point guard with the second overall pick of the 2015 NBA draft, meaning the team has likely moved on from soon-to-be free agent Rajon Rondo. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the Lakers are eying D'Angelo Russell - not Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns - in the upcoming draft, following a separate report that linked the Lakers to Emmanuel Mudiay.
When Los Angeles landed the No. 2 pick of the draft, the immediate thoughts were Okafor or Towns. The latest reports, though, suggest the Lakers plan to select a point guard in June. Pompey reported Tuesday the Lakers are interested in Russell, whom the team will bring in for workouts. Pompey's report follows one from Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding, who last week said Mudiay was "the guy" for the Lakers.
"No question Mudiay is the guy," Ding said, as transcribed by LakersNation. "If you wanna line up somebody up next to Kobe you don't want duplication of what Kobe does [...] if you're gonna line somebody up next to Kobe for a year you would want somebody who's more of a pure, steadier point guard."
Ding qualified his remarks with Mudiay being the guy if Los Angeles goes with a guard, but in general - with the exception of mock drafts - we're hearing more about the Lakers and the two top point guards in the draft rather than the top two bigs in the draft. It makes sense given the report earlier in May about the Lakers no longer being as enamored with Rondo, the best unrestricted 1-guard on the market after Goran Dragic, as they once were.
It also makes sense when you take into account the disparity between talented guards and talented bigs in the upcoming free agency class. Outside of Rondo and Dragic, who reportedly is a lock to re-sign with the Miami Heat, there point guard market is sparse. By comparison, there's a number of potential free-agent bigs expected to be available, including Greg Monroe, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, Roy Hibbert, Marc Gasol, Brook Lopez and Omer Asik.
As for Ding saying Mudiay was the guy because he's a pure point guard, I disagree. Scouts have compared Mudiay to a score-first guard in the mold of a Derrick Rose or a Russell Westbrook. By contrast, scouts have called Russell an NBA-ready point guard who can play on both ends of the court. Scouts also praised the Ohio State freshman for his ability to score and to pass, as well as for his high basketball IQ. Because Mudiay skipped college to play overseas in China, though, his draft workouts could tell a different story about him.
The draft is on June 25.
