Lakers' draft

[Brian in Mesa]

From the Associated Press:

The Los Angeles Lakers looked to the future Tuesday night, making 17-year-old center Andrew Bynum the youngest player ever taken in the NBA draft.

Bynum, a 7-foot, 285-pounder, averaged 22 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots as a senior at St. Joseph High in Metuchen, N.J., last season, and 17 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks as a junior. He turns 18 on Oct. 27, making him 17 years, eight months and two days old when drafted.

The Lakers also got power forward Ronnie Turiaf of Gonzaga and shooting guard Von Wafer of Florida State in the second round.

The 22-year-old Turiaf, a 6-foot-9 1/4, 238-pounder, averaged 15.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.9 blocked shots as a senior last season. He was the 37th overall selection.

Wafer, who turns 20 next month, played two years at Florida State, averaging 12.5 points as a sophomore with more than half his field goals from 3-point range. He was the 39th player picked.






Go Lakers !!

 

[elindholm]

Why did the Lakers have such a high pick?

 

[cly2tw]

Why did the Lakers have such a high pick?

They worked hard for it last season!

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Why did the Lakers have such a high pick?

Since 1976, the Lakers have only missed the playoffs twice -

In 1994, after missing the playoffs, they drafted Eddie Jones with the 10th pick.

This year, because they again missed the playoffs, they drafted Bynum with the 10th pick.

Thanks for asking.

 

[Chaz]

Nice job by the Lakers I think.

It will be a while before they know what they have but it loooks good on paper.

 

[justAndy]

...


Who are these "Lakers"?
"yesterday, yesterday..."

 

[Gaddabout]

Nice job by the Lakers I think.

It will be a while before they know what they have but it loooks good on paper.

Kobe will be at least 25 before Bynum shows anything. Won't that be Kobe's 15th year in the league? He could be heading for retirement by then.

 

[O]

17 years old!!!!!!!!
When does this end?

 

[HooverDam]

17 years old!!!!!!!!
When does this end?

Next year

 

[O]

Next year

Good point.

 

[Chaz]

Kobe will be at least 25 before Bynum shows anything. Won't that be Kobe's 15th year in the league? He could be heading for retirement by then.

I assume you mean 35?

He turns 27 this August and I know he didn't enter the leage at 10.



I think maybe 3 years. Kobe took a while to find his legs in the league.

Of course look how fast Amare has grown up. Howard did pretty well in a limited role for the Magic also.

It seems like this Bynum kid already has the size at 6-11 285 lbs.

 

[hcsilla]

Bynum is very raw and he is much closer to Haywood/Diop than to Shaq concerning athleticism.

I'm not sure that he was a great pick.

Turiaf is a good one in the 2nd round.

 

[D-Dogg]

I'm very happy. The Lakers didn't go safe and swung for the fences...great Laker style pick. They are thinking of the future and it looks goood. A real big that may very well be dominant when he gets his feet wet. Some pooh pooh for a impact player this year, but bynum impressed in two workouts, and rumors say in the second workout they put him through live triangle sets and he picked it up quick which is a HUGE statement, and a major reason they pulled the trigger.

I LOVE the pick, and hope he has a strong work ethic because if he does, he and Kobe will hit it off great and Kobe can have a young big that he can blather about the way Shaq does Wade ("best center I've worked with, plays hard, blah blah blah") Bynum will get at least 8-10 mpg next year, and who knows, he may be a big suprise a'la Amare. He certainly has the potential as he as very athletic for his size, and his size is tremendous.

Turiaf will be a solid player...I love that pick...he's a strong, consistent player and is very NBA ready. He'll be great off the bench, and we need a good big bench player...Grant and Turiaf at the 4 will be strong. And Turiaf can play d, so that's a major upgrade to a postition we were very weak at. This is a great pick.

The last was a flyer on a guy who probably won't make the roster but will be sent to Europe to develop like Douthit is now...we've got some good bigs here.

I'm hoping we have another trick up the sleeve and can get a good guard for George, Slava, Cook and next year's first rounder from Miami or our 2006 first rounder, and pick up a good ball handling, assist-minded guard or dead-eye shooter.

We are in the playoffs next year, if health holds, and can *challenge* for the WCF at least, IMO.

 

[scotsman13]

personally i like the pick. with them bring phil back and keeping kobe i look forward to the lakers replacing the clipper in the lottery for a while.

 

[Yuma]

This was a nice first draft for new GM Kobe Bryant!

 

[Dback Jon]

Bynum has "BUST" written all over him. And his weight is over 300 pounds. That will be the order of business for the first year - get him into NBA playing shape.

 

[sunsfn]

Sombody has to say this..................WHO CARES!!!!!

 

[KANIDJA]

I think Bynum is a very bad pick for that team. They should have gotten May or someone that could help them. Bynum just looks like he is ******** and I think that he is going to have huge problems with his weight. I don't think he' ll ever be a player in the NBA. Plus he is only 17 and probably with the all the money he gets its going to go over his head.
I hate the Lakers and hope they alwasy pick like that. That GM has no clue what he is doing. He is lucky so many free agents want to play there (or at least wanted when Kobe wasn't there) so he can sign some big names. Shaq debacle just ruined that team for at least 5 years. They won't be anything close to a contender for at least 5 years. And who knows after that.

 

[Gaddabout]

I assume you mean 35?

He turns 27 this August and I know he didn't enter the leage at 10.

I was, of course, kidding. It feels like Kobe's been around since Kareem retired.

 

[tobiazz]

I would certainly take Bynum over what we got at 21.

 

[Chaplin]

Bynum is not going to help the Lakers make the playoffs next year. Doesn't mean they won't make it, just means that if they do, it won't be because of Andrew Bynum.

 

[LakeShowMan]

I guess the other Laker fans that frequent this site are excited, but I about threw up in mouth when the pick was announced. Why on earth would you hire a coach with a 3 year window, and then use only your second lottery pick in the last 30 years on a guy that probably won't contribute for at least 2.5 to 3 years?!? Makes absolutely no sense.

All the comments that I heard Mitch make after the pick only made it worse to me. He commented on how they guy really worked hard the last couple of month. Really? Thats great, wouldn't it be better to get a guy that works hard ALL OF THE TIME, when you are drafting that high? Then he basically said that he picked him because he was a center. [sarcasm] Oh great! Reaching for position is always a great way to build a team.[/sarcasm].

Then to top it off, when they showed the highlight package, I saw a guy that seemed a little limited athletically. He does have great size and huge arms, but I don't see the explosion that most of the really great big men have. He says his favorite players is Duncan, so hopefully he'll pattern himself after him. However, the NBA is not the place to try and learn the fundamentals that you need to be that kind of player, and Phil Jackson is not the type of coach that likes to take the time to teach those things.

Bynum is a huge 'boom or bust' type pick, which is not the way to put together a succesful franchise, IMO. I pray and hope that I am wrong, but I am usually pretty good @ gauging these things. I am going to give the kid all of the support in the world and I love him becuase he is a Laker, but color me not impressed with the value we got out of a top 10 pick.

I do like the Turiaf pick, but I doubt that he will have much impact even if he makes the team. Von Wafer is just a pick to place somebody in the D League and cross our fingers.

 

[Chaplin]

When Green started falling early, I 100% thought that the Lakers were going to grab him, so I was pretty surprised when Bynum was selected.

 

[Joe Mama]

When Green started falling early, I 100% thought that the Lakers were going to grab him, so I was pretty surprised when Bynum was selected.

I'm not sure if you are the chat room at the time, but I was sure Green would be the pick from 5 on (with a bit of a reprieve at New York). I was actually nervous that New York would take him because I thought that might signal the end of the Q/Thomas deal.

I was pretty shocked when the Lakers passed on him.

Joe

 

[LakeShowMan]

I was hoping for Granger, May and Green in that order.

With Granger being a good defender and a lot like Scottie Pippen, I thought he would be a good player to put with Kobe.

I know the Lakers tried to get Boozer last year, and honestly I think there are a lot of similarities between him and May. Plus, in getting May, they could move Lamar back to his more natural position and play a lineup of Caron-Kobe-Lamar-May-Mihm.

I really like what I heard about the skills Green has. The fact that he wouldn't workout against othe players disappointed me, and I think was the reason he dropped so far. I remember one of the big reasons that West wanted Kobe, is because he worked out against anyone and everyone, and destroyed a lot of them in workouts.