Where Do The Lakers Stack Up?

So the point of this post is to determine where we are in terms of young talent around the league. What you do: pick the best prospects out of NBA players that are 23 years old or younger. This is an exercise I saw on Twitter (and it's been posted here somewhere at least once) and I think it's important to us as fans to really determine what the teams needs, strengths, and weaknesses are. So I'm going to jump right in. Feel free to comment on my list or create your own.

Tier 1 (MVP potential)

• Giannis Antetokounmpo- Speaks for himself, but he's incredible.
• Karl Anthony-Towns- He's taken somewhat of a step back defensively, but still amazing.
• Joel Embiid- Health and mentality are going to be important, but talent is there.

Tier 2 (Multiple Time All-Star)

• Kristaps Porzingis- He can do things that other players can't. Has a great approach.
• Andrew Wiggins- Another guy who has apparently hit a ceiling, but great talent.
• Ben Simmons- Incredible talent. I'm still unsure of his mentality. If he wants it, he can do it.
• Lonzo Ball- Efficiency aside, he's putting together a REMARKABLE rookie season.
• Devin Booker- Inflated or not, he's one of the better young SGs.
• Jayson Tatum- Tremendous wing talent. Too bad he plays for the green jerks.
• Nikola Jokic- Still underrated, but quickly approaching a ceiling.
• Donovan Mitchell- If you aren't paying attention to this kid, please do. Great talent.
• Myles Turner- He has plateaued in many ways, but defense is improved.
• Brandon Ingram- His growth since March of last season has been utterly impressive.

Tier 3 (One Time All-Star/Long-term Starter)

• Clint Capela- I actually don't think he's that great, but he's on a great team.
• D'Angelo Russell- I just don't know if he's got the mental fortitude to do more than this.
• Kyle Kuzma- Could be more, but let's see his defense continue to grow.
• Elfrid Payton- I'm not a big fan, but Orlando is giving him plenty of opportunity.
• Jamaal Murray- Immaturity aside, he's got solid talent.
• Gary Harris- I like Gary a lot actually. He could break into Tier 2.
• Aaron Gordon- He's taken an enormous leap forward this season.
• Jaylen Brown- I debated leaving him down on the list, but he's a starting caliber player.
• Lauri Markannen- He's been better than I expected, but has a lot of growing to do.

Tier 4 (Occasional Starter/Solid Bench Piece)

• Rondae Hollis-Jefferson- He's taken a step forward in scoring, but he hasn't been the defender he needs to be.
• Kelly Oubre- Scoring punch, but not much else.
• Domantas Sabonis- Looks pretty good, but I'm not sure I see "starter" there long-term.
• John Collins- Plays like an energy big, but he has potential for more.
• Terry Rozier- Some decent talent, but he needs to put it all together consistently.
• OG Anunoby- Solid wing player, but unspectacular thus far.
• Tyus Jones- Has played well when given opportunities.
• Julius Randle- Should honestly be up a Tier, but he is being pushed into this one.
• Jordan Bell- Looks like a solid bench big.
• Bobby Portis- Punching a teammate actually seems to have lit a fire under him.
• Dario Saric- A year ago people were saying he was better than Julius Randle.
• Justice Winslow- He's been underwhelming. Heart is a question.
• Stanley Johnson- He plateaued last season and hasn't changed that narrative this season.
• Dillon Brooks- Looks really undersized at times in the NBA.
• Marcus Smart- I've never been impressed. Screams C**** idiot now.
• Taurean Prince- Solid player. I know he starts now, but I'm not sold long-term.
• Jusuf Nurkic- See above.
• Marquese Chriss- Dumb as a rock could keep him from even being in this Tier.
• Josh Hart- I love this kid. I think he is a champion of this Tier.
• Ivica Zubac- Obviously plateaued, but could excel in a slower offense (Memphis)
• Emmanuel Mudiay- A disappointment and one the Nuggets are quickly burying.

If a kid didn't make this list it's because either a) they haven't done enough to make it or b) they're not good enough to make it. Guys I almost put on this list: Dragan Bender, Semi Ojeleye, Willy Hernangomez, Skal Labissiere, Jonathan Isaac, Dejountae Murray, Nerlens Noel, Jarrett Allen, Jakob Poetl. They could all be put on this list in varying areas, but haven't shown enough to me that they'll be here long-term. Anyone in the list I just gave might as well be considered "permanent bench player".

As you can see: Denver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Boston come up a lot. Indiana is making some noise too.

 

I think Simmons should be in Tier 1. He's special.

Kills me that we were so close to having Simmons, KAT and Lonzo. UGH!

 

Within our control we could have had Ingram, Lonzo, and Porzingis... So there's that.

I think with Simmons I'm just not convinced he has the killer in him that he needs.

 

That's fair, but I'm not convinced this is sustainable. This entire list is 100% subjective.

 

That's the problem is it's just a couple of nights. It's easy for me to see Ingram every day and of course Ingram is a couple years younger. It's part of why Julius is lower on the list too: going into the fourth year of a guy's career doing things he hasn't done ever before, is it a mirage?

It's fair to put him higher.

 

What makes me feel better when things like this are echoed is lets say we did get KAT and or we did get Porzingis. No way would be have had a bad enough record to get Lonzo and maybe in a situation to get Kuzma. Heck, you could even say if we got KAT we may not have had a bad enough record with our other pieces which also weren't great to get Porzingis the next year.

We've been extremely fortunately to land three #2 picks in these last couple of years. But yes it is definitely fun to play the what if game.

 

I won't look a gift horse in the mouth of course, but if you look at the records from Minnesota and New York it's possible we still could been in position to draft in the lottery. It's possible.

I'm happy where we are though. We have a number of very, very talented young players.

 

Well that's why I wanted to make my own list. I was hoping more people were watching more of these other kids too.

But the point is I've been seeing nonstop drooling over Tatum and I find that offensive. He's doing well on a really good team. Put him here or in Sacramento or in Orlando and nobody is paying attention to him. You put Ingram in Boston and they'd be drooling over Ingram instead. It's offensive.

 

I think we stack up quite well. We've got a core of extremely promising young players in Ball, Ingram, and Kuzma. It's a shame we passed on Porzingis because he would have given us that very top tier talent who is realizing his full potential right now as opposed to the future with our guys. We should have taken him instead of DLO but hindsight is 20/20 and I don't think there was more than one or two folks on this board who thought we should take him at 2. I was wrong myself, being firmly in the Okafor camp. I think Porzingis is in the 1 tier personally. I do remember that Mitch was high on him and I think he would have been our second choice.

In the meantime we've positioned ourselves nicely to add one or two top tier Free Agents and get back on the path to contention. We just have to convince those FA's to actually join us.

 

I love Kuz, but he's not tier 1. No one is building a team around him. He's a really nice part. We got lucky. But if we signed him to a max and expected a title out of him this year, our attitude would be different.

 

Yeah. I put Zinger in Tier One. But no one wanted to draft Zinger #2 on this board that I remember. The problem is you need a Tier One guy to win a ring. Other than the Pistons that one season, no one has won a ring without a Tier One player in the modern NBA. PG-13 isn't that player either, IMO.