Trade Deadline Completed and Draft Prospects (02/21/14)

Steve Blake Traded

The NBA's trade deadline ended at 12pm PST yesterday. The Lakers were looking to trade for young players, cap relief (saving money), or draft picks. These are the things that they need to start rebuilding the team.  They were willing to part with Pau Gasol, Jordan Hill, Chris Kaman, and Steve Blake.  That doesn't necessarily mean they don't like or want these players themselves, rather that these are players that other teams want from the Lakers.

In the end they were only able to trade Steve Blake for cap relief and a couple young players on expiring contracts. The Lakers received Kent Bazemore and Marshon Brooks from the Warriors. This trade does a few good things for the Lakers and one good thing for Steve Blake:
- Saves the team money
- Gives them a chance to see if these young players can improve like Xavier Henry and Jodie Meeks have already
- Makes us a worse team this season which increases the chances of a better draft pick
- Gives Steve Blake a chance to win this year

It sucks to see Steve Blake go, but the Lakers did the trade in such a way where it was a favor to Steve as well. He'll be a free agent this summer and he was quoted as saying he wouldn't mind returning to the team. Win-win. It's unclear yet whether Bazemore or Brooks will stick with the team. It likely depends on how they play for the remainder of the season.

2014 Top Draft Prospects

This draft class is touted as being a strong one. That's why the Lakers were trying to get another pick, and also why other teams were reluctant to give them one.  Fortunately we do have our own 1st round pick. And with our record it's likely to end up in the top 3. Below are the 3 players I'd like to see us draft (in order of my favorites) if we get a top 3 pick.

1) Dante Exum

Many of you might not have heard of this guy before, and there's a reason for that ;).  He's a 6'6" guard who's just coming out of high school. His dad played in the NBA, but he was raised in Australia while his dad played professionally there. Does this story sound familiar to you? Replace Australia with Italy and you've got Kobe Bryant's bio.  The background of both athletes are eerily similar. It's even more scary when you realize that Exum has signed Kobe's agent, the Lakers are his favorite team, and Kobe his favorite player.  He was even at the Lakers vs Rockets game of Wednesday since he's in LA working out until the draft.  This kid has got future Laker written all over him!

Strengths:
Basketball IQ, ball handling, passing, gets to the basket, finisher, a will to compete, footwork, leadership

Question marks:
Inferior competition, vertical leap, lack of scouting tape available

Exum has great potential.  He even interviews well. If he ends up here I think the sky is the limit. Kobe will mentor him, and he will be willing to listen.

2) Joel "JoJo" Embiid

Embiid is a 7'1" 19 year old center from Cameroon. He's another Lakers fan as well and Pau is one of his favorite players :).  This kid is quick and agile. Think Andrew Bynum in the '07-'08 season before he ever got hurt. He was running the floor, catching lobs, and blocking shots. These are all things Embiid does. Only he looks like a gazelle doing it rather than a dinosaur with a sprained ankle like Bynum did lol. Embiid has incredible footwork and defensive instincts for such a yound age. He's a little taller than Anthony Davis, and there games are similar. He has better post moves while Davis is better from the perimeter.

If he reaches max potential he really can be the modern Hakeem.

Strengths:
Size & quickness, shot blocking, rebounding, footwork, post moves competitor

Question Marks:
Foul proneness, injury concerns (only because of the stereotype with 7 footers)

3) Andrew Wiggins

He's the guy everyone has probably heard about. He's being touted as the next LeBronze, but you can't really tell from his play at Kansas. That could be due to the system they run there however, which doesn't really allow one player to be dominant on offense.  We can see is extremely athletic and is already a lockdown defender. If his offense flourishes in the NBA, look out! He very well could be a T-Mac or Paul George type of player.

Strengths:
Crazy athleticism, perimeter defense, rebounding, do-it-all player

Question Marks:
Aggression, ball handling, leadership

Wiggins' ceiling is T-Mac level with better defense, and his floor is Igoudala without the ball handling.

I'll save my other prospect for next time and I'll also provide some videos of them in action.

Until the next entry...farewell Steve Blake...and go Lakers!!!