Road to Greatness (IMO)
Road to a Great Team
I'm going to start this first by talking about DLO many consider him a bust and want to trade him which is completely idiotic, because if you want to say he's a bust then what the hell do you expect to get in a package for him? Anyways d'angelo russell in my opinion is the epitomy in what this future team will represent which is: positional interchability.
As we can see d'angelo some nights looks like an eventual 20 point scorer capable of taking over games, hitting clutch shots, and not only do that but he does two things that matter in the system coach walton runs which is handle the ball and he can pass the ball as good as anybody else. When you look at the stats of all the other elite guards and when they were the same age as d'angelo, d'angelo is either nearly the same or way better. Now i'm not saying he will be better than James Harden and russell westbrook, but i'm also not saying he can't reach that level because when watching him play, he does look special sometimes and the important thing is that he's flashed all the greatness already the problem with him is his CONSISTENCY. But guess what he's still 21 years old he still has time. Obviously the biggest weakness of his game is his defense but so is almost every young point guard.
Ok now for the future, Lonzo ball in my opinion is essentially a more athletic pass first point guard so he will be an excellent addition to the team with the second pick, but look because he and his father have been so adamant on going to the lakers i don't think any other team will be looking to draft him so therefore we should trade down in the draft presumably with the kings. The Kings won't take Lonzo because of his father and being that they are completely dysfunctional franchise and could just be patient because i'm pretty sure Fox would be available at the 5th pick, but anyway we take advantage of them and get two top 10 picks, and not only that but we can try and dump salary because of their gigantic cap sause presumably the atrocious contract of Luol deng. This is where it gets interesting if Jonathan Isaac is available with the 10th pick we get him and if not we can trade up for him and throw in julius Randle, because he doesn't really fit in (can't shoot 3, or protect paint). Anyways we go in with this squad going into the new season (No free agents magic said they weren't going to sign anyone
Lonzo/ Jordan Clarkson
D'angelo/ David Nwaba
Brandon Ingram/
Jonathan Isaac/ Larry Nance
Ivica Zubac/ Timofey Mozgov(ugh)
Now this lineup right here is showtime i mean you got 3 excellent passers in Lonzo DLo and B.I. and the glue guy Jonathan Isaac and the paint protector Ivica. The bench would be super exciting too. Now obviously we won't make the playoffs but the progress will be inevitable, i'll say the minimum and maximum wins with this core would be 32-40
Even though the playoffs won't be there i believe that certain free agent who has been "hell-bent" on the lakers will sign there and that's when the fun will start.
If you didn't know who I was talking about it was paul george and he will look at this time and probably think he's the missing piece which he is and Jonathan isaac who in my opinion is best optimized to play center (6'11 Height, 7'2 Wingspan) So this is the new lineup (of death) that we head to the 18-19 season with.
Lonzo/ Jordan Clarkson
D'angelo/ Whoever
Brandon Ingram/ Whoever
Paul George/ Larry Nance
Jonathan Isaac/ Ivica
Now that lineup is a good one because all 5 players can shoot, pass, rebound (yes dlo can rebound), handle the ball, and you got 3 plus defenders and two average ones, and you got three of the best sixth man at their position.
To conclude i believe that this would be the perfect team to not only win games but also for box office because that looks like an entertaining team. I know that this is most likely not gonna happen but if you read this so far thank you.
P.S. Dlo is my favorite player in the entire NBA so yes i believe in him and so should everyone eles.