Sorry for your experience. I went half Muscala and in turn got Tyrese Maxey in my life

Also pretty sure it was Magic himself who let it slip that Lonzo was their guy before the lottery even happened and they got the 2nd pick.

They had a bad interview/workout with lonzo. Then Lavar invited the lakers to his home so they could see zo workout including running up and down the hills nearby. And that was it

It’s not just that, it’s homegrown talent from UCLA. Much like Phoenix justifying their pick in Ayton because he went to Arizona. They assumed local stars would draw regardless of their capabilities, which is why they didn’t take a risk on drafting possible better fits with higher upside risk.

How much of that Lonzo pick was narrative driven since he went to UCLA? They had him appearing and Melo shouting n bombs into the mic on WWE Raw ffs.

Tatum was the opposite of a project player. He was seen as a high floor low ceiling prospect who potentially didn’t have much room to grow due to his good but not great athleticism which they thought would limit his defense. Along with not believing his shooting would translate to the nba.

If you want you can read the weaknesses from his nbadraft.net profile.

Weaknesses: One of the first flaws that jump out in Tatum’s game is his inconsistent intensity on defense … At times, he seems to just go through the motions defensively and didn’t demonstrate the competitive desire to lock his man down … In addition, he is an excellent small-ball four on offense, but the same cannot be said about his defensive impact from this position … He is not physical enough to handle bigger players down low, and he needs to add some strength to his lower half … His technique on the perimeter can improve, as his closeouts can be quite lazy, allowing for his man to get by him with little resistance … He is also not the most physical perimeter defender and can do a better job of getting in his stance and containing the dribble … In transition, he does not always sprint back to the paint to help out against penetrating guards in the open court … In an NBA game nowadays that is heavily predicated on up-tempo offense with an abundance of quick guards who love to get in the lane on the break, this is something that he must address … One of the other question marks is that he is still a streaky spot-up shooter … He shot 34.3% from the arc at Duke this past season, which is not bad, but it is not good enough to classify him as an elite knockdown shooter … He is much better as a mid-range shooter and there are questions about if he will be able to adapt to the expanded three-point line in the NBA … Off the catch, his mechanics do not look quite as fluid when he is contested, and he is not always balanced on his release, which can also be a bit quicker … He also must become a more reliable scoring threat off the pick and roll … In these situations, defenders would mostly go under the ball screen, and he frequently would not make them pay with his pull up when this happened … Tatum also was guarded mostly by power forwards, so there are concerns about whether he will be able to create offense as effectively against NBA caliber wing players … His handle can be tightened, as he plays a bit too upright with the ball, making him less explosive … He does not have great burst from a stand still position, which causes him to struggle getting to the rim, and he has trouble finishing against top tier length and athleticism … This forces him to heavily rely on tough floaters and two-point jumpers, which is an inefficient way to score … Tatum can further refine his decision making on offense, as he can be too dependent on isolation offense, even if he excels in these situations … He is not the most comfortable playmaker on the move, and because of his inconsistent spot-up shooting in addition to that; there are questions about his effectiveness off the ball … These few factors will determine how high Tatum’s ceiling is …

Tatum was compared unfavorably by some to Rudy Gay

Project Pat

Also because they don’t get Boston moved to 3 form 1 solely because LA was going Lonzo. They stick at 1 and take Tatum if anything suggested he wouldn’t be there at 3.

Kevin ‘O Connor had Tatum 2nd on his big board tbf.

as a GM you need to play the smokescreen game when it comes to the draft.

Literally no one does this, because it benefits absolutely no one.

You bring in Tatum for a workout at least. Magic wouldn’t even let that happen because he was so hell bent on the Ball storyline

Because Tatum was going first if we wanted him. I get that some Laker fans are young, but this comment reads like somone looked at the draft order and was like wtf, why didn’t we take Tatum!!!!

The draft for us was between Lonzo and Fultz. Tatum was never an option.

Yeah and he improved lol

They also signed Caruso. He seems like a joke now, but Kuzma was considered a valuable young player during the Lakers time.

He’s also the GM who gets credit for recruiting LeBron to the Lakers.

That team doesn’t win the championship that was won from shipping most of those guys off

That team wouldn’t win a single playoff game.

Yeah. His style of play was an entire offense unto itself. It’s really too bad it didn’t really translate to the NBA. He did end up being a pretty good 3 and D guy for awhile though.

Not letting Magic fire Walton because they already knew they were going to fire Magic makes perfect sense. The optics of letting your GM make a major decision right before you let him go are worse than the optics of what happened.

Edit: Stop trying to tell me no one saw it coming when articles like this were coming out right before he resigned. He saw the writing on the wall.

IIRC, he said Magic could have at least called and said, “Yo Bron, kiss my ass, I’m outta here” 😂

He signed because of Magic and Magic blueprinted that 2020 squad

Hey now don’t forget Brook Lopez and Julius Randle

They were also washed like the year after lol. I don’t think moving on from them was a bad idea. That 2021 team was just as good if not better just got fucked by injuries