The lottery portion of Thursday’s NBA draft likely will be a yawn session for Laker fans, who only are interested in what the Lakers will do with their second-round pick at 58th overall.
But for Laker fans, who also are followers of the local college basketball scene, there is much intrigue involving UCLA guard Russell Westbrook, who in two years has gone from a sparingly-used freshman to a possible lottery pick.
Several mock drafts have Westbrook projected to be picked fourth overall by the Seattle SuperSonics, which would have a little side intrigue itself.
If that occurred, Seattle residents might not even be able to embrace or reject the pick because there is a strong possibility that the franchise will relocate to Oklahoma City as early as the 2008-2009 season.
But back to Westbrook, who reportedly has boosted his stock during impressive workouts for several NBA teams. Westbrook nearly quadrupled his scoring average as a freshman from 3.4 points per game to 12.7 this past season.
However, it was his defensive play - he was named the Pac-10 defensive player of the year - and his stellar play in the NCAA tournament that raised the eyebrows of various NBA player personnel directors and general managers.
And the tongues started to wag about Westbrook’s athleticism, his explosiveness and of course … the NBA GM’s favorite line “his tremendous upside.”
We’re talking about a player, who grew five inches in height between the end of his junior year and the beginning of his senior year at Leuzinger High. He went from being a lightly-recruited player to earning a scholarship to UCLA.
Westbrook certainly put himself in this enviable position with a gigantic leap in improvement between his first two seasons at UCLA. He received bonus points, in the eyes of NBA types, when he filled in adequately at point guard for injured teammate Darren Collison.
However, it might be a big reach and a huge risk for the Seattle SuperSonics to draft Westbrook as high as fourth.
For one thing, he is not a polished point guard despite his fill-in duty for the Bruins this past season. It is unrealistic to expect Westbrook to be able to direct an offense in his rookie season even in the role as a backup.
There is a growing trend in the NBA for teams to use other positions on the court in a playmaking role, which lessens the necessity for a pure point guard. The Cleveland Cavaliers, who use LeBron James in that manner, and the Lakers, who employ Kobe Bryant in that manner, are two examples.
However, both James and Bryant are very deft ball handlers. Seattle’s main offensive player, Kevin Durant, does not handle the ball especially well.
Finally, the success of teams with the fourth overall pick in the draft the past five years have been mixed.
Here is the list: 2007 Mike Conley (Memphis Grizzlies) - Conley averaged 9.4 points and 4.2 assists while only playing in 53 games due to injury.
While he showed flashes of exciting play, as a rookie, he did not play in enough games to determine whether the Grizzlies can hand him the keys to their offense.
2006 Tyrus Thomas (Portland Trail Blazers) - Portland traded Thomas to the Chicago Bulls on draft night in exchange for the draft rights to LaMarcus Aldridge.
It’s safe to say that so far, Thomas has been an under producer. He averaged 5.2 points and 3.7 rebounds in 72 games as a rookie, and 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 74 games this past season.
Laker fans might recall that when there were rumors that Bryant might be headed to Chicago, Thomas was one of the players often was mentioned as possibly coming west.
2005 Chris Paul (New Orleans) - An All-Star for years to come and arguably, the best player selected fourth overall in at least the past 28 years. The only other players that can even be considered would be Rasheed Wallace (1995), Dikembe Mutombo (1991), Glenn Rice (1989) and Byron Scott (1983).
Paul just might be the NBA’s best point guard right now with his dazzling array of offensive magic.
2004 Shaun Livingston (Clippers) - A plethora of injuries, starting with a dislocated knee cap during his rookie season, have bedeviled his career. His latest catastrophic knee injury, suffered in 2007, might very well have robbed him for good of the enormous potential.
Due to those injuries, he has missed a total of 183 games out of 328 during his four-year career. That includes the entire 2007-2008 season.
2003 Chris Bosh (Toronto) - Were it not for Paul’s rising star, Bosh might very well be thought of as the best fourth-overall pick in the past two decades.
He is the anchor of the Raptors’ offense, an intimidating shot blocker, and has been selected to represent the Eastern Conference the past three years in the All-Star Game.
