Okay, what I am about to write will apply to any team and anybody who enjoys a little hindsight, so if you don't like speculation for pure fun, then fine, don't read this. A buddy of mine and I were at dinner and we were talking about draft busts and whatnot. I think the topic started with Oden being injured so many times. Anyway, we got into the Lakers drafting and we wondered who we passed up when we picked Walton and Cook. Well, this draft I don't mind as much cause we ended up with Trevor out of it, and I love Trevor. But for those who were wondering. In 2003 we drafted Brian Cook at #24. We passed on Kendrick Perkins at #27, Leandro Barbosa at #28, and Josh Howard at #29. Only significant name after Luke Walton are Zaza Pachulia and Mo Williams. Now the one that got me and my buddy all riled up in one of those "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" moments was in 2005, the year drafted Bynum. We got Ronny Turiaf at #37, which none of us can get mad at. But at #39 we got Von Wafer, which from my knowledge we got NOTHING out of, whether in his production or in future trades. Louis Williams at #45....but here is the kicker guys.... At #40, one pick after Von Wafer, in the same draft that we drafted Andrew Bynum....we picked Von Wafer one pick over the #40 pick: Monta Ellis. Okay, I am now done. Hindsight is 20/20
I've hated about every draft pick Kupchak has made, outside of when we drafted Brian Cook. I was extremely happy with that, thought he was going to great high post to compliment Shaq. I didn't particularly like the Bynum pick, and wanted to kick a puppy after the Farmar pick. Point is, no one is perfect, and Mitch has done an above average job in the draft IMO, so can't complain
The Von Wafer pick came out of nowhere. And this isn't a hindsight 20/20 thing, it was a complete waste of a draft pick.
hahahahaha i wish we had monta, and i dont know what kupchak saw in brian cook, he was a stand up three point shooting power forward that couldnt do anything else, so that was a waste of a draft pick ohhh and btw i am the friend that he's talking about lol
I didn't care for the selection (honestly I was hoping the Lakers were going to select Boozer), but the college Brian Cook was at the time a solid choice for the Lakers. At Illinois, he had a decent 10-15 foot jumper, especially good from the baseline. He was also a pretty good defender in college, but obviously lacked the foot speed to transition those skills to the NBA. Remember, the Lakers still had Shaq clogging the paint at the time, so they really couldn't select a banger down low. Cook had potential, but sadly just became a chucker who cemented himself at the 3-point line.
Mitch has done a great job in the draft. He has had 1 top ten draft pick and he turned it into a dominate 7 ftr. Give me a break. Sasha, Farmar, Ronny, Bynum, all players that Mitch drafted that are contributing in the NBA today, and outside of Bynum, all were late first rounders or later. Lets not forget players like Marc Gasol, Crittenton, Walton and Kareem Rush. All good values at their draft position. Cook isnt very good but had a lot of potential coming out of college, especially as compliment to Shaq.
i dont see the potential that a stand up power forward has, when he's just standing outside the 3 point line and shooting line drive threes, that was the only thing he could do, he got into a lot of foul trouble, couldnt rebound, and had maybe one or two good games every week or two, now monta ellis has great potential, he's an explosive and quick point guard, i would take him anyday over brian cook, who by the way, cant even get off the bench in orlando where they dont have any backup big men
PF's that can space the floor are very valuable, especially if you have Shaq. Turns out Cookie just never got any better.
I was shocked when I first saw pictures of Brian Cook in college You can tell that when he was drafted, yes, he was projected to be a shooting big, but look at how much slimmer he was back in the day. You can immediately tell he had much more lift, speed, and athleticism than he does now. Nowadays, he can barely get his feet off the floor. It's a shame that he allowed himself to balloon into a marshmallow. He could've been so much better IMO. Oh well, he's not our problem anymore. We got Ariza!
if we didnt have cook then we wouldnt have acquired Trevor. if we had monta then we wouldnt have drafted farmar... i think LOL plus... monta wouldnt fit the triangle since he is more of an undersized SG than a scoring PG
