– Let's start with the evaluation of Lonzo this far in. OK? He's a better kid than they possibly thought they could have gotten. There are no marks against him as a human being. On the other hand, the fact that he is still not willing to put his dad in place and say, dad, be a dad, OK? And if you want big ball [INAUDIBLE] but you cannot talk about my team because this is my team. And it will never be his team until he's able to put his dad in place.
Now, Chris also pointed out what is obvious, and they're not being coy about, they're going to try and get superstars because they don't think they have a superstar in the building. Right? If they did, they wouldn't be going out looking for more superstars.
– They think they have a couple promising players in Ball and Ingram.
– And in Kuzma.
– Yes, oh yeah, absolutely.
– Right? So you have– you have three and then Josh Hart. Like that's the core that they want to build around, and frankly, Julius Randle has kind of saved himself from execution if you will. Everyone thought he'd be playing elsewhere. He's bought into what they want to do. He probably hangs around at the end of this year.
So now you're starting to build a core. You go out, and you get a couple of stars. So to answer your question, can they build around him? No. But can he be very effective? Can he be a star Laker point guard for years to come? Absolutely. He's got to change his shot. He's got to change his body. Remember, he's never played pick and roll basketball. He's never played real defense.
And when he was healthy, he was starting to make strides into being a leader. But the thing that he's missing most is the thing that quarterbacks, point guards got to have, you have to be a verbal leader. Yes, you got to lead by example. Yes, you got to be a hard worker. You got to know where everybody– you have to be accountable. You have to be all these things. But you have to be the face of your team, the voice of your team.
There is no place for a meek voice running an NBA franchise at point guard. And right now, he's been unwilling to step up, whether it's on the court or off the court putting his dad in place.
– Let's start with the evaluation of Lonzo this far in. OK? He's a better kid than they possibly thought they could have gotten. There are no marks against him as a human being. On the other hand, the fact that he is still not willing to put his dad in place and say, dad, be a dad, OK? And if you want big ball [INAUDIBLE] but you cannot talk about my team because this is my team. And it will never be his team until he's able to put his dad in place.
Now, Chris also pointed out what is obvious, and they're not being coy about, they're going to try and get superstars because they don't think they have a superstar in the building. Right? If they did, they wouldn't be going out looking for more superstars.
– They think they have a couple promising players in Ball and Ingram.
– And in Kuzma.
– Yes, oh yeah, absolutely.
– Right? So you have– you have three and then Josh Hart. Like that's the core that they want to build around, and frankly, Julius Randle has kind of saved himself from execution if you will. Everyone thought he'd be playing elsewhere. He's bought into what they want to do. He probably hangs around at the end of this year.
So now you're starting to build a core. You go out, and you get a couple of stars. So to answer your question, can they build around him? No. But can he be very effective? Can he be a star Laker point guard for years to come? Absolutely. He's got to change his shot. He's got to change his body. Remember, he's never played pick and roll basketball. He's never played real defense.
And when he was healthy, he was starting to make strides into being a leader. But the thing that he's missing most is the thing that quarterbacks, point guards got to have, you have to be a verbal leader. Yes, you got to lead by example. Yes, you got to be a hard worker. You got to know where everybody– you have to be accountable. You have to be all these things. But you have to be the face of your team, the voice of your team.
There is no place for a meek voice running an NBA franchise at point guard. And right now, he's been unwilling to step up, whether it's on the court or off the court putting his dad in place.
