Lakers Draft: Prospects Draw Inspiration From Clarkson

All the talk surrounding the Lakers at the moment is in regard to the number two pick. Everybody wants to know which way the Lakers are leaning, but realistically we really won’t know until draft day.

-== How The Top 5 NBA Prospects Fit With The Lakers ==-

What is not being talked about is the two other picks the Lakers have in their possession. They have another first rounder with the 27th pick and an early second rounder with the 34th selection, so the Lakers have some important decision to make later in the draft.

Today, they held another workout at their facilities in El Segundo and they had prospects working out who were hoping the Lakers would select them with one of their two higher picks. After their workouts they spoke to the media. According to Broderick Turner of the LA Times, a few prospects are hoping to have a similar journey as Jordan Clarkson:

"D.J. Newbill, a 6-4 guard from Penn State, knows about Clarkson’s story, and wouldn’t mind if he had a similar fate.“It’s not where you start, it’s all about where you finish,” Newbill said after his workout for the Lakers. “That’s a guy [Clarkson] right there you can tell he’s got some grit because where he started at probably wasn’t his ideal situation. But he turned it into something good for himself. He has a bright future.”"

Another Laker prospect is inspired by Clarkson’s first year in the NBA:

"Phil Greene, a 6-2 guard from St John’s, has been trying to prove he is a “pure point guard” and not a score-first guard during his workouts.He, too, was impressed by Clarkson’s rise.“It gives you a lot of hope seeing how great he played last year and how good he is,” Greene said. “It just gives you a lot of hope of staying with the grind and knowing anything can happen.”"

The Lakers made a great move by buying the 46th overall pick and selecting Jordan Clarkson. The guard out of Missouri went from playing in the D-League to landing on the All-Rookie First Team. It’s only natural that the prospects who might not end up being drafted look at Clarkson’s journey and draw inspiration from it .

The Lakers would love to find a couple more diamonds in the rough late in the draft. Championship teams are able to find players who can at least become serviceable role players and if you’re lucky they could turn into very good players. The Warriors are in the Finals largely due to their ability to draft all accross the draft. Draymond Green was a second rounder (35th) and Festus Ezeli was a late first rounder (30th). Both of those players were drafted in the same year and now they are two games away from winning the NBA title.