Los Angeles Lakers: 5 players to target in the 2020 NBA Draft
By Oleg Svystun
Los Angeles Lakers draft target: Cassius Stanley
A legitimate argument can be made that Cassius Stanley is the best athlete in this draft. If he’s not, then at the least he is the best dunker. Stanley will likely be starring in the Dunk Contest his rookie year.
He owns the Duke vertical record after beating some guy named Zion Williamson. His quickness can translate to multiple parts of the game. On defense, he’ll be able to stick with the most agile of guards. On offense, he can use his quickness to get into the lane and disrupt defenses.
Stanley is a player that plays tough and plays to win. His competitive fire would surely be welcome in LA by LeBron, Vogel, and the rest of the team.
While he doesn’t excel at any particular skill, he’s pretty good at many different aspects of the game. His 36% 3PT as a freshman suggests he’s got some shooting upside. He tightened up his ball-handling as the season went on, and also improved his discipline and court awareness.
He’ll have to improve at creating his own offense, and his passing ability/court vision is extremely lacking (twice as many turnovers as assists last season).
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That said, he likely won’t have many primary ball-handling duties with LeBron James on his team and perhaps playing with the likes of James can unlock some of Stanley’s talents.