The Lakers Young Core: Two Rivals and Rivalries.

The Lakers young core is better than you think.
A Bruin and a Ute
One-and-done, locally-raised, UCLA star and franchise point-guard Lonzo Ball and three-year Utah product, steal of the 2017 NBA draft, and Mamba-approved Kyle Kuzma.
Let’s first give Kuzma his credit. That dude can straight ball. I don’t know why 26 teams passed up on him, but he is a walking bucket. As a rookie. That is a bad man. Can you imagine him in five years? Just getting to the peek of his career? The dude will shoot from anywhere, anyhow, and make that ish right now. And tomorrow, for the rest of his career.
Critics have said he needs to be better on defense, which is right. But he’ll get it. He knows what he needs to work and on and if Kobe thinks the man is due for a great sophomore season, then so do I. Kuzma is going to ball out.
I think he’ll continue to take over the 6th man role for these Lakers, and be good enough to finish games, too. He’s a weapon that is just going to make the firepower of this team be THAT much better. I’d tell you not to sleep on the man, but honestly, who is at this point.
In short, Kuzma will dunk on your whole family.
My favorite moment of his career thus far wasn’t one of his mixes on some poor defender who thought he could keep up with the quickness of a 6’10 guard (because, let’s be real), or some fadeaway, up and under or game-tying three. Nah, it was his missed dunk over Joel Embiid. He simply missed the dunk. Because of a foul. If Embiid can’t block his dunks, who is. Seriously, tell me, I’m waiting. Time’s up. Nobody doubts this dude belongs in the NBA.
Aaaaaand Across the Ring, In The Other Corner…
Lonzo is growing into his game. He is an intelligent, quick, team-first ball player who at his size has become an impressive defensive guard. He’ll make an all-defensive team one day. He’ll lead the league in assists one day. He’s all the NBA needs in a point guard, and more. He’s a dimer who finds the right pass in any scenario. If you’re open to score, he will give it to you right in the pocket. He gets more rebounds than your point guard (unless you’re in OKC fan…). Imagine that. A player who is both responsible for the existence of many possessions for your team and the convergence of many possessions in the same hands. Yes, Lonzo Ball.
He makes everybody around him better. All that’s really left in his game, is making himself better. Ball’s rookie campaign reminded us that the regular season isn’t a different game, but and different beast. It’s a longer, tougher gauntlet against opponents, well-seasoned and fresh alike. He even missed 30 games to prove it. And his shooting wasn’t good, but he knows that, and knows he’ll find his stroke again, if he hasn’t found it this summer already. I bet he’ll be a much better shooter this year.
He also he got stronger. And he knows what the NBA demands now. He’s going to throw dimes around your team and you’re going to like it, too. He’s that special of a player. Magic, LeBron, Paul George, Michael Cooper, and countless others have said so.
Here’s to a cleaner form, and a sophomore showout.
The second rivalry?
A Blue Devil and a Navy Blue Wildcat.
Four-year, once champion Villanova polished product Josh Hart and one-and-done, Duke #2 pick, potential goldmine, Brandon Ingram.
They conflict each other. Different draft class. Different collegiate paths to the NBA. Diffffferent play style. But they match each other in intensity. They are just there to eat your lunch and win.
Some were calling Ingram a bust his rookie season, but those that really paid attention saw the potential in him just waiting to be polished and let free. He’s going to be the next prolific and dominating presence next to a certain small-forward/modern-four, unless the Lakers cash in one unbelievable next summer, and he has it all. He can do everything. He will be the next biggest Lakers star. Brandon is going to be the Kobe to LeBron’s Shaq (I was born the year after Shaq and Kobe arrived. I can’t remember it all, duh, but ask my dad, I watched as many Lakers games as a two to five year old during their three-peat. I have vivid memories of Fisher’s 0.4 shot. My favorite, non-championship moment to date. Which is why the vividness gets fuzzy the deeper in to those playoffs I go…).
Anyway, Ingram was drafted with a 7’3 wingspan, and a standing reach of 9’1½. Yo, this guy only has to jump like a foot and a half to throw it down? I can jump a foot and a half. And Ingram can do this.
That was in 2016. Welcome to your third year, Mr. Ingram. I know you’re about to take the league by storm.
He only just turned 21, the night I wrote this, by the way. Happy birthday, and congratulations on an outstanding and excellent professional career thus far.
Navy Blue is Essential
Ingram has been a long-term project, but woah, he is becoming a star fast. Josh Hart’s game, on the other hand, is what some would call “three-and-d,” but in reality, Hart is a pure basketball player. And he relishes in it. His rookie season showed us flashes of what was going to become of this dog of a player once the leash was unhooked. And it’s about to be.
His second summer league is just a sneak peek. He can get his own shot anywhere, and will DEFINITELY take your lunch. You best have a handle if you drive at this guy. One bad move and he’s got a dunk on the other end. And he’s practically a 40 percent three-point shooter. The fundamental gods (read “Villanova Men’s Basketball”) have blessed the man, and he’s going to dunk on ya mama one day.
Hart’s summer performance proved that he didn’t belong there. He belonged on an NBA court, for good. What’s amazing is that he insisted on playing as many games as the Lakers would let him, who had only intended on playing him once or twice. That in itself reveals to us that the Lakers know quite well that Hart is legit, and so does he.
The best parts about all of this?
They’re all 23 and under as I’m writing this.
They’re all going to be all-stars at this rate one day.
They are all sitting under the tutelage Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka, and (hello, groomed by Phil Jackson and Steve Kerr) Head Coach Luke Walton. Ya, stop the Luke slander. I will not have it.
And a guy named LeBron James is going to love playing with these guys. Lonzo is going to be the best point guard James will ever play with, Kuzma will redefine what getting buckets means, Ingram is going to be one of the next superstars of the league, and Hart will establish himself as one of the premier shooting guards in the league.
They will only get better because of it. He is going to show them what it is like to win, firsthand, in live action, with the same uniform on.
And they’re going to help him do it. Before they inevitably start doing it by themselves one day.
Oh, and don’t even get me started on Moe Wagner and Svi Mykhailiuk.
