Laker fans had low expectations for the organization's last two picks in Thursday night's draft, and the front office didn't disappoint. With the 56th selection, they grabbed Chukwudiebere Maduabum. What's that? You haven't heard of him? Neither had Jeff Van Gundy, part of ESPN's draft commentary team, or upwards of 99 percent of everyone watching.
Maduabum is a 6'9" Nigerian who late last season was signed by the Bakersfield Jam of the D League. He appeared in just three games and played a total of 20 minutes, making him surely one of the most obscure prospects ever to hear his name called on draft night. Amazingly, Scott Schroder of SBN site Ridiculous Upside dug up some scouting intel on the kid, which though worth a read won't have any direct relevance for Laker fans, since the organization quickly dealt his rights to the Denver Nuggets. In return, the Lakers will get a future second-round pick. It's not yet clear what conditions are attached to it.
Slightly more interesting is Ater Majok, whom the Lakers took with the 58th pick. Originally from Sudan, Majok was a highly touted big-man recruit in 2008. He chose UConn over UCLA and Kentucky but had to sit out the 2008-09 season because of eligibility issues. In 2009-10 he started 22 games but left UConn the next year and has since been playing in Turkey and Australia. Pretty much no one expected him to be taken in this year's draft.
The Lakers will let him keep working overseas and wait for him to develop into a credible prospect. Although he has good size at 6'10", he's extremely raw in almost every respect. At UConn he shot only 42 percent, and according to Draft Express he "lacks a great deal of strength, balance and coordination, and possesses very little in the ways of experience or feel for the game." In other words, don't expect to see him in a Laker uniform soon, if ever.
In David Lighty of Ohio State and Ben Hansbrough of Notre Dame, there were a couple potentially useful perimeter guys still on the board at 58 whom the Lakers could have selected. But having picked Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock earlier in the round, they apparently felt it wasn't worth crowding the backcourt even further.