The Los Angeles Lakers came away from the 2012 NBA Draft with two new prospects. Darius Johnson-Odom, whom they received from Dallas in exchange for cash considerations, and Robert Sacre, Mr. Irrelevant, the very last pick in the draft. SB Nation's Lakers blog Silver Screen and Roll has detailed insight on both prospects. Of the pair, Johnson-Odom seems to be the pick:
[Darius Johnson-Odom] does carry the type of profile the Lakers need in the backcourt coming off the bench between his athleticism and shooting ability. For all intents and purposes, DJO was the winner of the NBA combine, finishing no worse than ninth in any of the athletic drills and blowing away the entire field with a 41.5'' vertical, which is a top twenty all-time mark in Draft Express' database. These physical superlatives, namely his quickness and strength along with a decent wingspan for a two guard, enable him to compensate for the fact that he is three or so inches shorter than his counterparts and help to instill confidence that the solid defensive effort and smarts he displayed at the college level will translate into the NBA.
Sacre has his upside as well:
At first glance, Sacre appears to be a stereotypical seven foot stiff, but he brings an interesting combination of skills that might enable him to keep a spot in the league. Naturally, his body is NBA ready, as barring a somewhat short wingspan, he has prototypical size for a center and likely will be able to hold his own in straight-up post defense on the next level. He also has decent lateral quickness, however, which makes him effective against the pick-and-roll and players coming off screens, which constitutes a fair portion of the modern game. All in all, his smarts and good positional defense made him a solid defender in college and this should definitely endear him to Mike Brown. Sacre's primary deficiency on this end is his mediocre defensive rebounding, something likely attributed to his lack of explosiveness, but his instincts on the boards need some improvement and he will need to contribute meaningfully in this regard if he wants to stick in the league.
The full post contains much more on the two prospects, so if you're a Lakers fan don't miss it.
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