NBA Draft 2018 Rumors: Mitchell Robinson Would Be a High-Risk, High-Reward Selection for the Los Angeles Lakers
Lakers are reportedly 'seriously considering' taking Robinson with the 25th pick in the draft
The Los Angeles Lakers are making their way back up the Western Conference rankings.
Years of piling up losses allowed the Lakers to collect high picks, and they used those to draft and develop some promising players, such as Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, and they even managed to make the most out of a late first-round pick last year by using it to take Kyle Kuzma, a player who has now emerged as a potential long-term starter for the team.
The Lakers have done well to assemble the core they have now, but if they want to go from young team with plenty of upsides to serious playoff contender, they need to keep adding to the group they already have.
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Because the Lakers have plenty of cap room to work with this summer, they will likely use that to try and bring in some veteran talent, but they can't afford to rely solely on free agency when it comes to continuing their team building process.
They've had success through the draft, and if they want to construct a sustainable contender, they need to keep on making the right picks.
For this year, the Lakers won't have a high draft pick as they did in 2017 and 2016, but they still do own the 25th selection.
So, which promising prospect do they intend to take with that pick?
According to The New York Times' Adam Zagoria, the Lakers are currently "seriously considering" selecting Mitchell Robinson.
Robinson's an interesting prospect in a lot of ways.
For one, it's difficult to gain a good grasp on his true skill and talent levels because unlike many of his fellow prospects, Robinson opted not to play in college, and instead, he focused more on getting ready for the draft.
That's Robinson's choice, and it's an understandable one, but that decision means that it's so much tougher to evaluate him.
The brief summary of Robinson the prospect The Ringer has composed is indicative of the inherent challenge that comes with selecting him. The summary describes Robinson as "A wild-card big-man prospect who will wow with his athleticism, but questions loom about his true skill."
Robinson can indeed dazzle with his physical ability. It's easy to imagine him patrolling the paint for a team and swatting away shots, while also being quick enough on his feet that he can head out to the perimeter and bother even the league's most potent scorers.
He's also shown off some skills which would suggest that he does not necessarily have to be limited to staying in the low post on offense, which is a good thing.
Still, those are projections at this point, and until he does mix it up with other players on the court, it's hard to really know if he can continue to stand out as a special player during live games.
Robinson would be the quintessential high-risk, high-reward selection for a team, and for the 25th pick, maybe it makes sense for the Lakers to take that chance.
More news about the latest NBA draft rumors should be made available soon.
