The Lakers have selected center Marc Gasol from Spain in the 2nd round (#48) and he will likely stay in Spain for a couple of seasons. Marc is Pau Gasol’s brother but he’s nowhere near as good as his brother is. Marc Gasol certainly looks the part of an NBA center as he’s 7′1″, 280 pounds. Gasol has played in 126 games and he’s averaged 5.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. Gasol hit 61.4% from the floor in Spain but only 63.5% from the free throw line.

Sun Yue was a 6′9″, 205 pound point guard in China last season but he projects to small forward in the NBA. He played in 20 games last season and he averaged 13.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 10.5 assists. 1.9 steals and 2.0 blocks per game. Sun Yue will likely take some time to adjust to the competition in the NBA. The Lakers won’t just give him minutes….he will have to earn them.

The Lakers felt the need to bring in a point guard to battle Jordan Farmar for the starting job next season and Crittenton is a pretty good one. He stands at 6′5″, 198 pounds and he played at Georgia Tech so he’s battle tested. Crittenton played in 32 games in his freshman season and he averaged 14.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He also was a good shooter in college as he hit 45% from the floor, 35.6% from three point range and 78.3% from the free throw line.

The Lakers have three draft choices (#19, #40 and #48) so they will be busy tonight. Look for them to attempt to draft a point guard and a power forward in the draft tonight as those are their two biggest needs. The Lakers also could be active in the trade market but don’t expect a trade for Kevin Garnett or Kobe Bryant changing addresses. Also, the Lakers have 4 free agents to decide if they want to retain. GM Mitch Kupchak said that Smush Parker will not return and it’s likely that the Lakers let Chris Mihm walk as well as he missed all of last season with an injured ankle. The Lakers might bring back Ronny Turiaf who did a good job for them as a reserve, but Luke Walton might be too expensive after he had a semi-breakout season in 2006.

the los angelos lakers are going to need to get kobe, some help both on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, a phil jackson coached team was not how i remembered them to play defense. all during the regular season there was lack of defense, no ball pressure and no will to win with that im used to seeing from a phil jackson coached team…I think that a player like kevin garnett and a mike bibby as your point guard could make it very interesting come the start of regular season..yes i said it, i think the lakers would be a great team with a kevin garnett at power forward/center and mike bibby at point guard. it would bring the fans on their heels..