Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has claimed that D'Angelo Russell was a player the team could not miss out on in the NBA Draft.
The Lakers were expected to select center Jahlil Okafor behind Karl-Anthony Towns, who was drafted first by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but they caused a surprise in Brooklyn by turning to Ohio State point guard Russell, who admitted that he was "in shock" after being selected with the second pick.
"We felt [Russell], at number two, was a player we couldn't pass up," Kupchak told reporters.
"You look around this building and you see [Wilt] Chamberlain and you see [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar] and you see Shaquille O'Neal - those are three pretty good centers. There was a center available that we did not select. Then there's also Jerry West and Gail Goodrich and Magic Johnson. So you can debate the whole topic.
"Am I going to say that we selected [Russell] because we think that's the direction this league and this game is going? I don't think that's the case. You still need quality big men in this league, and if any of those players in the wall were available, we would've selected them. But they weren't. So our choices were what they were and we're very happy to have D'Angelo be a Laker."
Russell averaged 19.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and five assists in his only season with Ohio.
