Rob Pelinka: Lakers considered Adou Thiero a first-round talent

USA Today

7 hours ago

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers traded up from the No. 55 pick in the NBA draft in order to gain the rights to Adou Thiero, a forward from the University of Arkansas. It took two trades to do so, but plenty of people feel the team may have gotten a steal.
Thiero is one of the most athletic players in this year's draft class and is an outstanding finisher who attacks the basket strongly. He is a poor outside shooter and needs to refine his defense, but he could have the potential to become a legitimate rotation player or even a starter down the road.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka told Spectrum SportsNet that the team's scouts considered the 6-foot-8, 220-pound wing to be a first-round talent.
'We were super aggressive to begin the day knowing that we didn't have a first-round pick. Adou was projected by our scouts as a first-round talent and so we were able to turn 55, which is a late-second round pick to a high second-round pick to pick a player that we had projected in the first round. So it's almost like having the first-round pick that we traded out. Tons of credit, thankful for the support of Jeanie [Buss] to allow us to be aggressive and use resources to win at the margins, move up in the draft and get a player that we really think is gonna dimensionalize our roster. We just felt like one of the things we need to address was to get younger and more athletic on the wings. Being able to get a player like Adou that can catch lobs from the corner when Luka [Doncic] is making paint decisions I think is gonna be really special. And then he's just got big shoulders, big chest, a guy that's gonna play defense and add some physicality and athleticism to our roster. So super excited about that.
'... I think all of us watched the playoffs and just the way the game is being officiated now, there's a lot more physicality in the game. So being able to add a young man like Adou, who's just gifted. He's a beast. I think obviously we're gonna get him in the weight room and get him conditioned. But I think the tools that he has, you can really see a vision for him to be one of those really elite, physical, athletic wings that are so necessary to winning in the league.'
One thing that may have scared other teams out of taking Thiero is a hyper-extended knee he suffered in February. He returned in the Sweet Sixteen round, but he played just five minutes as the Razorbacks lost in overtime to Texas Tech University.
Still, he averaged 15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals a game and shot 54.5% from the field this past season. He gets to the free throw line often, and he may be able to improve his 3-point accuracy since his shooting form doesn't look broken. In three years of college basketball, he made just 28.4% of his attempts from beyond the arc.