{"id":16562,"date":"2018-07-29T11:28:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T15:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=16562"},"modified":"2018-07-29T11:28:20","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T15:28:20","slug":"los-angeles-lakers-josh-hart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2018\/07\/29\/los-angeles-lakers-josh-hart\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers Young Core: The Value of Josh Hart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/los-angeles-lakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> won the 2017 NBA draft. Landing three players who can contribute from day one isn&#8217;t easy but somehow the Lakers scouting department managed to do so. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/balllo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lonzo Ball<\/a><\/strong>, the most well known of the three had a good year and is seen as the future at point guard. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kuzmaky01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Kuzma<\/a><\/strong> is an offensive machine, who most fans had never even heard of on draft night. Then we come to the hidden gem of the bunch. A National Champion at Villanova, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hartjo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Hart<\/a><\/strong> was a key contributor all over the court last season. Hart is a do it all player, something all teams are looking for. This season he has a chance to announce himself on the big stage, playing a key role for a new look Lakers team.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Los Angeles Lakers Young Core: The Value of Josh Hart<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h2><strong>Continue to stuff the stat-sheet<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>One of the best aspects\u00a0of Hart&#8217;s game is his ability\u00a0to impact the game all over the court. Whether he&#8217;s scoring, rebounding or defending\u00a0with intensity, Hart always plays a key role. A coaches dream, he proved last season that he&#8217;s more than just a 3-and-D player. Head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/waltolu01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke Walton<\/a> is a big fan.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s one of our best finishers, he&#8217;s one of our best rebounders, he can push it in transition,&#8221; Walton told\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MMoreno1015\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Matthew Moreno<\/strong><\/a> of <em>Lakers Nation<\/em>. &#8220;Saying he&#8217;s a three-and-d guy is limiting his potential.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Luke Walton on Josh Hart: &quot;He&#39;s done a nice job of figuring out what the NBA game is about. I think he&#39;s another one of these guys that&#39;s going to have a big offseason. &#8230; He&#39;s done a great job of consistently working.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Matthew Moreno (@Matthew__Moreno) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Matthew__Moreno\/status\/983141672576888833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 9, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Hart was successful last season due to a number of reasons. Walton played a key role, with the second-year head coach remaining\u00a0patient and slowly working Hart into the rotation. Hart went from playing 2.4 minutes per game in November to 17 per game in April. Hart&#8217;s strong mentality\u00a0and willingness to wait for his turn was a key reason as to why he finished the season so strong. Only starting on 23 occasions, Hart still tallied eight double-doubles. Including a small stretch where three of those double-doubles came in consecutive games.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The starting shooting guard spot<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Last season, the Lakers starting shooting guard was Mr. Consistent. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/caldwke01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kentavious Caldwell-Pope<\/a><\/strong> isn&#8217;t a spectacular player, but he plays his role really well. Since being drafted in 2013, Caldwell-Pope&#8217;s career low in games played in a season is 74. Which is amazing in today&#8217;s NBA.<\/p>\n<p>A quality\u00a0defender, Caldwell-Pope also provides good scoring and rebounding. This and Caldwell-Pope\u00a0sharing the same agent as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a><\/strong> is why the Lakers brought him back. Signing a one-year, $12 million contract, Caldwell-Pope is currently the projected starter. However, Hart&#8217;s off-season work and Summer League form have led to some questioning who could start, including <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsma02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Magic Johnson<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Before the mung bean egg ad took over the call, Magic said a lot of interesting things. One of them: &quot;Look at Josh Hart. He\u2019s playing unbelievable in Las Vegas. Some guys better watch out because he\u2019s pushing to start.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/taniaganguli\/status\/1017838260821741568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Caldwell-Pope was a good mentor for Hart last season, even with his off-court issues. It&#8217;s likely we see him start game one of the new season, but Hart is closing in. No matter who ends up starting, competition\u00a0for starting places is always a good thing.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Patience is key<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Josh Hart was patient last season and he will need to be so again this year. This is a new team, with a new face. If you&#8217;re one of the young guys, this is the prove yourself year after LeBron James&#8217; arrival. Hart is in the same boat as the rest of the young guys, performing and winning is all that matters from here on in. Hart has the talent and drives to become a starting quality guard in the NBA. This isn&#8217;t a make or break year, but producing at the highest level will be the ultimate test for a young player looking to become more than just another bench guy.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"uN03ThMRRL12VPY9knsf4g\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/543716454\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'uN03ThMRRL12VPY9knsf4g',sig:'8-zFEQ3d8AFhPUuHCNrGO7w6U8Igt3XEPpjkxaXfFIQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'543716454',caption: true ,tld:'ca',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coming off a great Summer League campaign, second year guard Josh Hart will look to play a key role for the Los Angeles Lakers this upcoming season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":638,"featured_media":16593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62],"tags":[591,65,1004,1105,38,152,317,96],"class_list":["post-16562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-2017-nba-draft","tag-basketball","tag-josh-hart","tag-kentavious-caldwell-pope","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luke-walton","tag-nba"],"modified_by":"Barkev Sivazlian","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}