Team puzzle! The chance the newcomer brings to the Lakers!

In the 2025 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers traded the 36th pick in the second round from the Brooklyn Nets, and finally selected forward Adu Tiero from the University of Arkansas.

For the Lakers, a historical giant team, such a second-round rookie, it is likely that such a newcomer worth looking forward to in the team's combat effectiveness next season. But based on the facts, looking at Thiero's current skill level and the Lakers' past development of second-round picks, perhaps in the near future, Thiero still has the opportunity to become a key member of the Lakers' substitute rotation, and even get a chance to start on the stand.

For the 21-year-old Adu Tiero, he mainly plays in the small forward position on the court, with a height of 201 cm and a 210 cm wingspan. His excellent mobility allows him to defend from a defender to a large forward position on the defensive end.

Before entering the league, Thiero transferred from the University of Kentucky to the University of Arkansas in his junior season, and then gained a lot of room for play, gradually becoming the key core of the team's offense and defense. After that, his draft market gradually rose, and even before the draft, many scouts predicted that Thiero would be selected in the first round.

The Lakers were lucky enough to choose Thiero in the second round position. The team's general manager Pelinka also admitted at the time that in the team's internal scout evaluation, he always believed that Thiero had the strength to pick the first round, so he was quite satisfied with the Lakers' management and scouts who were able to get this new player.

Not only that, Thiero, who is from the same agency as James, has cooperated with the Lakers in recent years, so before the draft, the Lakers had already arranged for general manager Pelinka to meet with head coach Redick, which is enough to show the Lakers' attention to this rookie.

From the perspective of the game style, Thiero's style of play is quite radical, with full of vitality on and off the court, and is a high-quality player who can infect the team. In addition, he is also very good at the ability to use the ball to hit the basket and his defensive potential above the qualified level, which are the abilities that the Lakers have the opportunity to rely on in the new season.

Especially if the Lakers determine the combination of Doncic + Rivers in the future backcourt, then matching a forward with an outside line next to the two and can also be responsible for leading and defending the opponent's ball-holder is the focus of the Lakers' lineup.

Currently, there is no such type of player in the Lakers lineup. Among the existing options, Hachimura Shizuo is limited by horizontal movement and cannot lead the backcourt; although the newcomer Laravia has good defense, his movement ability is also difficult to follow the defender for a long time; although veteran Smart meets the defensive needs in defense, he starts with the Lakers double defender, and the overall starting lineup size is likely to become a disadvantage; as for Vanderbilt, who has obvious shortcomings, it is due to injury issues, and it is even more difficult to become an important rotation choice for the team's defensive end in the new season.

Among these alternative players, Thiero is the most likely answer to the Lakers' starting small forward. Even if he is likely not to enter the starting lineup directly next season, if the Lakers are willing to start from the bench and slowly give him some opportunities to improve his game experience, perhaps the 3D puzzle player that the Lakers have been looking for in the offseason will have appeared in the team long ago.

But after all, Tiero is just a second round pick, and naturally has his shortcomings in addition to his advantages, and the most important thing is the shooting issue. In college, Thiero's three-point shooting percentage was not more than 30% in a season, and whether the NBA, which has higher defensive intensity, can develop stable shooting in the future is the biggest development problem for this newcomer. However, Lakers coach Redick happened to be a top scorer when he was a player. What shooting help he can bring to Thiero in the future may be seen in the new season.

Combined with Thiero's growth curve, you can refer to the newcomer Christie selected by the Lakers in the 35th pick in the second round in 2022.

Before the 2022 draft, Christie had also been predicted for the first round market, but due to the immaturity of the offensive end, the Lakers were able to select such high-quality wing potential in the second round position. After several years of training, Christie is gradually growing into the league's excellent young 3D.

Although it was added to the chip package trading to the Mavericks in the Doncic trading case, judging from Christie's growth route, it can also be seen that the Lakers do have a very stable development plan for this type of young auxiliary 3D players.

Back to Adou Tiero, although this young player has not received much attention at the moment, he can still give some special attention to his rookie season. Perhaps it will allow the Lakers to get an offensive forward who has both offense and defense early in the future team blueprint and is in line with the modern trend. Especially considering that James' retirement day is approaching, the Lakers do need to hoard resources early in the future at the forward position.