Defending Mitch's draft picks

Posted on 12/8 on LakersGround.net here:
A poster on LakersGround.net wrote:

Look at '89 to '96.
1996 24th - Derek Fisher - G - Arkansas-Little Rock none
1995 none 37th - Frankie King - G - Western Carolina
1994 10th - Eddie Jones- G/F - Temple none
1993 12th - George Lynch - F - North Carolina 37th - Nick Van Exel - G - Cincinnati
1992 15th - Anthony Peeler - G - Missouri none
1991 none 52th - Anthony Jones - Oral Roberts
1990 27th - Elden Campbell - F/C - Clemson 51th - Tony Smith - G - Marquette
1989 26th - Vlade Divac - C - Yugoslavia none

Just about every year, lottery or not, the Lakers made quality picks. The same CANNOT be said of Kupchak's tenure of the past 4-5 years. Of all those players, Frankie King and Anthony Jones are real busts. The other players at one point were either All-Stars, Starters, or quality bench players.

We can't say the same for Kupchak:
2003 24th - Brian Cook - F - Illinois 32nd - Luke Walton - F - Arizona
2002 27th - Chris Jefferies - G/F - Fresno State none
2001 none none 2000 29th - Mark Madsen - F - Stanford none
1999 23rd - Devean George - G/F - Augsburg 30th - John Celestand - G - Villanova

Of all these players, only Walton stands out and he's a defensive liability.

Cook is finally doing well with minutes. Madsen? Gone. Celestand? Gone. George? Took 5 years to wait for his potential and he's injury prone. None of these guys are the starters that Anthony Peeler, Fisher, Lynch, Nick Van Exel, Elden Campbell, and Vlade Divac were.

Hold on there! West resigned in 2000. I believe it was before the draft but he still worked with the team after his resignation and Madsen was his pick. In 2002, Mitch did a draft day deal to trade up for Kareem Rush. So Mitch's picks are:
2002  20th - Kareem Rush
2003  24th - Brian Cook
      32nd - Luke Walton
2004  27th - Sasha Vujacic
      56th - Marcus Douthit
2005  10th - Andrew Bynum
      37th - Ronny Turiaf
      39th - Von Wafer

• Rush was a poor pick and there were other talented players available - Prince, Dickau, Gadzuric, Boozer and Songaila.
  
• Cook has done OK and of the picks after him, only Josh Howard has turned out clearly better (other picks - Carlos Delfino, Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa and Jason Kapano)
  
• Walton was a very good pick for his draft position. Players picked after him include Zaza Pachilla, Keith Bogans and Kyle Korver
  
• Sasha looked like a bust last season, but he is now looking like a keeper. Players picked after him include Beno Udrih, David Harrison, Chris Duhon, Justin Reed and Trever Ariza
  
• Douthit will never play in the NBA

So Mitch's first year of drafting was his worst