The Lakers may not be ready to compete for a title in 2018, but the foundation for an intriguing roster is definitely there. Los Angeles has a good group of young players, including NBA Summer League MVP Lonzo Ball, and plenty of cap room to use on big-name free agents next summer.

It’s safe to say Lakers GM Rob Pelinka is excited about the future, and he used an, um, interesting analogy during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show to explain why…

GM Rob Pelinka discusses the state of the @Lakers https://t.co/fl18vLPgVx pic.twitter.com/K1qzTrmRgB — Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 27, 2017

“It’s kind of like if you go on YouTube and you think about Taylor Swift when she was 16 years old maybe putting her first song. It’s her guitar, it’s her, it’s in a little studio, and you watch it and you listen to it and you say ‘Wow, this is going to be a special thing to follow and a really cool narrative to unfold.’ I have that sense about the Lakers, the way we’re playing in summer league we have this young core of Lonzo Ball, [Kyle] Kuzma, [Josh] Hart and it’s a pass-first system that Luke Walton has designed. I think in an era of guard-play where it’s score, if you look at the great point guards it’s score-score-score, I think we’re switching now into a mode of pass-pass-pass.”

It’s a somewhat goofy comparison but it kind of makes sense. You can see the talent for sure. Ball already looks like a star. Kuzma looks like a steal at the end of the first round. And there’s 2016 second-overall pick Brandon Ingram, who has still has poor man’s Kevin Durant potential. Add a couple of stars on top of that core and put them in Walton’s system, and you can certainly see a Taylor Swift-like rise for the young Lakers coming in the near future.

At the very least, the Lakers will be fun to watch over the next few years.