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Lakers Keep Top 3 Protected Pick, Will Select #2 Overall

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YES.

YESYESYES.

As I wrote earlier, I was prepared for whatever happened at the draft lottery. If the Lakers were to lose their pick, it would be bad, but the team would retain their 2018 1st rounder, would keep their own 2nd round pick this season, and would still have Houston’s #28 pick.

Luckily, though, that scenario is not the path the team will take now. The Lakers not only retain their pick, but move up a slot, leapfrogging the Suns, to get the #2 pick overall. The basketball gods favored the Lakers today and I’m here for all of it.

We’ll have much more analysis in the coming days, but for now, I’d suggest to simply sit back celebrate this result. The Lakers not only overcame a 53% chance to lose their pick, but actually moved up to #2 overall too. It’s a wonderfully lucky turn of events for an organization which sorely needed it.


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Comments

  3. FredP says

    It was great to see the Suns get punished for their shameless season ending tank job and the Lakers get rewarded for actually trying to win games “they had to lose”. Silver must really like Jeannie a lot. It was also good to see Philadelphia not get a top two pick in a two person draft. Now they have to do their homework. It is good to be a Laker fan tonight.

  5. Rick says

    I’m happy about their pick…I hate Philly teams…all of them! But I’m not looking forward to having that spoiled brat and his big mouthed, classless father in the Staples center! Please work out something to get Fultz.

  6. A Horse With No Name says

    Good post, Fred. ThIs felt rigged; they must be seriously outperforming their cumulative odds of success in the lottery. Silver must have felt that it was time to pay back the “basketball reasons” karmic debt the league owed the lakers, and as you say, the Suns tanking was shameless. Further, a good to great laker team is good for the NBA. We deserved it!

  7. KenOak says

    I need to start catching up on Lonzo Ball highlights I guess! Super excited to keep #2 and either select a (hopefully) great player or have draft capital to spend on a trade. Cheers all!

    ps… I’m a little worried -> actually a lot worried about how good Boston is looking though. They could be good for the next decade in a weak Eastern Conference.

  8. bluehill says

    Magic brought the magic! He seems to be high on Ball as are most, but I’m wonder about Ball’s athleticism. Admittedly I didn’t watch him a lot or any of the top picks so just going by what I’ve read. If this analysis is fair, it seems like a limiting factor. Is Ball a slightly taller version of DLO?

    “Fox’s athleticism was too much for Lonzo Ball, who you already know as the son of Big Baller LaVar Ball…. Ball has no shake in the half court. I went in-depth before on how his funky shooting mechanics cripple his scoring off the dribble, but even when he tries to get to the rim, he has trouble. In the Draft Guide, you’ll see he shoots 75.6 percent at the rim, but that’s a misleading figure: Most of his at-rim shots come open in transition or from cuts to the rim. He avoids contact like the plague in these situations: If he can’t blow by Wenyen Gabriel or lay the ball up over Isaac Humphries (two Kentucky bigs unlikely to be NBA prospects), then how will he score in the half court against starter-level players at the next level?”

    https://theringer.com/2017-nba-draft-ringer-guide-year-of-game-changing-point-guards-8baa8db34164

  9. R says

    Wowie! Looks like the Lakers are getting themselves a point guard.

    Couldn’t be happier.

  10. LALaker#14 says

    Magic got us a #2, Big James got us Ingram @ #2, Byron got D-Lo @ #2.
    We hit the trifecta; the Showtime Mafia showed out again!

  13. Anonymous says

    Josh Jackson will be a kid, Lakers going to regret passing on if they draft The Ball Kid. Number one he will not be able to stay in front of the guards in the league plus. He has no lateral movement. Our future line-up should be Russ, jackson, paul g, Ingram, black

  15. Renato Afonso says

    I haven’t seen enough of the NCAA this season to be sure but I would avoid Lonzo’s father like the plague… Is there any way to trade down to get #3 (Josh Jackson)? Is there any chance for the Leprechauns to pick Ball over Fultz? Maybe we should just find some sort of deal…

    PS: I’ve been hard on Russell for two seasons now but I don’t see Ball (must see more UCLA games) as a better player than Russell.

    • Tar Baby says

      People said the same thing about Richard Williams – I wouldn’t worry too much about Lavar Ball….if he wants to capitalize on his sons’ success, then more power to him.

  16. EuropeanLaker says

    Phew! Thats a relief. Now the Lakers are in the best position they could (realistically) hope for. Thats great but it also means that there are no excuses left. It will be interesting to see what our new FO will make of this situation.

    I’m looking forward to a lot of interesting pieces (and the great comments below them) on this page about our options for the #2 and the #28, the third article about the Lakers possibilities in the future and lots of other great stuff I didn’t even thought about at that point.

  17. Anonymous says

    Anyone that thinks Ball is better than DeAaron Fox needs to go watch the tape. They played each other twice and Fox outplayed him the first time and the second time he destroyed him. Don’t buy into the ESPN hype machine.

  18. Vasheed says

    I’m just glad there will no longer be the drama of tanking and praying to keep the pick.

  21. George Best says

    Thank goodness we keep the pick. However this Ball kid scares me because his shot won’t work in the NBA. He’s not Ben Simmons unfortunately. The Lakers are going to have to trade some of these kids for a superstar like George. Pray we don’t have to include Ingram. Otherwise we just added another young but non difference making piece. His fathers outspokenness will only make the pain of his addition worse. Let’s hope Magic has the courage to go with Fox.

  22. Anonymous says

    Fox can’t shoot. It’s been the knock on him from the start. Ball fits better with the Laker players they have now because he is not a ball dominant player. He will excel at PG because of his size plus UCLA players get to play against NBA players all summer so I do believe he (and other GMs) have a good idea of his overall skillset.

  23. LAkers1 says

    For those people that only watched the sweet 16 game and the Rupp Arena game, that’s an extremely close minded view of Ball’s game. First, UCLA won and broken a long home winning streak on Kentucky’s floor. Ball had a good enough game to make an impact (TJ Leaf had a great game for the Bruins.) In the second game, Ball was nursing a hamstring injury which limited him. Yes he was out there on the floor but the guy was simply not himself because of the injury. But I’ll still give credit to Fox for taking advantage. All is fair if you’re on the floor.

    Ball does have good athleticism but not elite athleticism like Fox or Jackson. Jason Kidd didn’t have elite athleticism either but he had intelligence, elite passing ability and vision which helped him during his career. It helped his teammates be better than they actually were. That’s an intangible that you can see on the court. Kidd had court presence, not sure about Ball yet.

    The Lakers are in an interesting position. Do we keep the pick or trade down with another lottery team and take their first rounder this year and next year? A lot of interesting scenarios that will take us all the way to the draft.

    I’m still in awe with the Brooklyn Nets and how most likely they will have the best odds of getting the #1 pick next year and the pick will belong to Boston again.

    One thing I know for sure, do not trade for PG or anyone else this summer. Stay the course of team building and get him next year while giving the youngsters another year to learn and mature.

    • R says

      Unless PG hates the Celtics as much as we all do he would be nuts not to go there.
      But naturally if the Lakers can sign him as a FA it would be awesome.
      If they give away the store to trade for him – well, not so good.

  24. Bmao says

    I’ve watched UCLA this year and despite his crazy father, if I were Lakers GM I would draft Lonzo Ball. He has the charisma, the court vision and frankly is a good fit for the team. He has an unorthodox shot (in which he shot 40% from 3) but it went in; he turned around a bland Bruins team and turned them into National Champion contenders. He knows where to find open teammates and get them the ball at the right time. He knows how to move on offense without the Ball. He’s athletic – much more so than D’Angelo and Lonzo also has his head on straight, even if his crazy dad might not.

    Again, you say all these things about Lavar Ball and the distraction he might cause, but its not as though the Lakers have no experience in dealing with external distractions throughout its history – Jeanie vs Jim, Dwight Howard Drama, Shaq vs Kobe, etc.

    That is not to say that Lonzo Ball does not have flaws in his game, but at the same time, lets not nitpick to an extreme or overthink this. Draft Lonzo number 2 and we’ll live with what happens.

  25. R says

    Truly spoken however all those dramas took their toll, big time.
    Exhausting to many if not most of us fans.
    However, I’m much more interested in how Ball’s game may translate than his loud mouth old man.