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It is safe the say that the Lakers had a successful draft over the summer. Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Thomas Bryant all notable performances in the Las Vegas Summer League, showing flashes of great potential.
The annual NBA Rookie survey was released Tuesday morning and featured more proof that the Lakers had a strong draft as Ball and Kuzma’s names popped up more than once.
For the category of “Who will be the 2017-18 Kia Rookie of the Year,” Ball finished with the second-most votes at 20 percent and Kuzma finished with 5.7 percent of the votes. It is an interesting surprised to see the rapid accession of Kuzma when few knew of him on Draft night. Kuzma also finished fifth in overall voting at 9.5 percent in the “Biggest steal in the draft” category.
For the category of “Which rookie will have the best career,” Ball and Celtic’s future bust Jayson Tatum earned top honors at 18.4 percent of the votes. Ball captured the attention of most NBA fans overall the summer. He broke the summer league record for most triple-doubles (2) and earned the Most Valuable Player Award.
Ball and Kuzma were a great dynamic pairing in the over the summer. The two seemed to have uncanny chemistry on the court with Ball always finding Kuzma for an open shot. It is not a surprise then to see that Ball finished at the top in “Best rookie playmaker” at an overwhelming 71.8 percent.
After shooting an impressive 45 percent from beyond the arc during the Summer League, it’s also of little shock that Kuzma finished in the top four in “Best rookie shooter” receiving 5.4 percent of the vote.
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