Los Angeles Lakers have best draft according to Kevin Pelton

The Los Angeles Lakers came away with the best 2017 NBA Draft in the NBA based on Kevin Pelton’s projections.

The Los Angeles Lakers are now focusing all of their attention on improving their roster in free agency. Their offseason got off to a strong start in the 2017 NBA Draft.

The Lakers would not include the No. 2 pick in any trade discussions. They held onto the selection, using it on UCLA point guard, Lonzo Ball. That was only the start for the Lakers on what turned out to be a busy draft night.

The Lakers would also make the 27th selection in the draft. They acquired the pick from Brooklyn Nets prior to the draft, along with Brook Lopez. They had to part with D’Angelo Russell to do it, but also got out from Timofey Mozgov‘s contract. With the 27th pick, the Lakers selected Utah power forward, Kyle Kuzma.

The Lakers also owned the 28th pick heading into the draft. That selection was acquired from the Houston Rockets at the trade deadline for Lou Williams. The Lakers ended up trading the pick to the Utah Jazz, receiving the 30th and 42nd pick in the draft.

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The Lakers did well with those two selections as well. With the 30th pick, the Lakers selected Villanova shooting guard, Josh Hart. With the 42nd pick, Indiana center, Thomas Bryant, was selected.

The Lakers ended up making four selections overall, hitting on a number of needs. Ball is already being called the new face of the franchise. With Russell traded, Ball will take over the starting point guard duties.

Hart, Kuzma, and Bryant all have a chance to carve out roles as well. Hart has the easiest path to playing time as the Lakers have a hole at shooting guard. Kuzma and Bryant have some potential to become stretch-bigs.

Kuzma has a developed offensive game already and is a strong rebounder. Bryant has a 7-feet-6 inch wingspan that will make the coaching staff salivate, as he could become a difference maker in the paint as a rebounder and rim protector.

The Lakers did well at first glance. ESPN’s Chad Ford gave them a very strong grade, as they added a lot of solid young talent to the roster. He was not the only person at ESPN that was impressed with the Lakers draft.

Fellow ESPN contributor, Kevin Pelton, was also high on the Lakers draft. Pelton had projections for all the players eligible for the 2017 NBA Draft. Based on those projections, the Lakers came away with the best draft of any team in the NBA. Here is what Pelton had to say about the Lakers draft.

"It’s just one night, but this looks like a great first draft for the new Lakers front office helmed by Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka.The Lakers got off to a strong start by taking the top prospect in my projections, Lonzo Ball (plus-1.2 wins above replacement player), with the No. 2 overall pick. Ball’s projection is so strong he actually had the highest value over expectation of anyone in the draft.Yet the Lakers didn’t stop there. While No. 27 pick Kyle Kuzma(minus-0.7) did not rate well by my model, the Lakers did well to turn the 28th pick into two players who did. At No. 30, the Lakers got what I rated the night’s fourth-best value with Josh Hart (plus-0.8), and the 42nd pick yielded Thomas Bryant (plus-0.5)."

Based on Pelton’s projections, the Lakers landed three of the top 30 prospects in this year’s draft class. Ball was the No. 1 player, Hart was 16th, and Bryant was 30th. As Pelton points out, Kuzma didn’t come out well based on his projection, but they made up for it with the trade for the 30th and 42nd picks.

Next: Full 2017 NBA Draft First Round Grades

The Lakers have a solid core of young players on the roster. These four are the latest additions and should help push the Lakers rebuild even further. If they are able to produce as well as Pelton has projected them, the Lakers will be very happy with this draft class.

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