NBA Rookies recently were polled about various things prior to coming into the league. The rookies voted Svi Mykhailiuk of the Los Angeles Lakers as one of the best shooters.
One of the glaring needs for the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason was to improve their shooting. Last season, the Lakers were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league, and they wasted little time addressing that in the NBA Draft.
In the first round, the Lakers selected the stretch big man from Michigan, Moritz Wagner. As a power forward/center, Wagner is able to shoot three-pointers, similar to what Brook Lopez did for the team last season.
While Wagner was their first-round pick in the draft, the Lakers also selected Svi Mykhailiuk from Kansas. Mykhailiuk played four seasons at Kansas, and got much better over the course of his college career. Since he started college young, Mykhailiuk took a little longer to develop into the player he is now.
One part of his game that he has always thrived at is his shooting. Recently, NBA Rookies voted on who the best shooter in the class was on NBA.com. For Mykhailiuk, he came in tied with Kevin Huerter with the second-most votes.
Coming in first to no surprise was Trae Young. After tearing it up to start the season at Oklahoma last year, Young has drawn comparisons to Stephen Curry for his ability to shoot from anywhere on the court.
For the Lakers, adding Mykhailiuk will certainly help improve their team shooting, as he shot 44.4 percent from three-point range last season at Kansas. Compared to Young, Mykhailiuk shot over eight percent better from three-point range, as Young finished the season shooting just 36 percent. While Young did take about four more attempts per game from deep, it was Svi who was the more efficient shooter.
Time will tell who is the better shooter in the NBA between Young and Svi. However, the Lakers certainly got one of the best coming out of college this season in Mykhailiuk.