2017 NBA Mock Draft, Week 24: Time to randomize the lottery!
By Chris Stone
Lonzo Ball
PG, UCLA
Draft status: In with an agent
The lottery odds for this pick are 15.6 percent because it originally belonged to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers pick is top three protected, but they actually have a greater chance of losing it (53.1 percent) than keeping it (46.9 percent). Given those probabilities, it’s good for us to get a chance to see how things might shake out if they do lose their pick on lottery night. The Philadelphia 76ers will be the beneficiaries should the pick convey.
UCLA’s Lonzo Ball would be an excellent fit in Philadelphia should they get the opportunity to land him on draft night. While the 76ers have expressed their plans to put the ball in the hands of Ben Simmons often, it’s easy to see Ball and Simmons sharing primary ball-handling duties. While that might take away from using Ball’s elite court vision all the time, it would also limit concerns about his explosiveness and one-on-one creation ability. Ball is also a terror off the ball. His high basketball IQ makes him an elite cutter and he has deep range on his 3-point shot, which can help bend the floor in ways that other players can’t.
Having two lead ball-handlers would also alleviate some of the pain of finding a good backup point guard as head coach Brett Brown could simply stagger the rotation to keep one of either Ball or Simmons on the floor at all times.