The Los Angeles Lakers selected D'Angelo Russell over Kristaps Porzingis with the second overall pick.

"I liked him because he’s athletic, can shoot the ball. From what we saw, he was able to shoot it from 3-point range pretty easily," Byron Scott said. "He’s a young kid that in the workouts that we had really didn’t show any fear."

The Lakers were concerned about the timeline of Porzingis' development. 

"[We] just thought it was going to take him some time [to develop]," Scott said.

Scott acknowledged how Porzingis has contributed immediately.

"Obviously, we were probably a little wrong about that because he’s playing pretty well right now," Scott said.

Kobe Bryant also was impressed by Porzingis.

"From what I’ve seen so far, he looks pretty damn good," Bryant said. "He’s skillful, he can do a lot of things. He seems to be very competitive, too. He has a good competitive spirit about him."