Yep, which is why I was surprised everyone had already written him off as the next MCW/Ricky Rubio even though he already has elite level NBA skills in some aspects.
Stats show his college year was an anomaly and his HS shooting stats were much lower. I don’t have the stats anymore but HS 3 pt shooting was much lower, mid 30s. Sure he might have improved or he just had a good year shooting in college
Ricky Rubio also has elite level NBA skills in some aspects. And isn't it a good thing if you're compared to Kidd?
No idea why I said Kidd, meant Michael Carter Williams. But Rubio is an anomaly - there are way more guards who couldn't shoot as a rookie but progressively got better.
A lot of it is about opportunity. There are plenty of talented NBA worthy players that are kept on a short leash and end up overseas. Lonzo had so much hype around him and was picked very high. He is setting records on both ends of the spectrum (lowest FG% for a rookie, and youngest to a triple double) because of opportunity. In most situations even as a high draft pick you would get reduced minutes as a rookie if struggling this much on a team expected to win. He is lucky to be on the Lakers who have been so bad for so many years that he is given an opportunity to work through his struggles. I would say Luke Walton is equally as lucky as he has underperformed and no one is noticing.
Is LaMelo eligible for the 2018 draft? I could see a team drafting him in the second round because of the fact he’s only 16. That’s a lot of time to properly devlope a player. Keep him in the G league for 2 - 3 years.
I believe Knicks rookie Frank Ntilikina outplayed Lonzo when both were on the court, stats you won't see in a box score: Frank Ntilikina - 4/8 FG, 2/3 3PT, 3ast, 3reb & 2PF. Lonzo Ball - 2/3 FT's (what a bad foul call on Ntilikina in ot), 1ast, 2reb, 1TO, 1PF & Porzingis blocked his shot twice.
I sent Ashanti a PM on FB one time. That is about how close Ball was to flirting with a triple double.
He has to be one year removed from graduating high school or be 19 years-old. LeMelo will be in the 2020 draft.
Lonzo should reach out to Kevin Martin https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/sports/lonzo-ball-shooting.html?_r=0
I need you to be more accurate so I can triple those hours. I'm taking the same path as you. I won my first championship coaching both of my kids. We are going to be better than you.
This is where Ball and Martin are different. Martin was a good FT shooter in college. Ball was not. That might tell you how likely he is to "fix" his shot and become as good as Martin.
LaVar Ball: Lakers 'don't want to play for' Luke Walton LaVar Ball says Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton has lost the team. Ball, who was up at 5 a.m. local time Saturday to watch his son Lonzo Ball in his first game back with the Lakers since suffering a sprained shoulder on Dec. 23, expressed his frustration with Walton in an exclusive interview with ESPN. "You can see they're not playing for Luke no more," Ball said from a spa resort in Birstonas, where he is staying while his two youngest sons, LiAngelo and LaMelo, get ready to make their professional debuts with Lithuanian team Prienu Vytautas. "Luke doesn't have control of the team no more. They don't want to play for him." "That's a good team," he added of the Lakers, who have lost nine straight games. "Nobody wants to play for him. I can see it. No high-fives when they come out of the game. People don't know why they're in the game. He's too young. He's too young. ... He ain't connecting with them anymore. You can look at every player, he's not connecting with not one player." LaVar Ball has had issues with his sons' coaches the past few years and even pulled LaMelo from Chino Hills High prior to the start of the season because of problems with first-year coach Dennis Latimore. "Lonzo looked good, but he also looked disgusted," Ball said. "He was ready to play. Four minutes left in the first quarter, he dunked it, getting in a flow and Coach sits him down. Sat him down. Now game goes from four points to 10 to 15 to 20. I don't know what they're doing. If he's ready to play, let him play. Don't try and monitor no minutes, put on restrictions." Lonzo Ball, who missed six games with the injury, finished with 11 points and five assists in 27 minutes in the Lakers' 108-94 loss to Charlotte. Lavar Ball also said he is confident that LeBron James, whom he has never met, will be coming to the Lakers this offseason as a free agent. "LeBron's coming to L.A. I know he's coming to L.A.," Ball said. "LeBron is not a fool. What's the only way he can beat Jordan? You can't get more championships. Only one way, to say every team I've gone to I've won a championship. Go to Lakers and win a championship, then you're better than Jordan. "You can't give my son the best player in the league, and don't expect them not to win. Get rid of everybody. Give him LeBron and Gelo [LiAngelo Ball]. You got a 2 and a 3. And it's a win. It's a wrap. Then all you need are two rebounders -- [Julius] Randle and [Larry] Nance Jr." But even with James, Ball doesn't feel that Walton is the right man to lead the Lakers to a title. "Even if you bring in a LeBron or a [Paul] George, he can't coach them guys," he said. "What is he gonna tell them? He's too young. He has no control."
yess... doing good there papa ball. keep up the good work! hope your other 2 children end up in utah and dallas.