Lottery picks sometimes take a while to become the player that they were expected to be. But for the second pick overall in a draft, they are often projected to develop faster than most. Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Lakers, their top pick in last year’s draft has yet to realize his potential and make an impact on the team.
Lonzo Ball, the second overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft has yet to realize his potential and justify his selection at the spot.
Watching him play from his rookie year to this year, he has occasionally shown flashes of what he’s capable of. The talent is there but something seems lacking in his game. Though it’s obvious that Lakers fans put too much of a burden on him by declaring him the franchise’s savior from its struggles the previous seasons, Ball can do so much more to help the team become more successful.
Here are three quick fixes for Lonzo Ball to work on so that he can make an impact on the Lakers:
3. Gain More Confidence
Ball has improved his shooting by 10 percentage points from 47.1 to 57.1. If we were talking about field goal shooting, we would have applauded him by now. But that’s his free-throw shooting I just mentioned.
But his field goal percentage isn’t one to brag about either. From 36.0 percent in his rookie year, Ball has barely improved, making only 39.9 percent of his shots from the floor. His poor shooting appears to be an indication of a lack of confidence.
Perhaps it’s the media scrutiny he received during his rookie season that has him shook. Or maybe it was the rumors in the offseason that he could be traded after the Lakers signed veteran point guard Rajon Rondo who plays a similar game. Maybe it’s the fact that his minutes are down this year from 34.2 last year to 27.0 this year. Regardless of the reason, Ball has to find a way to snap out of the funk that he’s in.
If there is anything that Ball should have adopted from his father, the outspoken and highly controversial Lavar Ball, it’s his dad’s confidence. The only way that he can gain that, or regain it, is by recognizing that he has the talent and the skills to play in this league. He can be the leader of this ballclub after James hands off the reins of the team to him if he reaches his potential. Based on prior statements from coach Luke Walton and the rest of the team regarding his play, it sounds like he has the permission to go out and play his game.
All he needs is the confidence to actually do it.
2. Look for his offense
Lonzo Ball has had to adjust perhaps more than any of his teammates in playing alongside his new superstar teammate. He had to learn how to shoot the three better (and he has) but he now has to dial it back and make a conscious decision not to become a one-dimensional scorer who just shoots the ball from the outside on a kick out from James.
According to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN, Ball’s teammates urged him to shoot the ball and be more aggressive. In response, Ball had his best game of the season against the Cleveland Cavaliers. His final numbers indicate that he took the encouragement to heart, scoring 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
“It was huge,” fellow sophomore Kyle Kuzma said. “We always talk about him being aggressive. He's always so passive. You want an unselfish point guard, but we need him to come in and score. Him coming downhill in transition where he's at his best really helped us in this game.”
When he’s outrunning everyone and attacking the basket, Ball can change the complexion of the game. There are very few players that have his combination of speed and ball handling and when he’s on his game like he was in Cleveland, the comparisons to Jason Kidd don’t seem too far-fetched.
1. Be the primary playmaker
In an interview by SiriusXM NBA Radio via ESPN’s Youngmisuk, the Lakers Magic Johnson expressed his concern over how their offense is being run. He compared it to something he’s seen from afar when James was still playing in the eastern conference.
“We are trying to make sure that we watch his minutes but also that we don't run everything through him, because now it is Cleveland all over again, and we don't want that,” Johnson said. “We want to get up and down.”
The team’s president of basketball operations signed players such as Rajon Rondo and Lance Stephenson to add more playmakers to the team in order to get the ball out of James’ hands as much as possible. With Rondo out, that responsibility should fall mostly on the shoulders of Ball.
“We got a lot of ball handlers so we feel we won't overuse him in terms of his ballhandling and also every play has to run through him. I think we got proven scorers — Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram … and then when you have two point guards like Ball and Rondo, we don't have to have LeBron having the ball in his hands all the time,” added Johnson.
That’s a knock on Lonzo Ball who keeps deferring to James to bring up the ball. In certain instances, after the second-year guard gets a rebound, he immediately hands off the ball to his veteran teammate like it was a hot potato even though he could have brought it down the court himself.
He needs to demand the ball from James if necessary and initiate the offense himself. At the same time, he has to communicate with the 14-time All-Star that he should run the offense more often while allowing James the opportunity to also do the same during certain points in the game.
When he’s taking the lead as a playmaker, good things happen. He can find the open man or create scoring opportunities for himself. Ball was told to be aggressive and for that to happen, he needs the ball in his hands more than he has so far this season.
If he applies these quick fixes to his game, Ball could live up to his lofty billing of being the second overall pick of the draft.
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