After the subpar stint of LaMelo Ball in the NBL in Australia, there were many doubters that his exceptional abilities would translate to the NBA stage. Moreover, he even began his rookie season playing behind Terry Rozier and Devonte' Graham before eventually cracking the starting lineup in the middle of the season. As Ball entered his sophomore campaign, ascension was already guaranteed, but inserting himself as an MVP candidate is a phenomenal feat for this young stud.
The Charlotte Hornets have added numerous players in Gordon Hayward, Mason Plumlee, and Kelly Oubre Jr. over the past few years to aid their youthful core of Ball, Rozier, and Miles Bridges. This roster has benefitted Ball immensely as his performance has elevated to stardom and possibly have the opportunity to play in the NBA All-Star Game. As the season progresses, LaMelo Ball is on the brink of legitimate MVP consideration.
Phenomenal floor general
As this era of the NBA continued to evolve, the role of point guards slowly changed as they became scorers and shooters rather than prioritizing on the facilitating aspect. However, Ball has been one of the best floor general players ever since he entered the NBA. He averaged 6.1 assists last season, but he even increased that total to 8.3 this season.
Bridges has been on a tear as one of the favorites to claim the Most Improved Player award, and one could say that his success could be predicated through the dish-offs from LaMelo Ball. He has passed to Bridges 394 points this season that has resulted in a total of 54 assists from Ball, which is by far the highest on the team.
Even with Bridges topping this list, majority of the core of his teammates have also received a plethora of passes from Ball with five other players scoring over 10 field goals from Ball's passes. As his game continues to mature, he will even lessen his turnovers and increase his assist/turnover ratio.
Long-range marksmanship
In LaMelo Ball's 12 games in the NBL, he just shot an abysmal 37.5% from the field and 25% from behind the arc. His field goal percentage this season still has room for improvement, but his three-point shooting is at a terrific number at 39.1% on 2.9 conversions a night. Through these numbers, it is evident that Ball has heavily practiced and improved on his shooting prowess.
Even if Ball's best asset is his passing abilities, he knew that he needs the lethal shooting from rainbow country to be a future superstar in this league. LaMelo Ball flourishes on catch and shoot situations as he has converted close to 42% of his catch and shoot threes. The backcourt tandem of Ball and Rozier have been spectacular this season, but they could still enhance their production for Charlotte to be a serious contender come playoff time.
Relentless defensive awareness
Entering the NBA, one of the glaring weaknesses of Ball was his defensive skill set because players would just drive or cut through him and make several easy shots. By checking his steal numbers, Ball has already tallied 1.6 and 1.9 steals per game, respectively in the early stages of his career. One could say that steals is an overrated stat, but he is tenth in average deflections and eighth in total deflections in the association as well.
LaMelo Ball's athleticism and lateral quickness is sensational, thus he just needs to continue possessing the desire and relentlessness to contain his man every possession. Moreover, he must be a remarkable team defender as well through communication in screens and cuts for his teammates that are still improving on that facet of their game.
With Ball still far from the peak of his career, he could be one of the best players in the league in the next five years. His weaknesses continue to be covered, but Ball must also not rest on his laurels and continue improving on every facet of his repertoire. As the Hornets are hoping to seriously contend in the playoffs every season, LaMelo Ball is the individual that could propel this franchise to constant success.
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