Lonzo Ball

Wha are your impressions of Lonzo Ball after Summer League?

  • Positive - He showed he is a dynamic player ready to make an impact

    Votes: 5 45.5%
  • Neutral - I did not see anything new from him that I hadn't seen before

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Neutral - The jury is still out on him until he faces real competition

    Votes: 3 27.3%
  • Negative - He still has many flaws in his game

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • Total voters
    11

Chop Stix

Well-known member
Final Summer League Statistics:

16.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 9.3 apg, 2.5 spg, 38.2% FG

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The most polarizing basketball player of 2017 capped off the NBA Summer League with an MVP award and his Lakers team winning the tournament championship.

Were you impressed with Lonzo's summer league performance and what are your expectations for his rookie season?
 
 
I was impressed, but impressed is a relative word. ~75% of the guys he played against won't see meaningful or any minutes. A lot won't even sign an NBA contract. His passing was what I expected and then some. I was impressed with his rebounding too. I think he'll be closer to 4 rpg than 8rpg, but he still exceeded his rebounding numbers in college.

He'll contend for ROY due to playing time and having a creative coach whose offensive system will work well with Ball's strengths.. I think he and the Lakers really need to work on his shot.
 
Dynamic playmaker with a few really bad flaws. The percentages have been decent, but I think his mechanics have to change to consistently be an above-average shooter at the NBA level. Defensively, he needs to get better and the Lakers need to hide him on the other team's two-guard. He's going to look like a turnstile if asked to guard NBA point guards.

Given their strengths and presumably getting a lot of opportunities on bad teams, I'd expect either Ball or Dennis Smith to be ROY.
 
I agree with both of you ... and I still have a little concern about his athleticism. At times he looked less athletic than many guys out there ... in the summer league. But, overall I like guys that look like they want to play team basketball.
 
Clearly it was a positive showing. Doesn't mean a ton but he showed a lot of the skill and potential that most people already saw while he was at UCLA.
 
Some good breakdowns in here. I could see Lonzo going for 12, 8, and 6 next season.

I agree with both of you ... and I still have a little concern about his athleticism. At times he looked less athletic than many guys out there ... in the summer league. But, overall I like guys that look like they want to play team basketball.

He's an above average athlete for his position, definitely not elite, like Dennis Smith. His length is his best physical asset. He still has a ways to improve with his strength and lateral quickness but I expect those things to come along with time.

As for his shot, I don't know enough about the game to say how realistic it is to alter it at this level of competition. He shouldn't have an issue hitting open 3s consistently once he gets into the rhythm of the season.
 
Very positive, I hadn't seen him play alot in college. His game will get better with better players around him. Concerns is will the Lakers trying to force the ball in his hands stunt the growth of others on the team. I look at a team like the Clippers. Chris Paul dominated the ball so much, you wonder if it hurts ball movement for the rest of the team. That's just a decision on how the Lakers will want to play.
We'll get sick of the constant attention afforded to Ball, but there will be two main areas you'll need to look to see if he's really going to be a star, or just another NBA guard:
1. jump shot - if over the course of time, he shoots the mid range jumper at 40% and the 3 ball at 30% or less, he'll be limited.
2. defense - if he proves he's not capable of guarding NBA point guards or two guards, it will be exposed quickly.

But for now, the kid's passed with flying colors. Now, just need to keep Daddy away.
 
Very positive, I hadn't seen him play alot in college. His game will get better with better players around him. Concerns is will the Lakers trying to force the ball in his hands stunt the growth of others on the team. I look at a team like the Clippers. Chris Paul dominated the ball so much, you wonder if it hurts ball movement for the rest of the team. That's just a decision on how the Lakers will want to play.
We'll get sick of the constant attention afforded to Ball, but there will be two main areas you'll need to look to see if he's really going to be a star, or just another NBA guard:
1. jump shot - if over the course of time, he shoots the mid range jumper at 40% and the 3 ball at 30% or less, he'll be limited.
2. defense - if he proves he's not capable of guarding NBA point guards or two guards, it will be exposed quickly.

But for now, the kid's passed with flying colors. Now, just need to keep Daddy away.

Luke Walton's offense is similar to what Golden State does. Simple 10 second research will show that. Lots of screens, ball movement, passing.

Randle pick, passes
Nance pick

It's a motion offense that centers around picks and switches. Lonzo's game isn't that similar to Chris Paul. Yeah they are both very good passers and seem to run the pick and roll well. The Hornets and Clippers offense ran through Chris Paul. I don't think that's Lonzo's game nor is it Walton's offense. The offense will undoubtedly start through Lonzo but it isn't an offense that is ran through one person. I think the Lakers offense will run very similar to how it did last year with Russell, except I think it'll be run much better. Lonzo knows his shooting limitations and (I'm guessing) won't take as many bad shots and is in better control. While Russell is a good passer he's turnover prone. For comparison: per 40 minutes Russell had 3.5 tpg in college and Lonzo only had 2.8.

But as for point number 2. I'm not sure I'm sold on that point. I think, if he can't guard NBA guards, it won't be exposed until late in the season.
 
When his Dad shuts up, he'll mostly be forgotten about as a decent player but nothing else.
 
He will be a pretty good NBA player. Looks like the best rookie. But the Lakers won't make the playoffs. The west is loaded since the NBA is rigged to keep the east awful for LeBron
 
Rigged for Lebron? He's going to need more help than he is currently getting just to get back to the championship.
 
So you're telling us that the best players are migrating to the West because they don't want to face LBJ?

The best players are migrating to the best nearly complete teams. There are more nearly complete teams in the West because of the stupid draft practice that has the best teams missing the playoffs in the West drafting ahead of the worst teams to make the playoffs in the East. It's the dumbest draft dynamic in all of pro sports.
 
I wish Lonzo would come out and distance himself from his idiot Dad. That guy is a train wreck and everyone wants to watch.
 
I wish Lonzo would come out and distance himself from his idiot Dad. That guy is a train wreck and everyone wants to watch.

Today's circus of the sponsor (Adidas) removing a ref for T'ing him up is garbage.

He busted out his favorite line that the ref needs to "stay in her lane". Lavar needs to stay in his lane, and someone needs to drive an 18 wheeler down that lane at 100MPH as far as I'm concerned.
 
The guy is a turd. The funny part is that he has two forfeits in the last week. One because he pulled his team and left the floor early, the other is because he wouldn't get off the floor after being ejected. Its time to flush this turd.
 
Is there a worse example of everything wrong with youth sports and AAU basketball than Levar Ball??? I have no idea why anyone gives him the time of day. He's fathered 3 good basketball players, one in the NBA currently. Other than that, he has zero credibility. I've got to believe Addidas is backpedaling quickly from backing this guy. Do you think Magic will sit this guy down and tell him to cool it?
 
He wouldn't listen to Magic. As long as the media keeps thrusting microphones into the face of this ignoramus, he'll keep this ______ up. Also, eventually, tournaments will not invite his team and sponsors will shun him, and that may curtail some of his idiocy.
 
Lakers 2018-2019
Lonzo Ball
Russell Westbrook
Paul George
Lebron James

Lebron is leaving Cleveland. The lakers are making cap space with their young players. Lebron is 3-5 in finals. Lebron is young enough to get 6 rings. Just needs a good team
 
They can't get all three of those guys unless there's some major pay cuts, or unless I'm way off on what the cap will be next year. The last I read the Lakers should be about $70M under the cap with making the "assumed" cap moves. A max deal should start around $32M I believe, so they could pull two of those guys.

As I said on another thread, talent-wise I think the second guy would have to be Westbrook to be able to beat the Warriors, but I'm not sure how Westbrook, LeBron and Ball would function together effectively. Seems like too many ball dominant guys to be effective.
 
If that is the starting lineup for the Lakers in 2018-2019, then there is at least one team that I would root for the Warriors to beat.
 
Lakers 2018-2019
Lonzo Ball
Russell Westbrook
Paul George
Lebron James

Lebron is leaving Cleveland. The lakers are making cap space with their young players. Lebron is 3-5 in finals. Lebron is young enough to get 6 rings. Just needs a good team

Not enough basketball, not enough defense. LeBron isn't going to give up touches or control.
 
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