![]() Put in situations where he could excel more, Ball could show more glimpses of the promise he showed on the defensive end of the court early in his career. Often, that context comes in the form of film and, more often than not, the film suggests Ball is still an impactful player on that end of the court. Get the latest Lonzo Ball fantasy basketball news, stats and injury updates, player profile, fantasy rankings, daily matchup ratings, DFS projections and. With defense being dependent on teammates, statistics need context. Without him on the court, the Pelicans have a 108.8 defensive rating as a team. That trend applies to effectively every Pelican this year as Bledsoe’s own individual defensive rating is 116.0 this season, worst on the team. For context, that would rank as a top-five defense without Bledsoe and the 29th-ranked defense with him. In the 482 minutes he’s on the court without Bledsoe, his rating is a far, far, far better 108.1. ![]() With Bledsoe on the court, Ball’s defensive rating is 117.6. and despite being a former All-Defensive team selection as recently as last year, Bledsoe’s defense has fallen off a cliff. Of Ball’s 1,469 minutes this season, just shy of 1,000 of those have come with Bledsoe on the court. Most notably, Ball and Eric Bledsoe’s minutes have been heavily linked this season. His individual defensive rating of 115.4 is one of the worst on the team this year, but there are plenty of ways to explain that away. Go to the rest of the 'Class of 2016 Watch List' athletes. Lonzo has been selected to the Basketball Recruiting - Class of 2016 Watch List. Statistics still don’t do a great job of representing an individual player’s impact defensively. The Chino Hills (CA) varsity basketball team won Saturday's neutral playoff game against De La Salle (Concord, CA) by a score of 70-50. “He’s just not an impactful defender (right now).” When Lonzo Ball was drafted by the Lakers in 2017, then-president of basketball operations Magic Johnson billed him as the new face of the franchise. In his final year at the Chino Hills High School, he led his team to the national championship and even managed to help them remain undefeated in the season. While there for one season, he averaged 14.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game. In a recent piece in The Athletic ranking the upcoming NBA free agents, Sam Amick and John Hollinger cited an anonymous scout that was not high on Ball’s defense. Lonzo Ball has long been considered as the next NBA star. In the coronavirus-shortened season, his game developed as he averaged 12.4 points per game and a career-best 38% from three, as well as strong defense on the perimeter.Early in Lonzo Ball’s career, his play defensively was one of the reasons he was able to be an impactful player despite his shooting woes in his first two seasons in Los Angeles.Īs his jumper has improved, though, his defensive game might not be making the same strides. In the 2019 offseason, Ball and several other young Laker players were traded to the New Orleans Pelicans for Anthony Davis. His three-point shooting rose slightly to 33%, but his assists numbers went down, largely due to sharing playmaking duties with LeBron James who had just signed with the Lakers. He only played 47 games in his second season. His playmaking continued to develop, but there were lingering concerns about his inconsistent 3-point shooting and his injury history. Despite these successes, the young Laker team struggled and he missed 30 games due to injuries.īall’s second season also brought some highlights and some areas for concern. In November of his rookie year, he became the youngest player to record a triple-double. In only his second game, he scored his career-high with 29 points. As a rookie, Ball played in 52 games, starting 50. Lakers’ president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson, declared Ball to be the future face of the Lakers franchise. Ball was drafted amid much fanfare by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 2nd overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft.
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