[Lowe] 5 potential X factor players for the 2023-24 NBA season | #1 LaMelo Ball
October 4, 2023
[Lowe] 5 potential X factor players for the 2023-24 NBA season | #1 LaMelo Ball
5 comments
> **LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets** > > Two years ago, the debate over the league’s best young point guards (below Luka Doncic) focused on Ball, Trae Young and Ja Morant. After a lost season due to injuries, several youngish point guards have vaulted ahead of Ball in the discourse: Tyrese Haliburton, De’Aaron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Garland, Jalen Brunson. > > “I don’t care about that stuff,” Ball tells ESPN. “I just want to lock in for the team. We are trying to make the playoffs.” > > That may sound ridiculous for a woebegone franchise that has cracked .500 once since 2016 and hasn’t won a playoff series in 21 years, but the Hornets — with a similar roster — won 43 games two seasons ago. Ball was an All-Star. > > Ball is a good bet to jump back up in that point guard conversation. Big ball handlers who can shoot are the NBA’s apex player type. You just don’t find many humans who are 6-foot-7 with genius vision and dangerous 3-point shots. > > To get there — and for the Hornets to sniff .500 again — Ball has to tighten up a casual looseness in his game. It’s most noticeable on defense, where Ball is an audacious gambler — lunging wayward for steals. Steve Clifford, Charlotte’s coach, has favored conservatism — slow on offense, low-risk on defense. > > Player and coach insist they are adaptable. “Your job is to understand your team and play in a way that gives you the best chance,” Clifford tells ESPN. Charlotte played at the league’s ninth-fastest pace last season. “This team was put together to run,” Clifford says. Ball is a voracious grab-and-go rebounder. > > Ball found a better balance on defense, Clifford says. “Stealing the ball is a good thing. But there are guys that want to steal the ball all the time, and it absolutely destroys your defense. [Ball] is not like that. He wants to defend.” > > Ball is 22; stouter defense comes with experience. The looseness on offense was more confounding. For a passing savant, Ball became a little shot happy; he was the only rotation player leaguewide to jack more than 20 shots per 36 minutes while earning fewer than four free throws. > > His pull-up and step-back 3s are weapons, and Ball has unteachable guile in opening space for those shots — faking toward picks and then rejecting them, tipping defenders off-balance with liquidy hesitation dribbles and snappy crossovers. But too many high-wire 3s early in the shot clock can be demoralizing for teammates. > > The low free throws reflect Ball’s reluctant, scattershot paint game. His attempts from the restricted area have decreased every season. He is one of the worst guard finishers in the league — 54% at the rim, a stunning number given his size. > > Ball approaches the basket in a rush, sometimes overeager to get rid of the ball before even touching the paint. That is the paradox of Ball: Dishing it early can be healthy, but there is such a thing — even for point guards — of dishing it too early, too often. Ball chases shots when it might be best to keep the ball moving, and moves the ball when it might be best to keep searching. > > Against dropback schemes, Ball short-circuits pick-and-rolls — picking his dribble up 20 feet from the rim with runway ahead, lofting ultra-long floaters or kicking to shooters who aren’t open because Ball hasn’t sucked in the defense. (Against traps, Ball’s willingness to make the first available pass is essential; he catapults his screeners into 4-on-3s. Ball and Gordon Hayward worked an effective two-man game in this style. The Ball-Terry Rozier pick-and-roll is an occasional wrinkle.) > > [VIDEO] > > You seldom see Ball slow down, pin defenders on his hip and wait for the defense to make a mistake. The Steve Nash under-the-rim dribble is not in his regular arsenal. > > “Everyone talks about hitting the paint, but for most players, it’s getting deep into the paint that puts maximum heat on defenses,” Clifford says. “It really limits those floaters and hook shots that are hard for any player.” > > Miles Bridges — a favorite Ball screener — will be back after serving a suspension linked to his no-contest plea to a felony domestic violence charge. Mark Williams is a hyper-athletic lob-catcher with savvy pitter-pat footwork. > > Ball has spent the offseason developing his prodding game, watching film with Clifford and Marlon Garnett, a key Hornets assistant, and running reps with staffers dotting the floor as targets — in the corners, under the rim, rolling for pocket passes. > > “If Coach wants me to keep [the ball] longer, I’ll do it,” Ball says. He has shown glimpses of it — especially two seasons ago, when the Hornets were healthier: > > [VIDEO] > > The coaches are also pushing Ball to be more judicious attacking bigs on switches — to try to get by them more instead of settling for step-back bombs. > > Ball prefers freedom bordering on chaos. The NBA game at its highest level — a level Ball has not really felt yet — is not so accommodating. It can get slow, ugly, brutish. To win big, you have to win every style. A more diverse pick-and-roll game would steel Ball and the Hornets for those moments.
My boy was out here getting no calls so I see what his paint attempts dropped year to year. I hope that’s not the case this season.
Another thing i’ve noticed about his finishing is that he still goes up as if he was 5’7 again playing against bigger competition. He’s gotta grow into his body and realize if he goes up strong he can meet anybody at the rim. Going up and embracing the contact is what will get him those calls, not trying to finish up and around it all the time.
The stuff about his paint scoring really highlights the biggest contrast between Lamelo’s perception and his actual play. People percieve of him as being an inefficient jumpshooter but the reality is that his paint stuff is easily his biggets weakness.
I unironically need our new owners to invest in a PED program for him and Brandon. We never have the “wow look at how much he transformed his body” type player and i think thats a big reason why lol. Lamelo is comfortably my favorite hornet ever but he also plays too much pretty boy ball.
“Mark Williams is a hyper-athletic lob-catcher with savvy pitter-pat footwork.” sometimes I love zach lowe’s writing lmao.
​
Only nitpick here is the low freethrows. LaMelo absolutely has work to do in the paint and needs to become a better finisher. However, I remember that stretch of games we had where like 5 in a row came down to clutch time in the last 2ish minutes with LaMelo getting wacked across the head on multiple drives to the basket late in the game and it was like 2 straight weeks of no-calls when they meet criteria for flagrant 1’s.
It’s that time of year when I start to get irrationally hopeful for the hornets. We’re gunna make playoffs this year, mark my words.
5 comments
> **LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets**
>
> Two years ago, the debate over the league’s best young point guards (below Luka Doncic) focused on Ball, Trae Young and Ja Morant. After a lost season due to injuries, several youngish point guards have vaulted ahead of Ball in the discourse: Tyrese Haliburton, De’Aaron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Garland, Jalen Brunson.
>
> “I don’t care about that stuff,” Ball tells ESPN. “I just want to lock in for the team. We are trying to make the playoffs.”
>
> That may sound ridiculous for a woebegone franchise that has cracked .500 once since 2016 and hasn’t won a playoff series in 21 years, but the Hornets — with a similar roster — won 43 games two seasons ago. Ball was an All-Star.
>
> Ball is a good bet to jump back up in that point guard conversation. Big ball handlers who can shoot are the NBA’s apex player type. You just don’t find many humans who are 6-foot-7 with genius vision and dangerous 3-point shots.
>
> To get there — and for the Hornets to sniff .500 again — Ball has to tighten up a casual looseness in his game. It’s most noticeable on defense, where Ball is an audacious gambler — lunging wayward for steals. Steve Clifford, Charlotte’s coach, has favored conservatism — slow on offense, low-risk on defense.
>
> Player and coach insist they are adaptable. “Your job is to understand your team and play in a way that gives you the best chance,” Clifford tells ESPN. Charlotte played at the league’s ninth-fastest pace last season. “This team was put together to run,” Clifford says. Ball is a voracious grab-and-go rebounder.
>
> Ball found a better balance on defense, Clifford says. “Stealing the ball is a good thing. But there are guys that want to steal the ball all the time, and it absolutely destroys your defense. [Ball] is not like that. He wants to defend.”
>
> Ball is 22; stouter defense comes with experience. The looseness on offense was more confounding. For a passing savant, Ball became a little shot happy; he was the only rotation player leaguewide to jack more than 20 shots per 36 minutes while earning fewer than four free throws.
>
> His pull-up and step-back 3s are weapons, and Ball has unteachable guile in opening space for those shots — faking toward picks and then rejecting them, tipping defenders off-balance with liquidy hesitation dribbles and snappy crossovers. But too many high-wire 3s early in the shot clock can be demoralizing for teammates.
>
> The low free throws reflect Ball’s reluctant, scattershot paint game. His attempts from the restricted area have decreased every season. He is one of the worst guard finishers in the league — 54% at the rim, a stunning number given his size.
>
> Ball approaches the basket in a rush, sometimes overeager to get rid of the ball before even touching the paint. That is the paradox of Ball: Dishing it early can be healthy, but there is such a thing — even for point guards — of dishing it too early, too often. Ball chases shots when it might be best to keep the ball moving, and moves the ball when it might be best to keep searching.
>
> Against dropback schemes, Ball short-circuits pick-and-rolls — picking his dribble up 20 feet from the rim with runway ahead, lofting ultra-long floaters or kicking to shooters who aren’t open because Ball hasn’t sucked in the defense. (Against traps, Ball’s willingness to make the first available pass is essential; he catapults his screeners into 4-on-3s. Ball and Gordon Hayward worked an effective two-man game in this style. The Ball-Terry Rozier pick-and-roll is an occasional wrinkle.)
>
> [VIDEO]
>
> You seldom see Ball slow down, pin defenders on his hip and wait for the defense to make a mistake. The Steve Nash under-the-rim dribble is not in his regular arsenal.
>
> “Everyone talks about hitting the paint, but for most players, it’s getting deep into the paint that puts maximum heat on defenses,” Clifford says. “It really limits those floaters and hook shots that are hard for any player.”
>
> Miles Bridges — a favorite Ball screener — will be back after serving a suspension linked to his no-contest plea to a felony domestic violence charge. Mark Williams is a hyper-athletic lob-catcher with savvy pitter-pat footwork.
>
> Ball has spent the offseason developing his prodding game, watching film with Clifford and Marlon Garnett, a key Hornets assistant, and running reps with staffers dotting the floor as targets — in the corners, under the rim, rolling for pocket passes.
>
> “If Coach wants me to keep [the ball] longer, I’ll do it,” Ball says. He has shown glimpses of it — especially two seasons ago, when the Hornets were healthier:
>
> [VIDEO]
>
> The coaches are also pushing Ball to be more judicious attacking bigs on switches — to try to get by them more instead of settling for step-back bombs.
>
> Ball prefers freedom bordering on chaos. The NBA game at its highest level — a level Ball has not really felt yet — is not so accommodating. It can get slow, ugly, brutish. To win big, you have to win every style. A more diverse pick-and-roll game would steel Ball and the Hornets for those moments.
My boy was out here getting no calls so I see what his paint attempts dropped year to year. I hope that’s not the case this season.
Another thing i’ve noticed about his finishing is that he still goes up as if he was 5’7 again playing against bigger competition. He’s gotta grow into his body and realize if he goes up strong he can meet anybody at the rim. Going up and embracing the contact is what will get him those calls, not trying to finish up and around it all the time.
The stuff about his paint scoring really highlights the biggest contrast between Lamelo’s perception and his actual play. People percieve of him as being an inefficient jumpshooter but the reality is that his paint stuff is easily his biggets weakness.
I unironically need our new owners to invest in a PED program for him and Brandon. We never have the “wow look at how much he transformed his body” type player and i think thats a big reason why lol. Lamelo is comfortably my favorite hornet ever but he also plays too much pretty boy ball.
“Mark Williams is a hyper-athletic lob-catcher with savvy pitter-pat footwork.” sometimes I love zach lowe’s writing lmao.
​
Only nitpick here is the low freethrows. LaMelo absolutely has work to do in the paint and needs to become a better finisher. However, I remember that stretch of games we had where like 5 in a row came down to clutch time in the last 2ish minutes with LaMelo getting wacked across the head on multiple drives to the basket late in the game and it was like 2 straight weeks of no-calls when they meet criteria for flagrant 1’s.
It’s that time of year when I start to get irrationally hopeful for the hornets. We’re gunna make playoffs this year, mark my words.