Yahoo Sports contributing NBA writer Tom Haberstroh and NBA writer Dan Devine discuss how the Hornets point guard has helped Charlotte turn it around the season despite his personal inefficiency shooting the ball. Check out the full conversation on “The Big Number” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
Third number is 57.7, which is the Hornets’ effective field goal percentage as a team with LaMelo Ball on the floor this season, according to NBA Advanced Stats.
That effective field goal percentage would rank number one in the NBA for the full season, and that’s kinda interesting because LaMelo Ball as an individual player has a 50.1 effective field goal percentage- which is one of the worst marks of any high-usage player in the NBA this season.
And so we’ve got this kind of contradiction, this inherent, paradox, where LaMelo Ball himself, he of the step to the side, one-footed three from 30 feet out, doesn’t necessarily profile as an efficient player.
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But his team and his team’s offense is extraordinarily efficient with him on the floor.
And I think part of that is, you know, we’ve talked about it before, effective field goal percentage as a, it, it is a stat that, like, a f- it adjusts for the fact that threes are worth more than twos, right?
And so- Mm-hmm who’s really good at creating three-point shots?
When you look at three-pointer, assists to three-pointers per 100 possessions, there’s TJ McConnell, number one with a bullet, the god.
Of course.
Number two, Giannis Antetokounmpo, makes sense.
Number three is LaMelo Ball.
And so- our fr- the guys over at the Hot Hand Theory Podcast recently made a really good video about, like, that dichotomy between LaMelo’s individual inefficiency and Charlotte’s team efficiency with him on the floor.
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So I’d, I would recommend people go check that out.
But th- it’s, it, like, he has dealt with all of these slings and arrows, and some of it deserved, for being, like, an unserious player.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word unserious associated with a player more than it’s associated with LaMelo Ball.
But then you look at his impact, all of our fanciest advanced numbers, the ones that are based on adjusted plus-minus and regression analysis of these things, your estimated plus-minus, your XRAPM, Darko Daily Plus-Minus, LeBron, Synergy, SPI, whatever, all of these hoity-toity fancy things, and LaMelo’s like 97th, 98th, 99th percentile offensive engine- on those, o- all of those.
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So, like, he might be an unserious- And he’s shooting less than 40% from the floor, right?
Like, you, you’re- Yes you’re, you’re, like, by the historical traditional measures, he is not a good scorer or, and doesn’t, not an efficient player, and then you have all of these other things saying he’s, he’s top one, 2% in the NBA as an effe- in a, an offensive engine.
And it’s just, this is why we have these kinda metrics is be like, how do we explain this LaMelo Ball effect by a guy who’s shooting 39% from the floor?
Well, this is it right here