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Los Angeles Lakers: How Lonzo Ball could impact the offense

By Matthew Babic

Mar 17, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) dribbles the ball in front of Kent State Golden Flashes guard Jaylin Walker (23) in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 17, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) dribbles the ball in front of Kent State Golden Flashes guard Jaylin Walker (23) in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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Los Angeles Lakers: How Lonzo Ball could impact the offense
Mar 17, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) dribbles the ball in front of Kent State Golden Flashes guard Jaylin Walker (23) in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

Dissecting Lonzo Ball’s offensive performance during his time at UCLA in order to analyze the impact he may be able to have on the Los Angeles Lakers offense if drafted.

With the 2017 NBA draft fast approaching, a popular question has been who the Los Angeles Lakers will select with the second pick in the draft.

A likely candidate for selection is 6’6″ point guard Lonzo Ball from UCLA. Ball averaged an impressive 14.6 points, 7.6 assists, and 6.0 rebounds while shooting an efficient 55% from the field. In addition to the impressive stats, Ball helped with revitalizing a program that won 15 games during the 2015-16 season, propelling them to the No. 1 ranking during his freshman year.

Considering Ball’s knack for transforming an offense, dating back to his dominance in high school as he led the Chino Hills program to a state championship, this begs the question as to whether Ball will be able to make the same type of impact at the next level and help improve a Lakers offense that never quite found its groove this past season.

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Shooting beyond the arc

The first way Ball can improve the Lakers offense is with his ability to score the ball from beyond the arc.

In the 2016-2017 NBA season, the Lakers were lackluster from three-point range as they were in the bottom 10 in three-point percentage. They shot less than 35% as a team while attempting a below league average 25.7 per game.

However, in his only season for UCLA, Lonzo Ball shot a noteworthy 41.2 % from deep while attempting just over 5 per game. Assuming he could still knock down shots with such efficiency would make him one of only two Lakers on the roster to shoot at least 40% from three; assuming Nick Young is still a Laker next season.

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