Los Angeles Lakers: How Lonzo Ball navigated screens as the ball-handler

Favored the “Pop” or Kick Outs

During the guard’s time in Summer League, the screens that he used were much more likely to result in him either passing to the screener after the pop, or to someone out on the perimeter for a mid-range or three-point field goal from a kick out.

In each of his games, Lonzo used screens to whip the ball back out to a shooter well over half of the time in these situations, only hitting the roll man a handful of times out of nearly 100 total screens.

This is not necessarily a huge issue, as he was able to find a relatively open man for a shot or eventual drive to the rim for good looks at the basket, but considering the frequency at which the Lakers run pick & rolls, he would be well served being in this position more often.

Notably, many of Ball’s passes from screens, particularly pick & rolls often did not result in any points being scored, often times this was due to a poor showing by center Ivica Zubac who struggled inside and outside of the paint.

This situation could be remedied slightly when he gets a chance to play with the squad during the regular season, where he will be surrounded with some more three-point shooting and pick & roll threats, such as new addition Brook Lopez who shot 34.6% from deep last season on a career-high five attempts per game and is adept at scoring inside.

Regardless, the Chino Hills native should look to incorporate more pick & rolls into his arsenal, which were almost never used in Summer League, as a way to ensure that he does not become too predictable when facing more organized and alert NBA defenses and turn the ball over which he was prone to do in college.