Even though Lonzo Ball’s potential is undeniable, his lack of aggression has been a problem at times.
When the Los Angeles Lakers drafted former UCLA Bruin Lonzo Ball, what they were getting was not hard to decipher. In need of a natural leader, the team instantly received someone whose focus is on helping everyone around him succeed.
It is not to say that this feature of his game has gone unnoticed. The rookie has already enjoyed a couple games in which he has accrued over ten dimes. In just his second NBA game, too, he was only one assist short of that number and getting a triple-double.
With that in mind, it seems difficult to criticize the 20-year-old kid. Contrarily, though, Lonzo’s pass-first tendencies have not always been a great thing for a developing Lakers squad.
Thursday night’s contest against the Portland Trail Blazers was no exception. The young man’s inability to drive to the rim largely accounted for his team’s fifth loss of the year.
Granted his pass-first style has its perks, Ball only put up two shots all night. Two—in a total of 28 minutes of time on the hardwood.
Everyone is not expecting the Chino Hills product to be the Lakers’ leading scorer every night. In spite of that truth, Thursday’s contest was unacceptable. Flat out unacceptable.
Alas, Thursday night is not the first time Lonzo has looked casual on the offensive end. It is merely one of multiple instances—this time around it was just more pronounced.
There are a lot of games left for Lonzo and the Lakers this season. Anyone who follows basketball knows the youngster’s assist ratio is not going to be an issue.
However, Ball needs to start taking more initiative as a leader. Surprisingly, being a bit more selfish may actually do more good than harm as weird as that sounds.
His fellow teammate and friend, Kyle Kuzma, believes this as well. As transcribed by Ryan Ward of ClutchPoints (and initially by Serena Winters of Lakers Nation), Kuzma discussed Ball’s habits.
Watching Lonzo tonight made me think of something Kuzma said abt Zo playing it cool sometimes but needing him to be aggressive all the time pic.twitter.com/u80UbyCur7
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 3, 2017
Locating an equilibrium with his passing and shooting is not necessarily a simple fix. When point guards such as Damian Lillard are played against, too, an added layer of pressure is there.
As a result, that could be why he is resorting to distributing the rock as much as much as he is. The Lakers’ number two pick may be slightly concerned with failure.
Los Angeles Lakers
While this is only a theory, Ball does seem to play with a certain level of comfort sometimes. It is like he is stuck in a tough to pop bubble. It appears that way because the game comes quicker to him than it does for others.
His fast-paced mind, though, is sometimes his downfall. Finding that aforesaid equilibrium has been a challenge for him because of his above average intelligence.
This has been seen at various points in the young season. Oftentimes, Ball is not afraid to give up easy buckets a few feet from the cylinder if he finds an open teammate.
As was stated before, though, is this a sign of fear of failure? Who knows. When the Lillards of the world are going against him, those teensy fears make sense inherently.
However, point guards like Lillard are not all too rare in this day and age. The NBA is chock full of such assets. Thus, no one is going to feel all too bad for Ball when such point guards are faced.
The Blazers’ star did not feel bad for his opponent, either. His decisive shot in the closing seconds of Thursday’s game is more than enough proof. Dame D.O.L.L.A. did not hesitate to pull the trigger.
As if the message was not already clear, Lakers’ head coach Luke Walton also addressed his PG’s lack of aggression on offense. Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN shared Luke’s thoughts in a recent piece.
"“I thought he was a little too passive tonight,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “I think that’ll continue to be … the hardest thing for young players is the consistency when you just play so many games. He’s so unselfish. We want him to be more aggressive with attacking the defenses. I feel like tonight was one of those nights where he was more passive with it than looking to really attack them.”"
Although fans can expect Ball to continue to pass the ball regularly, hopefully Thursday’s performance teaches him a thing or two.
The desire for others to do well is by no means an awful mindset. On the other hand, it is fair to expect a few more points from a player that Magic Johnson himself believes to be the future of the franchise.
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Even if he misses shots from point-blank range once in a while, taking those easy shots when they are available more often could lead to more positives than anything. That will increase Ball’s overall “cool-ness.”