Los Angeles Lakers Report Card: First Quarter Player Grades

PG Lonzo Ball (Rookie/UCLA)

When the lights shine the brightest, people expect you to play at your best. Lonzo Ball has been on a roller-coaster of bests and worsts. The Big Baller is supposed to be the heir to Kobe Bryant’s throne, a once-in-a-generational talent setting the tone for the importance of passing and retaining the title of the once-dominant Lakers.

Ball is the among most polarized players in the league today, competing with LeBron James and Kevin Durant for the title. However, more critics than admirers have shown up to detract from Lonzo’s inefficiencies.

The main argument that critics love to point out is that he is struggling with his shot and that in itself may be an understatement. Lonzo is the worst player this year in terms of field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, and free-throw percentage. Along with averaging just over eight points a game, he boasts a 25.7 shooting percentage from deep and 46.7 percent from the strike, numbers only NBA big men such as DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond should have.

Yet, compared to Lonzo, they’re shooting more efficiently from deep and the stripe than him. Ball’s struggles are confusing since he posted 14.6 PPG and 55.1 percent from the field in his one-year tenure at UCLA.

Setting his scoring woes aside, Ball has excelled in many other areas of the game. He is tied for first among all rookies in assists per game with 7.2 (Ben Simmons). His playmaking role as the Lakers starting point guard has been fantastic and contagious.

The Lakers this season are among the top-10 in assists per game, and scoring has been almost synchronously spread so that each player can have the ball at least once per possession. Add in that the Lakers have a net rating of -8.8 without him on the floor directing the offense, the argument comes back out to that Lonzo Ball makes his teammates better.

Lonzo Ball has excelled on the glass and on defense, interestingly enough since he was not known for his lockdown abilities coming out of college. Ball is even playing better defense than fellow 2017 NBA draftee Josh Jackson, who was known for his versatility on the opposing side of the court. [Ball has a 102 DEF RTG, while Jackson hosts a 109 DEF RTG].

Let us not forget which rookie recorded the youngest triple-double against the Bucks and again versus the Nuggets. Ball needs time to work on his shot, but cast that aside, and you have a player deemed to be a great Jason Kidd-archetype of a playmaker.