Lakers First Quarter Awards: Defensive Player of the Year, Lonzo Ball
Coming out of UCLA, Lonzo Ball was lauded for his offensive talent. He is a wizard with the basketball. His passing skills are at an elite level and he loves to distribute the ball to his teammates
While he has struggled to shoot the ball in the NBA, what many scouts worried about was Ball’s defense. Ball wasn’t regarded as a great defender in college. Many people thought that would continue in the NBA, but he has more than held his own. That is why he is the Defensive Player of the First Quarter for the Lakers.
In composite stats, Ball has gotten the job done. He is averaging 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. His 5.4 defensive rebounds per game lead the team. Taking a deeper look into the advanced stats paint an even better picture for Ball’s defensive stats.
Ball is 7th among all point guards on Basketball-Reference in block percentage. Only John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and Tyler Johnson are rotation players that are ahead of Ball. He is also 8th in defensive rebound percentage. Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons, Dejounte Murray and Kyle Lowry are the only rotation players ahead of him.
Ball also has a solid defensive rating of 104 according to Basketball-Reference. Ball isn’t going to make the NBA All-Defensive Team, but his performance on that side of the ball has surpassed all expectations to begin his career.