Luke Walton is not doing much to instill confidence in Lonzo Ball
Lonzo Ball has already talked this season about not being engaged enough while in games! This interview was earlier in the season after he lost his momentum after Rajon Rondo came back from suspension.
"“Getting into the flow more. Getting the rebound, that’s going to be big for me,” Ball explained after practice Tuesday. “Getting a rebound and being able to push the ball, hit open shots and play defense. It’s going to start on defense. Picking up some steals, rebounding the ball. When I do that, my shot starts falling and I feel more into the game.”"
Key words here being, into the game.
This shows that Lonzo Ball was struggling at the time with fitting in and finding a defined role on the team. It is something that most young players tend to struggle with when they are without a consistent structure when it comes to playing time!
Luke Walton’s take at the time…
"“It’s up to everybody. That’s what being a team is about,” Walton said. “A personal responsibility from each player to bring what they bring to the table, and then it’s our responsibility as a coaching staff to push them and put them in places to succeed.” “There’s different techniques. Whether it’s being hard on him, encouraging him, running more plays for him. We see it. He’s a young point guard and we’re going to continue to monitor and continue to work with him.”"
Let’s check out the phrase…”put them in places to succeed”.
I believe everyone involved would agree that Luke Walton should have his rotation patterns down by now considering we are now coming up on 20 games on Tuesday? Throw in the rookie season that he had with Ball, when is Luke Walton going to get it?
My favorite quote is this…
"“We’ve got so many guys so if you’re not doing your job, you’re going to get pulled,” he said. “That’s just how it is. Whoever is clicking that day is going to play.”"
Really? As bad as some of the defense was in the Magic game on Sunday? How about those turnovers for the last two games? Do you really think that Walton holds everyone accountable? Clicking? Please stop!