Los Angeles Lakers player comps: Lonzo Ball vs. Ricky Rubio

(Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)

Let’s compare Lonzo Ball’s 2nd season to Ricky Rubio’s sophomore year and see if Los Angeles Lakers fans can get a glimpse of Ball’s future in the NBA.

Most Los Angeles Lakers fans probably don’t want to see Lonzo Ball likened to Ricky Rubio, considering the promising point guard from Spain has been mostly a disappointment during his career.

Unfortunately, both players have many similarities.

Here’s a list of their parallels:

  • Both players had a huge amount of hype surrounding them before they entered the NBA.
  • Both players suffered injuries during their first two NBA seasons.
  • Both players didn’t play particularly well in their first two years in the association.
  • Before both players started playing in the NBA they were supposed to be great offensive players, but they turned out to be much better on defense.
  • They both struggled with their shots during their freshman and sophomore years.
  • They both lost many more games than they won during their first two years.

Lakers fans needn’t lose too much heart, though, because Lonzo Ball’s only played 99 total games during his career and Ricky Rubio’s in his prime, but Ball’s clearly in a tier above Rubio.

Here are my point guard tiers:

Tier 1: The Superstars

Tier 2: The All-Stars

Tier 3: The Almost All-Stars

Tier 4: The Young Potential All-Stars

Tier 5: The Solid Point Guards

Although Lonzo had a similar second season to Ricky Rubio, Ball’s ceiling as a point guard in the NBA is as high as the top of a New York skyscraper. Rubio, on the other hand, is currently in his prime and he’s shown he’ll never make an All-Star game. Lonzo still has time to become a great player.

Here’s Lonzo Ball’s 2nd-year statistics:

45 games played, 9.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 5.4 APG, .406 FG%, .329 3P%, .488 eFG%

Here’s Ricky Rubio’s 2nd-year statistics (2012-2013):

47 games played, 10.7 PPG, 4 RPG, 7.3 APG, .360 FG%, .293 3P%, .386 eFG%

If you thought Lonzo was a bad shooter, drink down Rubio’s 2nd-year numbers and let them warm your belly like a nice cup of green tea.

Ball was a superior offensive player to Rubio in every aspect.

Here’s Lonzo’s 2nd year shooting numbers:

  • 0-3 feet: 60%
  • 3-10 feet: 30%
  • 10-16 feet: 24%
  • 16-3PT: 36%
  • 3P: 33%

Here’s Rick Rubio’s 2nd year shooting numbers:

  • 0-3 feet: 45%
  • 3-10 feet: 24%
  • 10-16 feet: 32%
  • 16-3PT: 35%
  • 3P: 29%

Lonzo’s shooting numbers aren’t great, but he improved from his 1st season to his second season from everywhere on the court, except 10-16 feet. That’s a positive sign.

Ricky Rubio however, showed almost no improvement from mid-range and his shooting numbers from 0-3 feet and from beyond the arc regressed from his first to second year in the NBA.

Rubio’s awful 3-point percentage was scary, but his 45% shooting mark from within 3-feet of the basket shows that he was one of the worst finishers in the NBA.

Ricky Rubio’s offense is like eating a frozen burrito for dinner. When you see it you’ll feel dejected, it will never satisfy you, and there’s a 25% chance it’ll give you diarrhea.

Lonzo Ball is more athletic than Rubio. He has a solid first step, impressive burst to the rim, and good hops, all of which helped him shoot an exciting 60% from 0-3 feet. Lonzo has much more potential as an offensive player than Rubio ever did.

Lonzo Ball’s defense during the 2018-2019 season was special for such a young player. Ball stands at 6’6″ and he was one of the fastest players on defense in the NBA with an average speed of 4.08. Compare that to Ricky Rubio’s average speed during his 3rd season in the NBA (second spectrum sports didn’t start tracking player movement until the 2013-2014 season) of 3.99 and his height of 6-4 and it’s clear that Lonzo’s has a strong physical advantage over the Spaniard.

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Lonzo Ball’s bodily tools helped him hold whoever he was guarding on defense to 1.4 percentage points under their normal average, which was a top-10 figure among all point guards during the regular season. In Ricky Rubio’s 3rd season he allowed his assignment to shoot 3.4% better than average.

The Lakers were 4.2 points better on defense when Lonzo was on the court, while during Rubio’s 2nd season, the Timberwolves were only 0.1 points better on the less glamorous side of the ball when Ricky played.

It’s obvious that Lonzo Ball is a better young defensive point guard than Ricky Rubio was during his 2nd and 3rd seasons in the NBA. Lonzo Ball is faster, taller, and more athletic than Rubio, but what really sets him apart from Ricky is his basketball IQ.

Lonzo Ball has the ability to read plays on defense in a way that few other players can, and he uses his talent to jump passing lanes, swerve around screens, and cause wolverine-like havoc on defense.

It’s clear that although Lonzo Ball had similar traditional numbers as Ricky Rubio, the advanced statistics show that Lonzo was a much better young player than Rubio. That’s why before I chose to compare Lonzo Ball to Ricky Rubio I considered using another player whose advanced stats were similar to Lonzo’s; Draymond Green.

In the end, I couldn’t use Draymond Green as Lonzo Ball’s equivalent, because even though Ball has many of the same qualities that Green possesses, Lonzo lacks the attribute that really makes Draymond special: His passion for the game of the basketball.

Green hates losing so badly that if he couldn’t quite reach the ball for a game-saving block, he’d cut off his hand and throw it at the ball just to get the W.

Lonzo and Rubio don’t have that same hunger that courses through Green’s veins. They remind me of my buddy Danny from high school.

Danny was 6’4″, 225 pounds, and faster than most of the guys on the track team. Ever since he was a muscular wrecking ball destroying his peers in pee-wee football, his parents pounded one idea into his head: football was his golden ticket to fame and riches.

He was forced to play football because if he hadn’t suited up, it would have broken his mom and dad’s hearts. The problem was that he hated football. Every time he played, he looked like he wanted to cry. The dude just wanted to be an artist, but he played football because he had no other choice.

I ended up comparing Lonzo to Rubio because both of them look like they want to spout tears when they step on the basketball court just like my friend Danny did when he played football. In fact, Lonzo Ball and Ricky Rubio have such a bleak look in their eyes when they get on the floor it’s easy to confuse them with a pair of white walkers tramping around North of The Wall. Neither of them loves the game of basketball.

Lonzo Ball doesn’t have to breathe fire like Draymond Green. That’s not Lonzo’s personality, but when Ball was named a freshman All-American at UCLA and when he led the Lakers summer league squad to the title in Las Vegas, he played with unrestrained joy.

His love for the game was contagious and Ball’s delight on the basketball court spread to his teammates and led to wins. As a basketball fan I loved what Lonzo Ball brought to the table before he played his first real game for the Lakers.

Then he started his rookie season for the Purple and Gold and Patrick Beverley roughed him up the first time he stepped on the court. Then his dad starting spewing out ridiculous one-liners on a weekly basis. Then Lonzo began to miss wide open shots from deep. Suddenly Lonzo Ball’s smile was gone. His happiness while playing basketball evaporated and in its place a storm formed over his head.

That same storm followed him into his sophomore year in the league. Before an ankle sprain ended Lonzo’s 2018-2019 season prematurely, two things were clear: Lonzo Ball has the talent to become the basketball savant Lakers fans were promised and Lonzo Ball hasn’t enjoyed playing for the Lakers.

If Lonzo Ball continues to improve on offense and he maintains his great play on defense he’ll make it into my 3rd tier of point guards when he hits his prime.

However, if he continues his upward trend on offense and defense AND he finds his love for the game of basketball once again, then the sky’s the limit. He could easily jump into my 2nd tier, or if the stars align, he could end up in my 1st tier of point guards.