by Andrew on Fri Nov 10, 2017 10:14 am
What was more bewildering was Mark Jackson praising Lonzo Ball's defense during the Celtics game (though Jackson does have a tendency to say stupid things). He looked absolutely putrid at that end of the floor against Boston. Sure, Kyrie's a difficult player to guard, but he wasn't even getting out of first gear to blow by Ball. On a couple of plays, he practically just casually jogged by him. I guess it's no surprise; as previously noted, Ball couldn't even blow by Kendall Marshall in the Summer League, so his athleticism is a long way from being above average by NBA standards. He did get quite a few blocks, but he was getting beaten a lot, too.
They eventually switched Clarkson onto Irving, but the fact they have to hide Ball defensively doesn't bode well for his acumen at that end of the floor. With his lack of speed and lateral quickness compared to other players at his position, I doubt he's ever going to have the tools to match up with the elite point guards in the league. His instincts can probably get better and he might not get lost as much as he did against the Celtics, but right now, it seems like defense is a huge weakness for him.
Going back to his shooting, it's puzzling how analysts are dismissing his poor field goal percentage as irrelevant. Referring back to Mark Jackson again, he called it "the least of (Luke Walton's) worries". How is shooting 29.5% from the field, 23.1% from three-point range, and 53.8% from the free throw line, not a concern? We're eleven games into the season; that's not just a couple of bad outings at the beginning of the year skewering the numbers. He's absolutely stunk shooting the ball in nine of his games so far. His best efforts have been a game in which he shot 46% (6/13), and 44% (12/27). Apart from that, he's only cracked 30% in a game once. A point guard who shoots like Shaq from the foul line is also a liability. Rajon Rondo's been called out for his poor shooting for years, and rightfully so. I really don't see how Ball's shooting isn't at least of some concern.
He's also still up there in terms of the players who are getting blocked the most, and most of the players on that list who bigs who spend more time in the paint (matched up against other bigs, obviously), and players who take a lot more shots than he does. If nothing else, there's still a lot of room for improvement.
Sure, you could say that of most any rookie, and to that end you might say that people are being too hard on Lonzo Ball, but consider the hype. Consider the trash his father has talked. Consider the dismissal of any and all criticism of him as "hating". When you do that and come into the league with that much hype, you've set the bar very high with some lofty expectations. This is the NBA; you're earning the big bucks and you're positioned as the future star of the franchise to boot, so you're going to be under the microscope. If you don't live up the hype or simply have a horrible game, you're going to be criticised. You don't get to enjoy all the hype, and deflect any criticism when you fall short of it. It's early days, sure, but there are parts of Lonzo's game that look rather suspect.