The Potential of Lonzo Ball

Lonzo Ball is a potentially great player with an unusual amount of baggage. Should the Philadelphia 76ers be interested in his potential?

“When asked how long he has been working on the design of Lonzo’s shoe, Ball said, ‘I’ve been working on that shoe ever since my boys were born.'”

The above quote is from LaVar Ball and is part of Darren Rovell’s article detailing how LaVar’s unrealistic demands lead to Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas all choosing not to sign Lonzo to a shoe deal, and might be the perfect example of LaVar’s mind set when it comes to his children. LaVar openly admits that moments after the birth of first son he was already dreaming of ways to make money off of his son’s success. Luckily for LaVar, his son Lonzo is good enough to possibly make his wildest dreams come true.

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A Royal Pain

I say possibly, because I don’t see Lonzo ever becoming a huge NBA superstar. I expect him to make at least one All-Star during his career, but I view his best-case scenario as the third best player on a championship team or the Chris Bosh/Kevin Love role. Lonzo lacks the quickness to become the best player or point guard in the NBA. Elite level NBA point guards are expected to drive past their man on a consistent basis and it’s unlikely Lonzo will ever be able to do that.

Lonzo’s 14.6 points per game is no where close to projected top 2017 pick and point guard Markelle Fultz’s 23.2 points per game. Lonzo’s points per game were also less than De’Aaron Fox (16.7 points per game) and Dennis Smith (18.1 points per game) the other point guards likely to be selected in the top ten. Lonzo wasn’t even the second best scorer on his UCLA team behind TJ Leaf (16.3 points per game) and Bryce Alford (15.5 points per game).

Defense is also one of Lonzo’s weaknesses, but unlike his offensive issues, he should be able to improve over time. With a height of 6’6″ and a 6’7″ wingspan, Lonzo has the length to guard faster point guards if he improves his awareness. The NCAA Tournament game that UCLA lost to Kentucky 86 to 75 was the perfect example of Lonzo’s defensive issues. Kentucky point guard De’Aaron Fox scored a career high 39 points while making 65 percent of his shots with Lonzo guarding him. While Lonzo can be expected to play bad defense in his rookie season, a point guard is much easier to hide on defense than a center like Jahlil Okafor and many players came into the NBA playing horrible defense and eventually became good defenders like Robert Covington.

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Lonzo’s lack of quickness and bad defense doesn’t change the fact that he is a very good NBA prospect with amazing passing and great shooting despite one of the ugliest shooting forms you’ll ever see from a good 3-point shooter. Lonzo’s 7.6 assists per game lead the entire NCAA and he made 41 percent of his 3-point shots while taking 194 3-pointers. In fact 57 percent of all of his shots came from behind the 3-point line.

Lonzo is one of the best passer I’ve ever seen, and his passing is the main reason UCLA improved so much over the past season. The 2016-17 UCLA team scored 12 more points per game, completed 5 more assists per game, and won 16 more games than the Lonzo-less 2015-16 UCLA team. While I don’t expect Lonzo to every become this good, his 14.6 points, 7.6 assists, and 6 rebounds per game is comparable to future Hall of Famer and current Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd‘s lone season at the University of California where he averaged 14.9 points, 8.4 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game, so there is good reason to have faith in Lonzo’s abilities.

There’s also good reason to have faith that Lonzo’s father LaVar will be a distraction. While most people reading this have probably already heard at least one of LaVar’s ridiculous statements, I recommend everyone read Andrew Joseph’s article showing ten of LaVar’s craziest quotes – this article was posted in March and LaVar seems to say something crazy every week, so your favorite or most hated LaVar quote might be missing. There’s little hope that LaVar will shut up and allow his son’s play to be the main attraction once Lonzo is in the NBA, but LaVar’s attention seeking antics shouldn’t keep the Sixers or any team from selecting Lonzo.

More Draft: A Case for Lonzo Ball

In order to win games, fans, analysts, and teams will excuse players for many terrible things, but having a father we don’t like is where we draw the line? I’m not a fan of LaVar, but I understand what he’s doing to an extent. LaVar’s biggest sports accomplishment was being a practice squad player for the New York Jets, yet he and his opinions are shown on ESPN often and his over-the-top persona is the main reason why.

As long as the media rewards LaVar’s actions with the attention he craves, he will continue to do those same actions. And based on how much we see LaVar, I can only assume LaVar is good for ratings and page views, making LaVar’s relationship with the media consensual. None of this changes the fact that Lonzo appears to be a good person and teammate, and despite what his father does publicly, was raised to become the good person and teammate he is.

Next: Malik Monk's Skills are a Perfect Fit

There’s a lot for a team that has the chance to draft Lonzo Ball to consider, but if Lonzo happen be there when it’s time for the Sixers to make their pick, all they should consider is that they’ve found the final piece to help Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons lead Philadelphia to a championship someday.