DRAFT TALK Thread: Looking Like Lonzo

Tough call I think we're getting an average player and two prospects for an average player and one of the best combo guards in league history through same age. I probably don't do it. I'm happy to be up front about this: I'm about as high on Russell as I am on anyone else on the team, including Ingram (whom I wouldn't trade under any reasonable scenario).

 

I'm watching film on the UCLA/Washington game that Fultz/Ball matched up in.

- Ball accepts the challenge early in guarding Fultz to good results. Fultz doesn't hit a shot on Ball in one-on-one situations early on. However, whenever Ball is screened, he is completely taken out of the play and Fultz scores a couple times. Washington is a pretty bad team and they are insanely dependent on Fultz to produce. Ball does an excellent job early and at around 12 minutes to go in the 1st half, the Huskies had just 6 points. Later in the half as Fultz gets more and more involved and more into it, he does end up hitting a shot or two on Ball.

- Early on you see good signs from both Ball and Fultz as off-ball defenders. Lots of balls poked loose, good signs as off-the-ball defenders in the NBA. Fultz does not start the game defending Ball. The Huskies use a zone most of the time to cover some of their crappy players so Fultz is more aloof on that end.

- Fultz, whether Ball was part of the reason or not, was not very engaged early. He didn't push much offensively, didn't impact the game defensively, deferred the ball often. On the other hand, Ball was all over the place. He deflected multiple passes, was taking open shots, and was very active on the glass. He had a nice lob to Leaf early on as well. This game is one of the main ones that really shaped my questions regarding Fultz's heart. He just didn't step into the challenge at all to start the game.

- Fultz has some terrific ability offensively. He split a double early in the game that was NBA ready. He's got eye popping scoring ability that should translate pretty well. When Fultz wasn't being guarded by Ball (UCLA went to zone every now and then), the Bruins doubled Fultz out of the zone. In my opinion Fultz passed too much out of that double, but he did show the ability to dribble out of the double, rise, and nail a jumper over the defender. He also attacked the zone well. Fultz changes speeds nicely; partly because he takes it easy at times so people don't expect it and partly because he has NBA athleticism.

- The talent level of Leaf over the bigs from Washington is... shocking.

- Fultz also not a good FT shooter. Finished the year at 64.5% and started the game 0-3 at the line. For reference Fox finished 73.9%, Lonzo finished 67.3%, Dennis Smith Jr. finished 71.5%, Malik Monk is at 82.2%. For fun, Kidd shot 65.7% as a freshman.

This is all at the half. I'm going to stop here for now.

 

^^^ I watched that game. I think Ball got caught up in the Ball vs Fultz drama by taking a 3 that was about 5 - 8 feet behind the line (and making it). Overall, I thought he outplayed Fultz, although both played really good. With the quality of teammates being overwhelmingly in UCLAs favor, I'm not sure how that affected it the one-on-one debate.

 

I thought Ball outplayed Fultz as well in basically every aspect, even going into the 2nd half when Fultz took a little more of the challenge on. There was an interaction where Ball and Fultz traded threes. It sort of woke Fultz up from a sleep, but obviously at that point the game was well out of hand.

That to me is the big question mark on Fultz: does he know when to turn it on? I mean he'll never be mistaken for Russell Westbrook out there, that's for sure. I think he takes plays off way too often for my liking. He makes Russell and Randle look like non-stop workhorses.

However, when he does turn it on, he's tremendous offensively. He shows a skillset that I just don't remember when I saw last in college. I mean Rose and Wall were electric, but they relied heavily on athleticism. Maybe Kyrie, but he only played a handful of games. I just don't know what it'd take to get him to play at that level every game. Maybe it was just because he knew his team had no shot and he didn't want to hurt himself just to prove a point, but that's not the type of competitor I want on this team.

This is the second game though that really helped quiet concerns of Ball being a defensive liability. Ball has the tools to be a very competent defender. He's certainly not a "non defender" although his effort on screens is probably my least favorite thing about him. His effort on screens is worse than Russell's. Still, overall he does fine and in a team concept he'll do just fine as well.

 

In my opinion it's because he's careless. I think he has the ability. Hes also a tough shot maker which I think is underrated. I have really high hopes and expectations for Russell this season though.

 

Then go to the first half of the other time they played. And in the second half, UCLA's shooters came through.

 

Russ and Ingram both have the capacity to be good ISO players. Russ sure seems more able to get better looks right now. I haven't checked the stats. Ingram can create off the dribble, but he's great on the go, receiving a pass, or on mismatches. He'll get better though. His length and first step will make him hard to guard in ISO.

 

He hasn't used it as an excuse, so I'm not going to either. But I don't doubt it had a part in it. A bigger part is the big guy (Welsh) was in foul trouble most of the game. That kid had the highest FG% in the nation and was a big part of their offense and clogging the lane on defense. Once he was on the bench, Fox was able to drive and it just snowballed out of control. They clogged the middle and Monk went off. One thing in Ball's favor is Monk was going off and Ball started guarding him and that instant offense got shut off. Of course, Fox continued doing his thing. Side note: Monk reminds me of Vinny the Microwave Johnson, except he has more range.