JC, Russell, and Ingram struggled their first Summer League games and we had the same concerns and panic. @Weezy actually made that point yesterday in the GT thread, and he's right. Let's see if he bounces back tonight...
I don't know. Admittedly, I'm just not a fan of this kid. I don't think I can be impartial. Just as people who wanted Okafor over Russell; a lot of those same people never grew to dislike Russel from the outsetl and some even hated him. I don't hate Ball, but I don't like his game. I'm going to bow out of this thread for awhile.
You're allowed to not like his game. I think once he gets comfortable he's going to win people that don't like his game over though. It's summer league, I don't take a lot from it. This kid, like Ingram, will require patience. A couple of posters going overboard saying he's an immediate impact player that will take us to the playoffs doesn't make that true or change the fact that patience is the reality.
I was one of those guys who was displeased about taking DLO over Okafor, and you were one of the main folks calming me down, reassuring me that DLO was going to be a really good player. So I'll do the same and counsel patience. I happen to really like Ball's game and I believe he will do what he was intended to do for the Lakers: run the offense. He's going to be terrific at it. But we are definitely going to need other pieces in order to have success. We're going to have to pick up more shooters. I'm not sure JC or Randle are going to cut it as starters for the future. We'll see.
I dont want to be capt obvious but we run the 1st game jitter reasons for ball but so far the other 4 from the top 5 picks have showed well from day 1, Fultz, Jackson, Tatum, Fox didn't have issues but obviously their strengths are different than Ball. For fox, those saying he can't shoot but man can that guy get to the rack with ease
i actually love the theory of ball's game; i just never saw it the way his supporters do. that said, it wasn't like i had a guy i DEFINITELY wanted to draft instead (i wanted to trade down or out--i think the lakers actually did, too). he's a laker now, so i'm pulling for him and hoping the folks who are completely sold are absolutely right.
Look I'm not trying to make excuses, but again, it's summer league. It's one game. And all those other guys you listed didn't have the pressure to be the face and savior of the Los Angeles Lakers put on them by Magic freaking Johnson. They didn't come out to a packed arena for a summer league game and have the crowd go nuts when they even touched the ball. The pressure of being a Laker is different, we saw how harshly and imo unfairly D Russ was treated.
fox looked good in the bit i saw; guys with his profile (super athletic, questionable long range shooters) tend to look better in the nba than in college. summer league is also a good setting for rim-attacking guards, as the back line d is nowhere near what they see in the nba. i actually didn't expect ball to look great in summer league.
I dont think ball needs shooters, we need more more motion and screens for back cuts and curls, not every team can be full of shooters like gsw or clev, just have to adjust, look at det they didnt have a bunch of 3pt. shooters, they had really good mid range shooters
oh, i think he does. shooters draw folks out of driving and passing lanes. he had that in spades at ucla.
Yep. He'll have the necessary space to probe the defense and make things happen with or without the ball.
Ball shot poorly.. I actually was impressed with the intuitive way he moves the ball though. How many easy shots did he create (that he didn't get an assist for) just by pushing the ball up the floor or initiating the offense quickly? I know that's not a highlight reel skillset, but it's gonna play huge dividends once the Team gets used to playing with him & we surround him with better shooters. I won't blast a kid because his shot wasn't falling in his first Summer League game.
The loud majority of Lakers fans are the ones that buy into Magic essentially labeling Ball as the Lakers savior, they are also the same ones that will trash Ball if he doesn't live up to such lofty expectations right away. His talents will take time to adapt to the NBA and he will look better with better teammates around him. More athletic guys will thrive in summer league games, similar to the G-League where its more of a glorified pick up game. I wasn't a Ball guy pre-draft and post draft but I'm willing to keep an open mind. Heck I wasn't a fan of drafting DAR over Okafor but he became my favorite current Laker. Lets give this guy a fair chance and temper the +20 wins hype.
Never said hes a scrub but when you say some of the stuff you said bout ball you should man up to it, i was even wondering how you even predict stuff like winning by 20 in a summer league gm....that rarely happens
