Lonzo Ball Discussion: Bulls

How easily he piles up stats is pretty wild. I expected him to be a solid rebounder, and of course to have decent assist numbers, but I didn’t expect almost double digits in both categories. And if Nance or Ingram could make a layup/shot of any kind, he’d be averaging double digit assists. His teammates have cost him a bunch already that should have been easy ones. Get some shooters around him and look out.

 

Lonzo has only one glaring problem right now - and that is conditioning. I hope he will get used to this by the All-Star game. He looks so winded in the 4th, I almost feel sorry for him. He seems so much slower as the game goes on, it's like watching a totally different player.

 

3 games in 4 nights will do that. He's young, but never experienced that at this level.

 

No, he needs minutes, we have limited depth. He'll just have to push through it. And get stronger in the offseason, because it's not going to happen now.

 

I believe Lonzo would be best next to someone who can create for themselves. It's part of why I liked the idea of him next to Russell so much on the offensive end. Having Lonzo initiate offense, but giving him someone to defer to in the half-court at times is the dream scenario. I thought KCP could be a decent facsimile of that, but I don't know if he has the personality for it. I've been saying it but maybe the perfect fit is Paul George. He's someone who is excellent in catch and shoot situations and he's also capable of creating in the half-court for himself and others when called upon.

I still think Brook can be a good partner, but right now it seems like Luke isn't coaching them to fit together enough. In the half court we get a lot of Brook floating out on the perimeter where he's surprisingly capable for his size, but it's not what we'd be best at. We really need to encourage the ball to flow through Brook on the low block and have cuts off of that. It puts Ingram in the best position and it lets Lonzo space the floor instead of asking him to create which he just isn't suited for yet full time. I love that Brook can pick and pop, but that shouldn't be the play we run most of. We also don't run enough Nance screen and rolls with Brook spacing out... Basically I hate our half-court offensive sets.

A team full of shooters is ideal for anyone in the NBA today, but I don't think it's a requirement and I don't think it's unique to Lonzo. If we get what we want this summer we're going to get at least one max player who can shoot outside. That opens things up for everyone. Even if we don't though, Lonzo just put up an insane stat line against NBA(ish) competition without a team full of shooters. I think he'll be okay.

 

I did but you brought up the key: can he do that consistently? I'm just not sure.