Such a silly draft. Tatum is improving, too. I don't think he's the superstar some claim he will be, but I thought he was the best basketball player in the draft at the time. For a team that has drafted so we'll, we sure missed it here... although, Tatum might have been traded, too. Lol.
It’s interesting how little spotlight is on him now in NO though. The Lakers pressure/spotlight is real, players have to be ready to/able to deal with it.
maybe it’s low-hanging fruit at this point, but I think Magic’s influence was at play there. Great narrative to the ball pick, but it lacked substance. or maybe our scouts only nail late picks. All the better, tbh.
he's been shooting the ball a lot better (because of course he changes his shot once he leaves LA) but his biggest problem is staying healthy he's missed the last handful of games with a groin injury and it looks like he might be out a little while longer than expected
Has dips*** Lavar started in on Gentry yet that if he’d stop taking Lonzo out of games and not coaching him incorrectly .... he wouldn’t be injured?
highly doubt lavar is gonna say much while lonzo is in NO his antics won't get nearly the same run as they did with the LA media
What's sad is with Zion (who's also hurt) and Ingram and Ball, they have the ability to fight it out with Mavs in 3-4 seasons from now. BUt they'll never really be much more than a 45 win team because none of them can stay healthy. And it's a trend at this point with Ball and Ingram. They're just too fragile.
Lonzo is learning that he had it good when he was here in LA. Unfortunately he wasn't able to live up to the weight of expectations here. Hope he can rediscover himself in NOLA. He needs to just stay out of the limelight and work on his game and get better. No noise in NOLA so perfect spot for him at this time in his career.
ingram gets hurt thru playing, zo gets hurt doing basically nothing n guys here were tricking themselves into thinking how good he would be with advanced stats. in reality hes just a high lvl role player who cant do much on O besides chucking 3s
Lonzo is in his 3rd season. If he hasn't come around next season, what you see is what you get. Look at BI...he was terrible too when he started his career...the guy showed improvements every year. They weren't as big a jump as you see now with NO but he kept building, he never went backwards except his 3 point shooting last year. Lonzo has not shown enough improvements. His stats have been the same from day one, his rate of DNP has been the same. His percentages have slightly improved this season on a tiny sample size but that doesn't justify real improvements. His percentages went from totally unacceptable to unacceptable. He is shooting 38% FG/34% 3FG and 60% from the line. I'm sorry, for a modern day PG these are still unacceptable. For him no progress equals regress because with increasing age his ceiling gets lower and lower. Beside that he is averaging 11/4/6...whooohooo. Steals and blocks are way down too compared to his LA days. Thats good enough for a late first rounder but not good enough for a #2 pick with the lofty expectations his father created for him.
his three point shot not translating from college killed his value. he really is an outstanding team defender, though. but what can you do with that and the hoop iq if the other team doesn't have to guard him? it's not even like young rondo, who could at least get to the rim and finish in the halfcourt.
^Lonzo isn't worthless. He definitely has value with his D and his passing ability, which is undisputed. Thats a far cry from a superstar though. He will be a role player. People like Marcus Smart have shown that you can stick around and make good money, even if you suck at getting buckets! He still needs health and he needs to get rid of the high expectations. I think even now the expectations are too high. Nobody expected Smart to be a star and he isn't and no one is bothered. With Lonzo though, if his ceiling is Marcus Smart, that would have been a massive disappointment if you had told me that. He needs to find a way for people to appreciate what he does without craving for what he could be but ultimately never became. Tough ride. His dad screwed him.
or he helped pump his value to the #2 pick in the draft, guaranteeing him what, 30 million dollars in the process. i mean, a big part of why lots of folks got duped was a pretty consistently crafted narrative, conceived well in advance.
Is Ball not starting now because of an injury or did they just demote him to the bench because he wasn't the best answer for that team??
