I’m probably the biggest Zo fan here, but yeah his shot concerns me. That’s it. He is still an excellent passer / rebounder / defender for a 21 year old PG at the toughest position to learn. But, 2 points in 2 games is not going to cut it in today’s NBA. It is something mental because he shot much more consistently in college. I don’t remember the air ball thing at UCLA. I think the Fultz comparison makes sense because he was a dominant scorer in college. They both have a serious confidence issue. I hope he finds his way. He really could be the perfect PG for a LeBron / KD / AD team, but he’s got to get his head right.
Expectations on Ball are completely different given their draft positions. That's just how this works. We're focusing on Ball's issues here because its the Ball thread. Pointing out that someone else is struggling isn't really much of a defense of Ball.
C'mon now... The FO knew that they could get him in free agency and were not going to give up the farm for him. The FO would have been vilified for doing that. You know that as well as I do. PG said he wanted to go to LA so why would they trade everything for him? The Lakers made the absolute right move here. Hindsight is 20/20 so to sit there are say "Paul George" is a cop out.
I'm not sure if you are directing this at me but it doesn't matter whether this is a Ball only thread. We are having a discussion and comparisons are bound to happen because the individual players make a team. How those pieces fit in and perform will undoubtedly trigger a comparative analysis.
Yeah not talking about his shooting. Talking about his overall impact on the game and mental ability. He can and has been a game changer, without scoring, but he is looking lost and weak. Last year he averaged 10/7/7 with 34mpg, this year he is averaging 8/5/5 on 26mpg. This was the year he was supposed to be averaging 12/9/7 or something like that. Less minutes, less of a major role, and whatever is going on in his personal life is causing this slump if you wanna call it that, but I 100% believe it has something to do with this new roster.
FO knew NOTHING, all the rumors made us look stupid at the end, these "untouchable" label is dumb AF when we're dealing for stars. We're lucky James for whatever reason came (purely wasn't basketball reasons) or we'd be stuck in medicority still
I usually like what you post Khmrp and I respect your opinion but the comment, "Kuz wasn't a #2 pick, expectations aren't that high for him" just doesn't hold water for me. These guys are now part of the Lakers and from day 1 these guys are expected to perform. The fact that Kuz plays horrible D and doesn't rebound shouldn't exonerate him from performance expectations. I can't imagine they are in a coaches meeting and Luke says: "I know Kuz was a lower 1st round draft pick so it's okay that he doesn't play D or rebound." If these guys want to play and start they need to produce regardless of their draft position. The slate starts clean and each of these guys has to earn it every day! Regarding Zo... there are many things he brings to the table. Offense, from a scoring standpoint, is not one of them right now. So, Zo deserves the criticism he is receiving. I'd like to see him drive to the basket more especially the other night against Miami where he blew past his defender, had a path right to the basket and instead chose to shoot a 12 footer that missed. I said aloud: "Why?! That's not your game!" Anyway... those are my thoughts.
Several folks have said something similar so I'm talking about the whole viewpoint. It makes it seem like people are picking on Ball when they aren't. His overall play has been lacking and people are commenting on it. When you score two points in two games, it will be discussed and that discussion is fair.
What?! George requested a trade to the Lakers. The FO felt they had a good shot at him in free agency... don't you remember Magic getting fined for alluding to that? You don't think that info was back channeled to the Lakers FO? C'mon man!
thats fine, then Kuz should get the business too, he doesn't reb and he's a poor defender. Ball/Zo are still disappointments as far as being a #2 picks are concerned to me. I kept getting hated on when I brought up Fox/Tatum last yr and everybody kept saying how Zo was a generational talent and once in a decade type player, my a** he is
yea it was back channeled so we would TRADE for him and he used that against us in the end because we didn't trade for him
I agree with you completely. I'm not sure why we're debating that...LOL! I agree that his play has been lackluster. The lack of aggression on O is super frustrating because I feel like he needs to be driving to basket even if it means collapsing the defense so he can use that phenomenal court vision to make a pass. He settles for threes way too often.
@Big Mamma Jamma Don't get me wrong. I like Ball. I think he could definitely be a really good player. But I expected him to really step up and stake his claim at the starting position. There's still time for him to do so, but I can't lie. I'm disappointed with these first few games without Rondo.
Me too. For me, the real big disappointment is his unwillingness to drive to the basket. He's such a good ball handler and has elite court vision, this guy could wreak havoc on defenses by just driving to the rim more often... I remember watching Steve Nash in his prime with Phoenix... He would drive and if nothing was there at the rim he would just circle back out to about 12 feet and attack again and inevitably someone was cutting or he would hit an easy jumper. If Lonzo could to that more it would open up things greatly and get him and others easy looks. Right now, Lonzo settles for jumpers, which are not his strength. It's like the guy abhors contact. Opposing Ds give those shots to him too because he doesn't hit them with any regularity...
