Lonzo Ball: Bust or Baller?

Madmick said:
And here I thought my crowning achievement was feeding you deez nutz over your Lonzo Ball prediction.

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He's like Kobe minus the talent and the rape.

Kobe-Girl.jpeg
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GTFIH and admit your error.
 
Bay Area said:
I feel bad for the kid. He really looked fucked up at the presser. Like he was on the verge of tears. At first I was routing against him because of his light skin. But now I really want him to dominate. He needs to look for opportunities, and not just pass it to the nearest guy on the floor. Initiate the offense. Drive and breakdown the Defense. Do something other than bring the ball up the court, and pass it to the nearest can.

He looks really messed up inside.

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Crazy troll job there. I like how you made that a sentence all alone. Lol keep it going!
 
Did he cry in the postgame ceremony?
 
All i wanna know is, how do you say pork chop drawers on national tv and keep a stone cold, straight face. That's some G shit, right dur
 
Lonzo nearly put up a triple double. Meanwhile Fultz is going 2 for 9 in 17 minutes off the bench.

But Lonzo's the bust.

{<diva}
 
DangDaGawd said:
Lonzo nearly put up a triple double. Meanwhile Fultz is going 2 for 9 in 17 minutes off the bench.

But Lonzo's the bust.

{<diva}
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People know fultz is shit, Ball already breaking records in his 2nd game.

Just give him his 7 rings and be down with it.
 
2 games in and he's already better than Colby. Lavar bless.
 
06Q90TQ.jpg


Kings playing .500 ball for the first time in years. Watch out bitches.
 
Martian 2.0 said:
While defense is overvalued at the PG position it still plays a huge role in the other teams execution. Lonzos biggest hindrance at this point is his jump shot and FT %. 15 years ago he could be elite with his skill set but the game has evolved. Jason Kidd is Rubio in today's game of perimeter scoring and defending the half court.
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The Rubio comparison seems to be more apt unless he fixes that jump shot.

Wait till Clay Thompson lays the blanket on him.
 
LOL, oh, I see.

We're not gonna talk about it.
 
Madmick said:
LOL, oh, I see.

We're not gonna talk about it.
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He is playing at bust level. But he still has potential to be a good pg. He needs to find his nuts. Because right now he looks like a deer in headlights. I want to see him break down the defense by going to the basket and kicking the ball out. Currently he just stands around the perimeter watching the game. I wonder how much patience Magic has though
 
Bay Area said:
He is playing at bust level. But he still has potential to be a good pg. He needs to find his nuts. Because right now he looks like a deer in headlights. I want to see him break down the defense by going to the basket and kicking the ball out. Currently he just stands around the perimeter watching the game. I wonder how much patience Magic has though
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Unlimited patience. Magic is not being a GM, he's being a businessman and he knows that Lonzo is good for Jeanie's business. Even the Lakers fans will blame everyone but Lonzo and keep showing up.

Lavar has pulled off a masterful conjob.
 
Bay Area said:
He is playing at bust level. But he still has potential to be a good pg. He needs to find his nuts. Because right now he looks like a deer in headlights. I want to see him break down the defense by going to the basket and kicking the ball out. Currently he just stands around the perimeter watching the game. I wonder how much patience Magic has though
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To speak more seriously, for a moment, I'm not sure if I agree that he is a bust-- at least not a complete bust.

He actually does have promising star potential if Walton and the Lakers will just allow themselves to step outside of their and Lavar Ball's marketing machine, for a moment, to realize that he is never going to be Michael Jordan. He isn't a great scorer, and I don't think I see the foundation for him to ever be that. That jump shot, which is a big part of what concerned me, is one of the biggest reasons-- as a symptom. It speaks to the greater problem that his father presents.

Did you guys follow the story about his younger brother? There was a great USA Today piece on it:
It's official: LaVar Ball is worst sports parent ever
So the last coach this kid at his high school Lavar and the kid didn't like, and they got him fired. The school brought in a new coach. The new coach wasn't a spineless twerp, though, and wasn't having any of this "inmates running the prison" (sorry, couldn't resist, read nothing into it) attitude either. He said, "This 50 shots a game nonsense is going to stop." 50 shots a game? 50 shots a FUCKING game?! In high school??!!! That's like 85% of your shots!

So what does Lavar do? He pulls the kid out of school. Now, I don't see how this makes Lavar the "worst sports dad ever", OMG, the rampant hyperbole in today's journalism. I think it's bad for his sons' athletic careers and potential, but I greatly prefer Scott Brooks' recent take defending Lavar:


There's a much healthier perspective. But the greater problem I see, when I see that shot of Lonzo's, who clearly had an incredible wealth of training resources around him growing up, is someone who refused to learn, and refused to listen. Given, that's not always the case, because Shaq spent a million hours with the greatest shooting coaches, and it didn't matter, while guys like Shawn Marion mostly made unorthodoxy work throughout their careers, because no single way is the right way for everybody, but generally, when I see those kinds of mechanics, I see someone who either wasn't willing, or didn't have the discipline, to seriously take instruction.

Now Luke is benching the kid (and the rest of the starters) in a tight, winnable game in the fourth quarter simply to prove a point: he is the coach. He is the authority. What do you think the chatter has been in practice-- the tone of the team dynamic behind closed doors-- for him to be doing that this early in the season?

It's telling.

Lonzo is a great rebounding point guard who has the long, tall frame to harness his fantastic court vision in a way that big bodies like only Magic Johnson could do. I'm talking about his little windmill-like lateral scoop passes over his head, across the shoulder, just over the top of a defender between him and the guy he is dumping to on the other side of the key, as they approach the basket in parallel in a 2v1 situation. It's fantastic. It really does remind me of Magic. Furthermore, John Stockton couldn't make that pass even though he was one of the few who could see it. He simply wasn't tall enough. He also didn't present the same threat going at a contested hoop that someone will Lonzo's athleticism and height does.

Assist to turnover ratio is pretty poor, right now, but that's par for the course with rookies. Production is very good. What he needs to stop doing is trying to be the league's leading scorer, but there isn't a hint of that attitude. No, instead we get the Vladimir Radmanovic response:



Uggghh. What's worse, while even Magic was never trying to score like this, the league is far, far, far less hospitable to this type of scoring than it was when Magic played. The Moneyball 3PT game shattered that. The playoffs is never going to forgive this type of scorer with guys like Curry and Durant around. You simply can't have that great a volume of your points coming from that inefficient a scorer.

He needs to find a great, efficient scorer; maybe someone who isn't terribly great at a lot of other things, but can be his finisher. It's possible that Lonzo could still be the "alpha male" of the team, so to speak, like Magic, averaging well under 20ppg. Maybe not. Maybe he will have to accept being the #2 if he wants to be part of a dynasty. In any case, he'll never be Michael Jordan: a shadow he couldn't possibly fill.

What a tragedy, amirite?


Oh yeah, before I forget.
Palis said:
Takes Lakers to playoffs in first season.
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