For all the criticism Lonzo Ball has faced in his three years in the league, his jump in production last season was the highlight of Ball’s upward trajectory as a player. A player that constantly is found in the gym, Ball’s hard work started to show tangible results last season.
His development didn’t go unnoticed as Stan Van Gundy talked about his point guard during his media availability on Monday.
“I think Lonzo’s got some things that he does at an extremely high level. There’s no one in the league that throws the ball ahead to people in transition the way Lonzo does. No one who sees it any better, nobody who’s as willing to deliver the ball up the floor as quickly as he does. So, if you’re willing to run, if you’re willing to be a guy who gets down the floor, you’re going to get a lot of chances to attack because of that ability that Lonzo has.
Then, in the halfcourt, I mean what he did last year in shooting the ball, both the percentage he shot from three at just under 38% and on a high volume gives us great, great spacing on the floor for our other guys.”
On a per-game basis, only four players averaged more passes than Ball’s 66.2. As a result, Ball ranked highly in assists, potential assists and secondary assists per game as well. His shooting improvements have been well-documented as his shooting percentages jumped from the low 30s to the high 30s.
Arguably the only thing that held him back last year was the same thing that has held him back year after year in injuries. Despite playing a personal-best number of games in a single season, Ball still missed 11 of the first 19 games. He did, however, play the final 52 games of the season before sitting out the finale.
If Ball can continue improving and be available at a higher rate next season, he could be one of the keys to the team making a potential playoff push.
