LaMelo Ball

[karkinos]

there are so many bad lamelo takes in this thread, lol i love reading them

[DickGrayson]

I still don’t like this kids upside personally. We’ll see but I don’t think he’s going to do any real damage in the league long term. He will have some nice stats but I don’t think it’ll lead to anything. Still say Patrick ‘The Paw’ Williams & Poku have the highest long term upsides from this draft, especially as two way players. It’s too early to say anything tho

Well Lamelo is doing real damage to the league right now......... so you probably haven't actually watched him play a game is what I am guessing.

The hornets are @ .471, he’s not doing anything to the league. They’re about where youd expect them to be after the Hayward signing.

He makes some exciting plays & has put up some good #s for a rookie. However, his style of play is too freewheeling & sloppy to be sustained, and I don’t trust his defense to ever truly come around, at least not without his offensive production taking a huge hit. It’s way too early to say anything anyways, but a Doncic type prospect, he is most certainly not, and I don’t think for one second that anyone will look back at this (overall poor) draft class & be saying that this guy was the best of the lot

Nah.

Hornets are significantly better. They've competed with top teams also. They've made games fun to watch and LaMelo is impactful on both ends of the floor.

LaMelo hasn't even settled yet and is making impact.

Melo style isn't sloppy at all. He just plays free and it helps the Hornets get more open shots. Watch a game. LaMelo the real deal.

[EvanZ]

I still don’t like this kids upside personally. We’ll see but I don’t think he’s going to do any real damage in the league long term. He will have some nice stats but I don’t think it’ll lead to anything. Still say Patrick ‘The Paw’ Williams & Poku have the highest long term upsides from this draft, especially as two way players. It’s too early to say anything tho

Well Lamelo is doing real damage to the league right now......... so you probably haven't actually watched him play a game is what I am guessing.

The hornets are @ .471, he’s not doing anything to the league.

19-18 now. What were you saying?

[amcoolio]

The Hornets would be way better if they had any sort of big on the roster, that's not on LaMelo. I mean Biyombo is technically one of the worst players in the NBA by every statistic. How the Hornets are over .500 playing Biyombo as much as they have is a murder-mystery novel

[oldshoolballer]

This didn't age well lol

[Roddy B for 3]

At 17.1 he played professional PG in Europe
At 18.1 he played professional PG in Australia
At 19.1 (if not for COVID) he will be playing professional PG on his third continent (NBA)

In Australian professional basketball (a higher level than NCAA) his numbers we're:
(listed) 6'7" 181lb
31mpg 2.6fpg
17ppg/6.8apg/7.6rpg/2.3TOpg/.1bpg/1.6apg
Shooting splits of:
3.2 FTApg 72%
6.7 3FGApg 25%
10 2FGApg 45.8%

Looking at those numbers, what SHOULD stick out is:
-Incredible size for position
-Nearly generational rebounding prospect for position
-Extremely great 2point VOLUME AND efficiency
-Terrific apg/to ratio
-EXTREMELY impressive volume assist #'s
- Putrid 3point efficencey
-solid FTA #'s
-FT% projects well but not elite
-REALLY good spg #'s
-extremely questionable block #'s
-very interesting 3point FGA # (But horrible 3%/volume #'s)

Watching the highlights AFTER disecting the #'s
-it's obvious he'll be an elite passer and dribbler. If he plays heavy minutes in the NBA he will be a terrific apg guy.
-hus three point release is among the worst in recent draft memory
-His size is truly elite for the position.
-No reason to doubt his rebounding will be elite for his position
-his steals seem more Iverson than Kwahi (not a huge knock)
-he probably would be a better FTA guy if he wasn't such a wizard passer
-he is very raw defensively, but obviously has tge tools to be REALLY good there

The ONLY part of his offensive game that dosen't SCREAM #1 overall pick is his his three point shooting and pull up midrange shooting. (His defense dosent SCREAM #1 pick but he should be GOOD on that end)

If he can get to bottom 10% of wing all-stars in pull up shooting, spot up three point shooting idk why he wouldn't be a multiple time allstar.

By age 22, I see him around:
19.5ppg/8apg/7rpg/2.5topg/1.5spg/.5bpg
32% from 3 6.5FGApg
80% from FT 5.5 FTApg
39.9% 16.5FGApg
The only big jump here is 3point % from .25 to .32
If you look at his game by game #'s and factor in his age and the league he played in I think geting to .32 from three is very likely.

I think his peak will be #1 guy on a team of the caliber of this years Thunder, Jazz, Pacers, Nuggets, Elton Brands Clippers, This Bulls without Rose, etc. / a team most ESPN analysts are 50/50 on getting out of the 1st round but they could make a conference finals run if a teammate heats up the bracket breaks right.

OR #2/#3 guy on a "super team" competing for championships

Yeah, I'm taking a victory lap on this. Haha

[atlantabbq99]

I think this is the beginning of the end for Lamelo. His career has gone just like i predicted and has been very similar to Lonzo. His flashy play has gotten novice fans over hyping him at the start, but his low IQ and poor defense has resulted in zero team success and alot of injuries. I don't see Lamelo ever playing a 60 or even 70 game season.

[Upperclass]

I think this is the beginning of the end for Lamelo. His career has gone just like i predicted and has been very similar to Lonzo. His flashy play has gotten novice fans over hyping him at the start, but his low IQ and poor defense has resulted in zero team success and alot of injuries. I don't see Lamelo ever playing a 60 or even 70 game season.

Odd take.. Lamelo has a top 5 hoops IQ in the entire league.. offensively and defensively. IMO the team asked him to take his foot off the gas until they are back to a decent rebuild. His injury last year seemed phony, his injury this year seemed legit, but was shutdown to prevent reinjury in a pointless season. He's the type of player you see perform inconsistently until he's traded for a haul or until they've built a competitive lineup around him.. Then he will look like the best PG in the league.

[Big J]

I think this is the beginning of the end for Lamelo. His career has gone just like i predicted and has been very similar to Lonzo. His flashy play has gotten novice fans over hyping him at the start, but his low IQ and poor defense has resulted in zero team success and alot of injuries. I don't see Lamelo ever playing a 60 or even 70 game season.

His low IQ & poor D has resulted in him getting injured? Like wtf is this even?

[KembaWalker]

LaMelo Ball is an incredible player with incredibly bad ankles. If you thought he would bust for his talent, IQ, skill level, shooting or anything else, you were wrong and you’re still wrong. If he gets his ankles sorted he’s right back in the conversation with Edwards and Haliburton for best in his class. He’s a 25/8/8 caliber player when healthy

[JustBuzzin]

I think this is the beginning of the end for Lamelo. His career has gone just like i predicted and has been very similar to Lonzo. His flashy play has gotten novice fans over hyping him at the start, but his low IQ and poor defense has resulted in zero team success and alot of injuries. I don't see Lamelo ever playing a 60 or even 70 game season.

This is a WILD statement.

If this is the end it's 100% because of injuries.

If you paid attention in the 20 games he played this year he was putting up crazy numbers 24ppg/8apg/5rpg ain't nothing the beginning of the end about those stats.