Ball Don't Lie: The LaMelo Ball Thread

Liver_Pooty · Post #941 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 4:29 pm

If Graham continues to shoot poorly Ball may as well eat into his minutes

JMAC3 · Post #942 » by **JMAC3** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 4:47 pm

Graham, Rozier, Ball, Hayward and Biz is a lineup we should see at some point. Offensively that should be very difficult to guard.

Defensively not great but Ball should be able to guard some 3s decently. Biz there to protect rim and grab boards.

Bassman · Post #943 » by **Bassman** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 5:51 pm

JMAC3 wrote:Graham, Rozier, Ball, Hayward and Biz is a lineup we should see at some point. Offensively that should be very difficult to guard.

Defensively not great but Ball should be able to guard some 3s decently. Biz there to protect rim and grab boards.

I really never want to see Hayward lining up against big 4’s.

Robot Rock · Post #944 » by **Robot Rock** » Mon Dec 28, 2020 8:01 pm

I’m not crazy about Terry and LaMelo on the court at the same time. They sort of neutralize one another’s strengths.

euphorbus · Post #945 » by **euphorbus** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 1:04 am

Robot Rock wrote:I’m not crazy about Terry and LaMelo on the court at the same time. They sort of neutralize one another’s strengths.

Can you explain further? I am curious about how this team's chemistry might be improved, especially on defense.

Robot Rock · Post #946 » by **Robot Rock** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:52 am

euphorbus wrote:
Robot Rock wrote:I’m not crazy about Terry and LaMelo on the court at the same time. They sort of neutralize one another’s strengths.

Can you explain further? I am curious about how this team's chemistry might be improved, especially on defense.

Terry and LaMelo need the ball in their hands to be at their most impactful. When LaMelo is playing point, he can distribute it — but while I like Terry’s catch-and-shoot skills, our offense tends to flow exclusively through Terry for large stretches when he’s on the court. It’s fine when LaMelo isn’t out there with him because it offers a different look to defenses, because with LaMelo paired with Devonte you have two excellent passers and, often, Hayward to take shots.

Oh, and Terry and LaMelo equals a free driving lane for opposing guards to penetrate and score or dish when PJ collapses and leaves someone wide open beyond the arc.

JMAC3 · Post #947 » by **JMAC3** » Tue Dec 29, 2020 11:21 pm

Last year Terry rated as a slightly better defender than Graham, this year so far Terry ranks better defensively than Graham, but a small sample size. One would assume that Terry having logged more minutes thus far in his career should be a better team defender then Graham who just now started playing real minutes last season.

I think Monk is probably gone, unless something crazy happens or he takes a super cheap deal from us. Meaning it should be fine to go with Lamelo plus one of Graham/Rozier starting and the other coming off the bench. I really don't know which one it will be yet, but it probably makes more sense to move the guy to the bench who can help carry that unit and not so much worry about the fit with Lamelo. We should replace Monk with a more defensive minded guard to mix in with those three and Hayward and Martin twins can also log minutes at the two guard easily.

LaMelo will hopefully be starting sometime before we reach the 25 game mark. Just with the small amount of minutes he is playing you can feel how much more exciting we are and he has not even played that well yet. As one of youngest players in the league this season, I really do feel like his ceiling is crazy.

DY_nasty · Post #948 » by **DY_nasty** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:12 am

Read on Twitter

Post #949 » by **dakomish23** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:18 am

Glad the kid had this outing. So much unnecessary hate just b/c of his dad.

Robot Rock · Post #950 » by **Robot Rock** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:31 am

How we feeling?

DY_nasty · Post #951 » by **DY_nasty** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:44 am

one day at a time and today is good

Chapelchilla · Post #952 » by **Chapelchilla** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:49 am

I'm feeling like Ball may end up the best Hornet ever.
That may not happen but I like what he is doing so far. More then the hot shooting night (not gonna happen all the time) it is his speed, court sense and hustle. If you watch his off the ball play, he is almost always chasing the action and putting himself in position to get the board or make some little impact. I am super surprised he is this good already but wow, the Hornets are an exciting bunch of hard workers and Ball fits right in.

Chapelchilla · Post #953 » by **Chapelchilla** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:50 am

DY_nasty wrote:one day at a time and today is good

As was the Nets game.

JMAC3 · Post #954 » by **JMAC3** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:03 am

He hit a nice midrange jumper off the bounce tonight too... not a floater.. an actually shot lol

NCHeels2008 · Post #955 » by **NCHeels2008** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:29 am

This is definitely a game where I have to stop myself from getting too excited, loved how he looked

geraldwallace · Post #956 » by **geraldwallace** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:55 am

Robot Rock wrote:How we feeling?

He’s a project for sure but he has the tools to really be special

The thought of what he could be in 2-3 years with 20-30 more lbs of muscle, more NBA coaching and a better shot is exciting

geraldwallace · Post #957 » by **geraldwallace** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:58 am

JMAC3 wrote:He hit a nice midrange jumper off the bounce tonight too... not a floater.. an actually shot lol

He seems to be taking it to the hole with strength more now which is something he’ll be able to keep
improving on as he adds muscle and gets more comfortable with NBA defenses.

I’m sure he’s bound to get cold on those deep 3s soon but he’s clearly not a Ben Simmons level awful shooter like many had claimed during the draft

Liver_Pooty · Post #958 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 7:06 am

I'm way more confident in him taking 3s right now than I am Graham thats for sure

Hornet Mania · Post #959 » by **Hornet Mania** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:56 pm

2020 ends with a headline on Rotoworld that I thought I would never see:

"LaMelo Ball outplays Luka Doncic in blowout win"

Post #960 » by **BigSlam** » Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:03 pm

Liver_Pooty wrote:I'm way more confident in him taking 3s right now than I am Graham thats for sure

I am not. One game does not maketh the man!

And Melo's form changed on every 3PA that he took last night - from shortening he release from shot to shot, to sometimes shooting it from an almost crouched position, to kicking his legs out sometimes and not others to sometimes landing forward and sometimes landing back.