Lamelo Ball has been going absolutely STUPID this season

[amcoolio]

lol. Good argument. So LaMelo is as good as Harden?

Well through 5 games he's about the same as Harden was (actually better nuumbers) when Harden was 23 and harden ended up 8th in MVP voting that year. I'm not projecting Ball to keep this up all season, but if he does even if he's a poor defender he can be a Top 10 player if Harden was 8th in MVP voting despite his defense.

That season Harden had a 5.6 BPM, 0.206 WS/48. Ball is at 3.8 and 0.120. Harden was a serviceable defender with a 1.0 DPM. Ball is -1.0. They are not even close. Looking at points per game doesn’t really tell you much.

Who was Harden playing with?? List them. Then list who Ball is playing with

[brackdan70]

Well through 5 games he's about the same as Harden was (actually better nuumbers) when Harden was 23 and harden ended up 8th in MVP voting that year. I'm not projecting Ball to keep this up all season, but if he does even if he's a poor defender he can be a Top 10 player if Harden was 8th in MVP voting despite his defense.

That season Harden had a 5.6 BPM, 0.206 WS/48. Ball is at 3.8 and 0.120. Harden was a serviceable defender with a 1.0 DPM. Ball is -1.0. They are not even close. Looking at points per game doesn’t really tell you much.

Who was Harden playing with?? List them. Then list who Ball is playing with

Why?
Any argument comparing LaMelo to Harden is to ludicrous to consider.
He is a good player but let’s try to be realistic.

[Infinite Llamas]

A guard with the most fouls in the league. That’s pretty insane actually.

[bledredwine]

I used to follow all three Ball brothers in highschool and while Lonzo was the most fundamentally sound, Lamelo always had by far the most popoff potential. He’d randomly go for huge games and even had seventy plus in one.

It was just a question if he could be efficient in this league for me. Unfortunately, health has been an issue.

[Diop]

A guard with the most fouls in the league. That’s pretty insane actually.

new coach has him trying on defense, he's gotta learn to defend without fouling, but i sort of see it as a positive.

previously to avoid foul trouble he would just let his opponent go by. its a work in progress, he will get there.
he's not happy being just a chucker, he wants to be a complete player.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

I feel like there's a secret covenant (made up of almost all of realgm) and you're not allowed to admit Lamelo is a ridiculously talented basketball player or something. But that Timberwolves guy who's afraid to touch the paint is the next Jordan.

[Darth Celtic]

He is the worst defender on the court every game for both sides. Celtics just made him switch and easily fouled him out. He does so many dumb fouls. Another reason they ain't winning

[316Hornets]

The sad thing is because Lamelo is so great and has a set of skills that few other players have, along with the fanfare, the league will almost assuredly force Lamelo into a bigger market. It'll be simple things like not getting foul calls for him or teammates, not getting any attention from the media, and negative rumors. The only way I don't see this happening is if Charlotte lucks into another franchise player so that the team is able to compete in the playoffs.

[JustBuzzin]

The sad thing is because Lamelo is so great and has a set of skills that few other players have, along with the fanfare, the league will almost assuredly force Lamelo into a bigger market. It'll be simple things like not getting foul calls for him or teammates, not getting any attention from the media, and negative rumors. The only way I don't see this happening is if Charlotte lucks into another franchise player so that the team is able to compete in the playoffs.

Lol we already have that other player ever heard of this guy named Brandon Miller?

Why do we always have to put up and coming stars in bigger markets?

If that's the case just get rid of all the small market teams and just have only big markets. Cmon guys small market lives matter.

[Liver_Pooty]

Well I would take 15/6 over 29/6 with some wins any day unless your building up his trade value to move & build around Miller.

Had a comment typed up and then realized I don't want to talk to tsherkin again about getting banned from the GB so I'll just say that is ludicrous.

[Trey24]

Well I would take 15/6 over 29/6 with some wins any day unless your building up his trade value to move & build around Miller.

Had a comment typed up and then realized I don't want to talk to tsherkin again about getting banned from the GB so I'll just say that is ludicrous.

Wait, you are saying that if Lamelo averaged 15/6 instead of 30/6 that the Hornets would win less than they already are? Why in the world would that be? It's almost like 30>15 but I need to do more research

[Revived]

How long before he’s out with injury for several weeks (at minimum)?

The Ball brothers just aren’t meant to ever be healthy. They don’t have durable bodies. Lavar maybe put them through too much at a young age which causes their bodies to break faster now idk but it’s already proven that none of the Ball brothers will ever be healthy players and instead be injury prone players for rest of their careers imo.

Damn shame too cause their talent level is borderline elite. But at the end of the day, availability is what matters most.

[gavran]

He has been going stupid for a long time now. Explains his losing.

[Mr Peanut]

Poor man's Cade Cunningham.

[316Hornets]

How long before he’s out with injury for several weeks (at minimum)?

The Ball brothers just aren’t meant to ever be healthy. They don’t have durable bodies. Lavar maybe put them through too much at a young age which causes their bodies to break faster now idk but it’s already proven that none of the Ball brothers will ever be healthy players and instead be injury prone players for rest of their careers imo.

Damn shame too cause their talent level is borderline elite. But at the end of the day, availability is what matters most.

Lamelo is only 23 and did come in the league pretty raw as far as funadmentals and likely diet go; that can lead to injury due to overuse of certain muscles and not adequate recovery.

The Hornets have been very conservative with his minutes and have been quick to shut him down early when the team wasn't competitive. This has given his body more time to develop and build up the endurance for a long NBA season.

Lamelo also finally got paid a contract that matches his skills as the rookie contract he was on was very high risk; thus he would have been playing with more caution to ensure he got paid as most logical people would do.

Now, the team is finally starting to resemble a competitive roster that can go against some of the better teams in the league. They are still another cornerstone player away but we should see Lamelo start to build more chemistry around some of the recent additions like Brandon Miller and Mark WIlliams that will make them tough to stop when in rhythm. It's still a young team that will make some mistakes but they've come a long way since Lamelo entered the league.

At the end of the day, Lamelo is a 23 year old 6-7 PG that has shown elite skills in bursts. Taller PGs tend to peak later than small PGs so there is still a lot of opportunity for improvement in his game.

[316Hornets]

Poor man's Cade Cunningham.

They're only 34 days apart in age and Lamelo has an All Star appearance already.

Lamelo has a TS % of 62.3% this season with a usage of 35.1%. Compare that to Luka with TS % of 51.2% with a usage of 34.2%.

Cade is at 58.5% for TS and 31% usage.

Lamelo is taking on much of a bigger workload than Cade and putting up better shooting numbers than Luka. That's not a poor man's anybody.

[og15]

How long before he’s out with injury for several weeks (at minimum)?

The Ball brothers just aren’t meant to ever be healthy. They don’t have durable bodies. Lavar maybe put them through too much at a young age which causes their bodies to break faster now idk but it’s already proven that none of the Ball brothers will ever be healthy players and instead be injury prone players for rest of their careers imo.

Damn shame too cause their talent level is borderline elite. But at the end of the day, availability is what matters most.

Lamelo is only 23 and did come in the league pretty raw as far as funadmentals and likely diet go; that can lead to injury due to overuse of certain muscles and not adequate recovery.

The Hornets have been very conservative with his minutes and have been quick to shut him down early when the team wasn't competitive. This has given his body more time to develop and build up the endurance for a long NBA season.

Lamelo also finally got paid a contract that matches his skills as the rookie contract he was on was very high risk; thus he would have been playing with more caution to ensure he got paid as most logical people would do.

Now, the team is finally starting to resemble a competitive roster that can go against some of the better teams in the league. They are still another cornerstone player away but we should see Lamelo start to build more chemistry around some of the recent additions like Brandon Miller and Mark WIlliams that will make them tough to stop when in rhythm. It's still a young team that will make some mistakes but they've come a long way since Lamelo entered the league.

At the end of the day, Lamelo is a 23 year old 6-7 PG that has shown elite skills in bursts. Taller PGs tend to peak later than small PGs so there is still a lot of opportunity for improvement in his game.

The first bolded part, I'm not necessarily sure that's really that good of a thing, but it is what it is.

The second bolded, is this actually a thing? I really don't think there's a height related factor to peak among point guards, but maybe there's some data that you're citing here, as long as it isn't like 3 examples or something of course.

[JimmyFromNz]

Are we sure?

I've watched 5 out 6 Charlotte games to date, including the back to back last weekend against the Celtics.

Besides the basic numbers in the boxscore along with clear and obvious offensive talent. I also see:

- someone who continues to search for the flashy play rather than the right play. e.g. around 5.5 turnovers per game.
- one legged pull ups against the flow of play being hit at a completely unsustainable rate.
- a continued complete disinterest in defense accompanied by an ability to pick up low IQ fouls e.g. 5 fouls per game.

Aided by a poor advanced statistical profile and a team he's leading sitting at 2-4. All tiny sample sizes, but if the original statement is being made with that sample then the obvious inverse can be made.

I actually want LaMelo to succeed, because the best version of him can be elite. I'm not sure once you eliminate the popcorn statistics, that we are seeing that yet.

[Rockazoids]

Well I would take 15/6 over 29/6 with some wins any day unless your building up his trade value to move & build around Miller.

Had a comment typed up and then realized I don't want to talk to tsherkin again about getting banned from the GB so I'll just say that is ludicrous.

Wait, you are saying that if Lamelo averaged 15/6 instead of 30/6 that the Hornets would win less than they already are? Why in the world would that be? It's almost like 30>15 but I need to do more research

What I'm saying is maybe he can try to get his team going rather than looking pretty getting his 30/6. How about 20/10 with
only 2.5 TO along with a little bit D. He got his money so he should start trying to be the team leader rather than trying to make
a ESPN clip.

[Ben-N1ce]

Too many bad threes and he gets absolutely abused on defense / has no clue how to play it. Despite being a taller guard.