James Gatz wrote:DY_nasty wrote:LaMelo hasn't played organized defense in his life lol
Come on man.
What is the line of thinking here? No teams in the NBL play organized defense? Teams in the NBL do play organized defense but The Hawks did not? The Hawks did but Lamelo was just subbed out or sat on the floor whenever he was on D?
It's fine to be out on Lamelo as a defender or worry that he doesn't have enough experience to play defense at a high level, similar to Wiseman, but that comment is so lazy.
We are not gonna hype up the NBL bottom tier like its anything more than a graveyard for guys who've run out of cartilage and young guys too scared to go to Europe
They could trim that league's talent pool down to 4-6 teams and maybe it'll be something worth propping up.
The absence of evidence that the guy can play defense is not indicative of limitless potential or something. If he wanted to be a good defender, he'd do it. Considering the skill of the individual players he's been in front of, he should be shaking down people every other time down the court. Lanky guards that aren't consistently assertive on defense aren't that common because if they're *not* high-tier/intelligent defenders they get targeted for easy fouls until they're unplayable. He's either gonna need a lot of time or a mentality change, its probably the mentality. He doesn't even know how to trap either lol
There's glaring stuff that sticks out. It makes no sense how a guy who operates almost exclusively out of the pick and roll has no idea how to defend it.
I'd be waaaaaaaaay different about Ball if he was being drafted as a work in progress, but he's getting treated like he's young Shaun Livingston or something and it makes no sense. He's more than likely massive development project. And I've looked at Wiseman like a project from the start as well. I've never once said the guy would be outplaying what many believe is the most improved player in the league or the main reason our team won half as many games as they did. Whether he's the next Samuel Dalembert or a more versatile Whiteside with a better head on his shoulders - that's a still a need filled that prevents us from relying on a biyombo/zombie zeller/WHG interior for the first time in years. The idea Ball's gonna demand a change in other guys' approach to the game is just wild to me.
But even aside from all that, you have to look at the tools and the things one can say with certainty. Ball has been all around the world and has never shown any interest in being a quality defender even when it would've been easy considering who he's been up against.
