LAMELO BALL DRAFT CLASS NBA 2K17 PRO
The home run plays such as gambling in the backcourt and rushing the ball-handler for steals simply will not fly in the pro ranks. So much of what he was rewarded for in the past was quite bluntly sabotaging Illawarra’s defense. The learning curve was very steep with this being his first time playing for a “real” team, and it showed. LaMelo also tends to avoid contact, often bending and fading far away from the hoop instead of powering through his opponent.ĭefensively, LaMelo was a train wreck this past year. The main cause for this is that he doesn’t have the explosiveness to elevate and score over most defenders. These are all encouraging points for Ball’s scalability on quality teams when he’s in the NBA.īall will get up for some highlight dunks every now and then, but overall he leaves much to be desired as a finisher at the rim. He’s also a pretty lethal cutter and showed a willingness to set screens in the Hawk’s offense. LaMelo will likely always have some sort of modicum of spot-up gravity solely due to his reputation. The wacky jumper is less of a hindrance when he’s playing off-ball. At least there won’t be any question about how he’ll adjust to the NBA-line, as he’s been shooting from there since he was practically still in diapers.
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It also may not be mechanically possible for Ball to shoot a side-step three, so that is definitely a major concern. He has great natural touch, but unless he has a Steph Curry level of hand-eye coordination, he has a lot of ironing out to do before he can shoot a respectable percentage in the league.
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It may be true that many great shot-makers have the ability to alter and adapt their forms in real-time, but they all have some sort of underbelly that keeps everything aligned, which LaMelo seems to be lacking. He’ll also raise his release point if he’s heavily contested. However, this will vary drastically depending on the situation. I only spotted one time where LaMelo was outrightly frazzled by being guarded tightly. He’s fluid and audacious with the basketball, but at the same time practically immune to pressure defense. To start, Ball’s handle is one of the best that you’ll ever see by a player 6-foot-6 or above. Let’s take a look at a few things that stood out from LaMelo Ball on film. Yes, they may ultimately matter, but the film should do most of the talking.
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It’s also quite natural to drift towards Lonzo Ball and how his game compares to LaMelo.Īllowing these things to color your perception will make it nearly impossible to scout him objectively. It’s easy to let the montages littered with 40-footers and cherry-picking or the Instagram paparazzi predispose your thinking about him one way or the other. When tasked with evaluating Ball as a prospect, the first thing that you must be cognizant about is separating the hype from the substance. So how will LaMelo Ball fare once he makes his long-awaited arrival to the NBA?