When the Los Angeles Lakers selected point guard Lonzo Ball with the second overall pick in the 2017 Draft, they did so knowing that he’s the kind of player that can be unselfish to a fault.
He prefers to move the ball around and find the open man rather than look for his own shot. Such was the case Monday night in a loss to the Indian Pacers.
It prompted Lakers head coach Luke Walton to explicitly state the team would not only accept, but is encouraging Ball to be more aggressive in looking to score. To his credit, Ball himself recognizes that he may need to look for his own shot a bit more.
The rookie touched on the challenge he finds in balancing his opportunities and facilitating for teammates, via Bill Oram of the Southern California News Group:
“I think I need to be more aggressive,” Ball said after the loss. “Especially tonight, but at the same time we have a lot of guys who can shoot the ball. So someone has to pass, so it’s kind of my job to get everybody the ball, but I’d definitely like to score a little bit more.”
The challenge with Ball being more aggressive on the offensive end is that he hasn’t been very efficient this season, shooting just 36 percent from the field and 32 percent from three.
In other words, Ball shooting more may not help the Lakers win more games in the here and now, although it could eventually have the impact of creating more open looks for teammates if he can find ways to score.
With the season winding down, the Lakers will certainly want to win as many games as possible, but they also want to lay the foundation for the future. That could include asking Ball to search for his own shot more so that he has an even better feel for what areas of his offensive game he needs to work on over the summer.
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