Is this LaMelo Ball thing OK?
Assessing the loudest player in the NBA and his team's future.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
La Salle Clarac; Edouard Vuillard; 1922
LaMelo Ball is leading the NBA in field goal attempts per game with 24.6. He’s averaging 3.2 FGAs more than No. 2 Nikola Jokic. That gap is as big as the gap between Jokic and No. 19 on the list (Jalen Brunson). It’s frankly unreal how many more shots per game LaMelo is taking compared everyone else in the league. And that’s before you realize how inefficient LaMelo is compared to all of those other players. Only three players in the top 20 for FGAs per game this season have lower effective field goal percentages than Ball: teammate Brandon Miller, cold-start Devin Booker and Tyrese Maxey. And again, Ball is taking many more shots than anyone else.
By the way, LaMelo’s Charlotte Hornets are 8-28 on the season and have the No. 29 offense in the league. The Hornets are 7-18 when LaMelo plays (.280 win percentage, 23-win pace) and 1-10 when he sits (.091 win percentage, 7-win pace). The Hornets are quite bad when Ball’s on the floor (-3.5 per 100 possessions) and even worse (-9.3) when he’s off.
By the way again, LaMelo is currently the leading vote getter among Eastern Conference guards in All-Star fan balloting, ahead of Jalen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Cade Cunningham, Maxey, Damian Lillard, Trae Young, Tyler Herro, any Boston Celtics. The streets say that LaMelo is deeply beloved by younger fans. Honestly, I kind of get it. Famed YouTube highlight compiler MaxaMillion has a legit 15-minute reel of LaMelo plays from this season, which is half-over and of which Ball has missed a quarter.
His stepback threes are obscene. Clearly inspired by James Harden but made with jolt instead of jitter. The logo threes … the logo threes. LaMelo shoots like he’s Steph Curry. Note: he doesn’t shoot like Steph Curry. Steph Curry makes a lot more of his threes than LaMelo does. Ball shoots like he’s Steph Curry. What’s the single word that best describes LaMelo’s game? Loud? Panache? Brash? Forget a word, how about a product? Mountain Dew Code Red?
Yes, this dude is the Mountain Dew Code Red of NBA players. Or maybe the energy drink version of that.
You’ve heard of the phrase “so crazy it just might work”? That’s LaMelo Ball, on every possession. Except a lot of the time it doesn’t work. So it just ends up being crazy. His usage rate right now is the seventh-highest of the three-point era, up with ‘87 Jordan and last year’s pre-injury Embiid and MVP Westbrook and MVP Harden and MVP Iverson and Giannis and Luka and Mid-00s Kobe. But LaMelo has not proven he is as capable as any of those players. It feels … unearned.
Are the Hornets going anywhere with this as the centerpiece? No. No, they are not unless Ball suddenly gets way more efficient. But here’s the deal: the Hornets don’t appear to be going anywhere without LaMelo either. Ball missed most of the past two seasons. Charlotte finished 13th and 14th in the East in those years, and is 14th this season. They went 1-10 with LaMelo out of the lineup earlier this season. This team sucks, and the front office (led by Jeff Peterson) and coach (Charles Lee) will need to figure out a path forward, which may center around second-year Brandon Miller, who has a promising two-way ceiling but will need time and support. Will LaMelo doing whatever it is that LaMelo is doing (which is whatever he wants) hinder or help Miller develop? If neither, is it worth having LaMelo around to draw eyeballs and attention and All-Star fan votes while the team tries to stockpile draft equity and promising young players?
Or … or is there a viable path to creating a good team around LaMelo? Can you treat him like Peak Iverson and focus on pure defense and shooting and let LaMelo be LaMelo, and get anywhere? I don’t think so. The NBA is too different than in the Early ‘00s, and the needle eye those Sixers threaded was minuscule. And LaMelo is no Iverson. However, you can see a team convincing themselves that you can mold LaMelo enough to lead a team like that, a No. 15 offense and No. 2 defense that wins a round. Maybe you can see the Hornets convincing themselves of that. The Hornets are no strangers to myopia.
Or maybe, just maybe, the Hornets are letting LaMelo do all this so that he puts up enormous numbers (shallow as they may be) to goad some team into giving up real goods for him. Is letting LaMelo take damn near 25 shots per game a version of showcasing LaMelo, even though he’s missing 60% of those shots? Are the Hornets finally playing chess?
Whatever the case, this LaMelo Ball thing is a total outrage in the best and worst senses of that word. Enjoy it while it lasts, if you can enjoy this sort of thing.
I Never Feel So Old …
… as when I write about LaMelo Ball or when I listen to my daughter talk about the streamers she watches. It’s all of a piece, and that piece is perhaps me becoming washed.
Scores
Timberwolves 120, Wizards 106 — 41 for Anthony Edwards.
Warriors 101, Raptors 104 — Chris Boucher scored 17 in the fourth. I still think Chris Boucher is going to break out one of these years. (Chris Boucher is 32.)
Would Chris Boucher be the third best player on the Warriors? No. No, he wouldn’t. But you might have had to think about it for a second, and that’s a problem for the Warriors, who remain in a slow motion free fall. How’s that Buddy Hield honeymoon, folks? Ready to cut it short? Are we googling “annulment” yet? Checking the return policy on that KitchenAid stand mixer yet?
It’s unreal how bad an offense with STEPHEN FREAKING CURRY can be. But when you have limited playmaking (made worse with Draymond Green out), limited shooting and basically no rim pressure with Jonathan Kuminga out, this is what happens. Even with Steph hitting logo threes like layups.
Pistons 124, Knicks 119 — The Pistons are transitioning from a nice story to a potential problem. Gimme that sweet chin music, Malik Beasley.
That’s some celebration. We’ll allow it.
The Knicks’ defense is down to No. 15, in the neighborhood of the Bucks, Kings and Sixers. That’s not championship material. And Beasley getting that open with some simple offense in crunch time is a good example why.
That said: Cade Cunningham requires a lot of attention, and he almost always makes the right decision.
Grizzlies 118, Rockets 120 — Jalen Green at his absolute best against a very good defense.
Amen Thompson is a marvel. 19-14-4-2-5 with clutch free throws.
Houston’s going to be the best team in the league with zero All-Stars. If the Rockets go on a winning streak leading up to reserve votes, perhaps Green or Alperen Sengun sneaks on.
These two teams feel like Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in Stepbrothers. If they meet in the playoffs they’ll definitely have a little brawl in Games 1 or 2 and be best friends by Game 4.
Heat 98, Clippers 109 — A rippin’ third quarter put L.A. over. Is Ivica Zubac (21 and 20, 10/13 shooting) a top-10 center? I think he’s a top-10 center. It probably depends on how you define center these days, as in whether Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo and Jaren Jackson Jr. count.
The Heat are now 3-3 during Jimmy Butler’s suspension. They have the Lakers tomorrow. Then we’ll see whether Butler rejoins the team or stays away.
Spurs 126, Lakers 102 — This game was tied heading into the fourth. Yes, the Spurs won a quarter by 24. The Lakers stopped scoring, and the Spurs didn’t, and there you have it.
Victor Wembanyama is so fun.
J.J. Redick lost his home in the Palisades Fire. His young sons are apparently avid NBA memorabilia collectors, but apparently lost their collections in the fires. So Chris Paul and Big Vic helped them start to build new ones after the game.
Links
John Schuhmann takes stock of the league as we approach the midway point.
on the teams of the Atlantic Division. diagnoses the Warriors.Good deep dive from
on the other reasons the Jimmy Butler situation fell apart in Miami.Interesting discussion on the balance of power in the trade market from Henry Abbott and David Thorpe at
.Leigh Ellis visits a sick court in Saavedra, Argentina paying tribute to Manu Ginobili.
on the Defensive Player of the Year race.Schedule
Seven games including a TNT doubleheader. All times Eastern.
Cavaliers at Pacers, 7, TNT
Thunder at Sixers, 7
Suns at Hawks, 7:30
Pelicans at Bulls, 8
Kings at Bucks, 8
Nuggets at Mavericks, 9:30, TNT
Nets at Blazers, 10
Be excellent to each other.
My son wears Melo’s shoes while mowing lawns. This is literally a metaphor for this guy’s career
I mean this in the best way possible: Spiritual successor to Nick Young.