Lakers rumors: 3 things Lonzo Ball needs to do in order to be rookie of the year
By Keith Rivas
He’ll have to lead all rookies in assists
This past season didn’t have a healthy standout that we expected much from in terms of great rookies. There’s room for improvement within the 2016 class, which will happen soon, but not a lot of action took place in the first season for them.
In the case of Lonzo Ball, the high expectations start now and will never go away. While he wasn’t picked before Markelle Fultz, Ball has insisted that he can play at an elite level and beat anybody on the floor.
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Fultz will have a lot of weapons at his disposal with the 76ers. Barring some catastrophic injury to anyone, he’ll have last year’s top pick in Ben Simmons along with Joel Embiid and Dario Saric.
De’Aaron Fox will be coming for Lonzo Ball as well, but from the other side of California. Drafted by the Kings, chances are that Fox will have to depend more on scoring than anything else to establish himself.
Ball has a real chance to out-play anyone drafted around him. Los Angeles clearly views him as their missing piece, he just needs to do his part.
It won’t matter if he’s the best scorer, because that’s not part of his game that we expect to be the best. If his passing and making everyone around him better aren’t blowing anyone away, that’s trouble for the purple and gold.