Los Angeles Lakers: Grades for every player so far this season
By Keith Rivas
The hope for Lonzo is that it’s only up from here — right?
Lonzo Ball, D+
Forget the two triple doubles that he had against not-so-great opponents. The concern for Lonzo Ball, at least in my eyes, should be more serious than we are taking it right now. Anybody that goes immediately to saying he needs time needs to explain that to Donovan Mitchell and Kyle Kuzma.
Right now, Ball isn’t the best rookie on his own team. That starts and stops with how mentally tough he is going to be moving forward. Having his father say the kinds of things that he does in interviews forced the Lakers to make a rule about interviewing a player’s friends or family to prevent that part of it from getting worse.
Lonzo hasn’t looked like a leader, and it’s not just about his numbers. During a recent scuffle against Phoenix, Lonzo Ball walked away as the lone person on the floor not getting involved. The least he could’ve done in that scenario is pull people back from the incident and cool them off.
But did he? No. And as the Ball family is going to find out the hard way unless something drastically changes, the truth of the matter remains that actions speak louder than words.
He’s had to fill the shoes that his dad highlights for him his whole life, especially at UCLA and ahead of the NBA Draft. He’s a Southern California kid living his lifelong dream, but how long will it take before he wakes up?
Nobody knows.
Luol Deng, D
You can’t spell Deng without the letter grade that I give him in this piece, and you definitely at least said Deng when you heard about his contract given to him by the prior front office in Los Angeles. It’s been a rough season for the team and their expensive, unworthy investment.
But hey, they can only learn from it, right?
Tyler Ennis, D-
Tyler Ennis might as well be invincible. He’s seen action in just 11 games so far, averaging five minutes per contest, but is averaging less than a made field goal. This is the perfect example of how the Lakers have been lucky lately, and they’re fortunate enough that they invested enough in guys like Jordan Clarkson and Lonzo Ball to at least have a future.
It’s time to move on from any thought of Tyler Ennis succeeding with the Lakers from here on out.
Next: The Three Biggest Problems For The Lakers
Andrew Bogut, F
Bogut can join Ennis on the disappearance tour. How bad is it that the Lakers got him thinking that another veteran center would be a great idea. Well, as it has turned out more often than not, the Lakers thought wrong. So wrong, in fact, that they got a veteran with barely a point average per game and three boards as well.