Los Angeles Lakers: Two improvements Lonzo Ball has to make
The Los Angeles Lakers have one of the most promising young point guards in Lonzo Ball. While the promise is there, Ball has two big areas of improvement to focus on before next season, all centralizing around his shot.
Lonzo Ball had a decent rookie season for the Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 10.2 points, 7.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game. Pretty good numbers for a rookie. Ball also played pretty good defense; he could turn out to be one of the top defenders in the league.
The Los Angeles Lakers signed LeBron James this offseason, so sometimes Ball will have to play off the ball a bit. Here are two things Lonzo Ball must do to help the Los Angeles Lakers in his newfound role alongside LeBron James.
Shoot the Three
Lonzo shot 30 percent from three last year — that cannot happen this year. That number has to come up. With Lebron on the team, Ball will have to play off the ball some and he will be left open and will need to knock those shots down.
The Lakers don’t have many shooters so teams will sag back off the man to protect from driving to the basket. LA might even see some zone defense this year due to lack of shooting.
There has been video lately of Lonzo Ball jumper and it does look slightly different. Hopefully, it will help his three-point percentage go up.
Free Throw Shooting
Last year, Ball shot 45 percent from the free throw line, that has to improve. You cannot have your point guard shooting 45 percent from the free throw line; he has the ball in his hands too much to be that unreliable from the charity stripe.
Hopefully, he has been working on his free throw shot this offseason to get that percentage up. If he improves his percentage, he will look to be more aggressive and start attacking the basket more. Last year I think he was hesitant to attack because he was scared to go to the free throw line.
Related Story. Grading every move of Magic Johnson's tenure. light
Lonzo Ball already can rebound and make plays for his teammates; if he works on his shot, he will be genuinely an all-around point guard. That would be a big time for the Lakers for years to come.