Los Angeles Lakers: Three surprises that will happen this season

3. Lonzo Ball will blossom into an elite shooter

The biggest downfall of Lonzo Ball’s game last season was his jump shot. Despite thriving in running an offense, rebounding at an elite level and being one of the best young defenders in the game, his jump shot held him back and was a huge area of criticism for most people.

The NBA is a scoring league now and if you cannot be a great scorer there are a lot of casual fans that will disregard you as a good player altogether. No player is a better example of that than Ball. Ball is one of the most well-polished, all-around players to come out of college at 20 years old.

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Yet, just because his jump shot is ugly and he did not shoot well from the floor, many are already disregarding him.

This year will be different as Ball is sporting a new-look jump shot which, according to him, is a testimony to the added bulk he put on in the offseason. Ball’s new physique has created a shooting motion that relies less on flinging the basketball and allows him to keep his elbows tucked for a smooth release.

Not only is his new shot going to help his improvement, having LeBron James alongside him is going to help as well.

While Ball is not a ball dominant point guard, he was the one running the offense and he would be making plays for his teammates to get open. While he would still come off screens in his rookie year, his main priority was getting his teammates open.

With LeBron, Ball is going to develop into a huge off-ball piece that is going to be a huge threat in two ways. One will be his new-look jump shot, which he should hit with ease with the proper separation.

The other is his ability to funnel the ball quickly. Whether it is a give and go or a cut to the basket after an off-ball screen, LeBron is going to get plenty of hockey assists after passing to Ball, who will quickly find the next open guy at the rim or in the corner.

Having that passing threat is going to make the defense cheat and try and intercept passing lanes. That will only create more separation for Ball, who may not average a ton of points, but will be one of the most efficient scorers in the league.