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Now that is how you play defense
Julius Randle's son is still learning the game
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 6, 2020
(via @J30_RANDLE) pic.twitter.com/rNFzUxKHpR
Someone show that to Bledsoe
We will just post this photo every time we lose
While I’m at it
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant is expected to return Wednesday vs. New Orleans after missing nearly two months with hamstring strain. He is listed probable to play.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 6, 2021
Sorry guys Lonzo just doesn't have consistency. I'd rather roll with NAW and Kira and Bledsoe should just be cut.
Lonzo Ball pre-February (15 games): 13/4/5 on 40/32/58 splits
Lonzo Ball in February (15 games): 16/5/5 on 46/46/84 splits
Lonzo Ball in March+April (10 games): 15/8/4 on 37/35/87 splits
A terrible start to the year followed by a hot February and then falling off again after. The FT shooting has stayed (though the sample size remains small, only 8 attempts over those 10 games in March/April) but the FG% and 3PT% have both crumbled again.
This is exactly what happened last year as well.
Games prior to February (41 games): 12/6/7 on 39/36/54 splits
February of last year (13 games): 13/7/7 on 46/43/71 splits
The rest of the year after that (9 games): 9/5/7 on 37/35/50 splits
Lonzo Ball is really really good in the month of February, maybe for a handful of games near February as well. Any other point in the year? Good luck.
It's really weird, I honestly cannot even begin to explain why this is the case. It's extremely odd. Obviously there's still time left this season, maybe he picks it up again, but it's very very bizarre.
Basketball.
His game lives and die on his 3 pt shoot and like we known for years. He's not a technical shooter. He's a rhythm volume shooter that can't draw fouls or be a dynamic threat at all. I cheer really hard for this to not be true, but I think after 5 years in the NBA. It is what it is. You can fix a shot, but you can't entirely fix a shooter.
Sure, but that doesn't explain why that rhythm always seems to be hitting in the 4-6 weeks centred around February and never really clicking any other time. That's what's weird, the fact that this is a multi-year pattern, not that he's streaky in general.
Edit: also he's only been in the NBA for 4 years, it's year 4 this season. It's Ingram who's in year 5.
Oh yeah... I forgot about the QO year of his rookie deal. This whole Lonzo is FA talk had my years all mixed it.
Well, we had the All-Star break and Lonzo been battling an injury siince he came back, right? When... Those events maybe the cause for him to lose that hot streak and get him out of rhythm. Granted... Players do have peaks in the season. Not truly sure if they're consistent to a specific time frame.
Sure that explains this year, at least a bit, but does it explain last year as well?
Was he injured in the bubble?
In fact, this pre-dates his time as a Pelican. If you look at his career numbers, this is what you get
October (20 games): 11/5/6 on 39/36/62
November (34 games): 8/6/5 on 34/26/43 splits
December (45 games): 11/6/6 on 40/34/47 splits
January (40 games): 13/6/7 on 40/35/47 splits
February (27 games): 14/5/6 on 45/44/85 splits
March (27 games): 13/6/7 on 41/35/46 splits
(He's played 1 game in April and July, then 6 in August cause of the bubble. Not including 1 game sample sizes here lmao)
But isn't that weird? February clearly sticks out across his entire career as just being outlier efficient compared to every other month. What's going on there?
Well the good news is that if this continues we’ll probably be able to hold on to Lonzo for less than the 20 to 25 million we’ve been discussing. The bad news may be that we hold on to Lonzo.
One bad game after a long stretch of good play and folks are ready to dump him again. He’s still an impactful player on the defensive side of the ball. Plus he can push the pace when needed. There was no way we were matching the Hawks without our high volume scorers (NAW and BI).
This board more knee-jerky than usual lately.
I’m not ready to dump him yet. I was responding to Pelicanidae’s post that Lonzo’s production may start to decline the rest of the year, if history holds out.
But as for his defense, eh. He can be disruptive and cause steals. He can also over help and fail to fight through screens and give up way too many open three point looks.
Last edited by Freyfamilyreuni; 04-07-2021 at 02:02 PM.
This is the framing that really irks me.
''One bad game after a long stretch of good play'' no. Look at the stats posted above.
The bad game isn't the outlier. The good play is. He's usually bad. He's spent most of his career being bad. He's been really effective in February, for some reason, every season and then falls off a cliff again after. He takes 4+ months to get into rhythm and then collapses after 10 games of it every year.
Stop looking at the outlier good month and saying ''hey, that's who he is! Now is just one bad game''. No. The bad game is who he is, the ''long stretch'' is him being streaky.
Triple doubles are not the Proof of a Good Game.
He shot like garbage, and a lot of his assists were good connecting assists but it's not like he was the playmaking wizard the box score would indicate. He played his best ball last game on defense, where he was good - particularly with steals. The offense was horrific.
I guess that’s directed at me. I readily admit I’m only a sporadic poster, but I don’t just post to complain. In fact I’ve posted a decent bit positively about Lonzo and I had talked myself into thinking that we should pay him even if his cost went up to 25 million. Then he starts an inevitable regression to form.
And I don’t just mean the streaky shooting. I’ve come to peace with that. They guy’s work ethic has him shooting much better but he’s always going to be a hot/cold shooter.
My issue is with his lack of aggression and how he’ll often take himself out of a game by his decision making. It’s continuing story with him. He’ll have a good three point shooting game and then the next game he takes almost all of his shots from the three point line even if it means he goes 0 and 10. He doesn’t adjust. He’s got to learn to consistently take the ball to the basket and force the action on occasion. I’ve seen him do it. So I know he can. It’s just that he ends up taking himself out of these games and makes it way too easy to defend him or to simply ignore him and let him keep jacking up bricks.
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