Despite having not spoken publicly with the media yet since his appointment, new Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy gave plenty of thoughts on the team earlier this year on a podcast with ESPN’s Zach Lowe. In that episode, the two discussed the Pelicans season ahead of the league’s restart inside the bubble in Orlando, a restart that did not end well for New Orleans.
Van Gundy and Lowe spoke exclusively about Lonzo Ball in an extended segment of the pod, speaking on his season to that point. Van. Gundy also discussed where the third-year point guard could go moving forward.
“Obviously, he’s only 22. Where his development has got to come is shots off the dribble both at the rim, can he find a way to finish? He hasn’t really figured that out and really can’t shoot the jump shot or a floater, he doesn’t have any of that off the dribble right now. If he has to put the ball on the floor going to the basket, he’s simply looking to pass the ball. You can see it with defensive teams, they really don’t commit to him because he doesn’t have great explosion going to the basket anyway and he doesn’t really want to shoot the ball in those situations. That would be his place to develop.
But man, at 6’6” with his ability to defend, he passes the ball and he’s making the three, I think sometimes we can get too focused on what guys can’t do. He’s got a nice package of skills.”
Many of those improvements Van Gundy noted were also areas that Ball himself had vowed to work on during the off-season. In his final media availability in the bubble, Ball discussed his plans for the off-season and highlighted many of the same areas.
“Definitely work on the in-between game and finishing at the rim. I think those are two of the main things that stick out for me. Defensively, I’m not too worried about it. Mostly just offensive stuff.”
Despite showing vast improvement on three-pointers last season, Ball didn’t make those same strides across the board. On mid-range attempts last year, Ball shot just 32-for-124, or 26%. While it was by far the most attempts he had taken in the mid-range in his career for one season, it actually proved to be his lowest percentage in the area.
Likewise, as Van Gundy noted, Ball shot just 59% at the rim this season, which actually is the highest mark of his career. He showed signs of improvement this season but was still below average relative to the rest of the league.
Van Gundy’s assessment of Ball is encouraging from the standpoint that he is coming into the job with knowledge of the team. That, paired with the backing of veterans in the locker room, should help endear him to the team from the start.
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