Lonzo Ball is one of the more unique offensive players in the league. The UCLA product has earned a reputation as one of the best transition players in the league which he’s held nearly from day one entering the league. However, as good of a decision-maker as he is in the open court, Ball struggles in a half-court setting to create for either himself or for teammates.
Those limitations have led to issues offensively for Ball’s teams during his time in the league. It’s why Ball was seen by many as a perfect point guard to play alongside LeBron James, and to Ball’s credit, he did have a positive net rating alongside James last season. But in New Orleans, Ball’s lack of playmaking ability in the halfcourt was a microcosm of the Pelicans’ half-court struggles as a whole.
Those offensive issues now fall on the lap of new Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy. During a podcast appearance on The Lowe Post with ESPN’s Zach Lowe this summer, Van Gundy had a host of comments about the Pelicans and Ball, including talking about his 2019-20 season and his areas of improvement moving forward.
“And as you mentioned, they’ve got other ball-handling parts and pieces. He doesn’t need to facilitate everything in the half-court and I almost think if everything goes right and you can run your half-court offense through Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday with some catch-and-shoot movement stuff for JJ Redick in the halfcourt, what’s the problem if Lonzo Ball becomes mainly just a stand-still shooter? I think that’s what you do as a coach is you look to people’s strengths and you put it together.
“Like, we’ve been reading about…with Philly Ben Simmons playing more as a traditional four. I sort of think of Ben Simmons as the point guard in transition, lets go ahead and outlet to him or he’s such a great rebounder like Lonzo Ball is. Take it off the glass and go ahead and be our point guard in transition. And then in the halfcourt, fine, we’ll use Ben Simmons as the screener in the pick and roll. I think there’s going to be more and more guys in the league like that where, in transition they’re going to play one position and in the half-court, they’re going to have a whole other role and I think that’s where Lonzo Ball fits for these guys.”
The unique make-up of the Pelicans’ core, should they keep Brandon Ingram this off-season, makes Van Gundy’s proposed offense a possibility. Jrue Holiday has plenty of experience as a creator while Ingram showed more and more playmaking chops last season, particularly in the screen and roll.
Along the same lines, Ball’s improved ability as a spot-up shooter last season would make this strategy effective as well. Last season on catch-and-shoot chances, Ball shot 40% to rank in the 77th percentile, per Synergy.
Van Gundy also had success in the past, particularly in Orlando, in spreading out the floor and allowing non-point guards to initiate the offense. Would he bring some of those principles to New Orleans? It’ll lead to some interesting possibilities for the Pelicans this upcoming season.
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