Charlotte Hornets rookie LaMelo Ball recently hit a bit of a rough patch on the court, and his head coach has implored the third overall pick to find some consistency.
The struggles by Ball hit perhaps the lowest point of the season on Friday during a loss to the Chicago Bulls. Ball produced just seven points, two assists, two steals and one rebound while he tied a season-high with five turnovers off the bench.
Ball has been an integral piece off the bench this season and the Hornets often find success when the 19-year-old can be productive. Hornets head coach James Borrego said after the loss that Ball must be better to give the team the spark they need off the bench.
“Last night, poor decision-making and I think it affected him on the defensive end,” Borrego said on Saturday. “If you’re turning the ball over five times in 16 minutes, that ain’t gonna cut it for me. If you’re doing that on the offensive end, you better be bringing something defensively.”
The Hornets have dropped four straight games and Ball is a combined minus-53 on the court during that span.
Of course, Ball isn’t known to be a defensive stopper, but that is his worst stretch of the season and those defensive woes are further highlighted by his struggles on offense.
“He is a rookie. He has his highs and his lows,” Borrego said. “It’s any typical rookie. He had a stretch there where he was playing extremely well. We need to find that again. He is going through that typical rookie streak here — there are highs and there are lows. I’ve seen good. I’ve seen the bad. He has gotta get better. He is engaged, he wants to get better and he is capable of handling it.”
Ball has shown a willingness this season to learn from his mistakes, as Borrego noted on Saturday, and is committed to improving. He admitted he hasn’t played his best basketball of the season recently, and vowed to correct it and bounce back.
Despite the inconsistent showing, Ball has established himself as perhaps the best rookie to this point but he knows there is still room to improve and will be looking to make a change in the coming days.
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