Take what the defense gives you.
It’s a simple concept preached by coaches in every team sport from grade school through the professional ranks.
In the NBA, these moments present themselves in a variety of situations. Defenses are often designed to force offenses into areas and plays that are most beneficial to them.
This is often most obvious in how teams handle defending pick and rolls. How they defend ball screens also depends on the player with the ball. Teams won’t defend Damian Lillard and Ricky Rubio the same on pick and rolls.
Prior to the season, Lonzo Ball spoke about wanting to be a more aggressive player in pick-and-roll situations. Stan Van Gundy spoke similarly of needing his point guard to develop an in-between game as well as a willingness and ability to attack the rim to take a jump offensively, which Ball had also previously acknowledged.
Talk is one thing while actually applying it in-game is another. However, from even the beginning of training camp, Ball has shined out and applied what he worked on in the off-season into game situations. To see the difference in how Ball has played this season, first let’s look at how he handled pick and roll situations last year, and specifically when dribbling off of them.
In the first clip, Ball shows uncertainty coming off the pick as he keeps looking backward, either for the defender or for a rolling Jaxson Hayes. Eventually, he tosses up a runner that misses.
Similarly, in the second clip, Ball comes off the screen but never thinks of taking the mid-range jumper that is available against Hasaan Whiteside and the drop coverage. After weaving around and realizing there are no passing options, he throws up an odd one-legged fallaway that is blocked.
Keep that two clips in mind as we look at a completely different version of Ball this season. It started in the preseason and particularly in the Pelicans’ game against the Bucks, a team known for running a drop coverage defensively on pick and rolls.
Ball repeatedly came off ball screens with confidence and certainty, knowing that a mid-range jumper would be available and that he would take it. On each screen, Ball came off aggressively, set himself and knocked down a jumper, even flashing an off-the-backboard jumper on his final shot.
Again, though, the preseason is not the regular season and Ball did not flash that mid-range jumper off a pick and roll in either game against Toronto or Miami. But on Sunday, the jumper made an appearance again against San Antonio.
Knowing that LaMarcus Aldridge would primarily be playing a drop coverage, Ball routinely came off Steven Adams-set screens looking to shoot. Each shot was taken confidently and each jumper looked pure as he buried them over and over.
It’s early in the year and this spell of games could ultimately be the exception instead of the rule but there’s plenty of reason to believe these changes will stick with Ball. This is as simple as making shots. It’s a change in mindset for Ball that makes him a better offensive player.
Eventually, if he can continue being a threat in mid-range opportunities, defenses will adjust and Ball can showcase his passing ability. More importantly, from a team perspective, it gives the Pelicans another way to attack teams offensively and another weapon alongside Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson.