While the New Orleans Pelicans have been unexpectedly bad this season, the biggest surprise has been the lack of comments from LaVar Ball. Lonzo’s removal from and reinsertion into the starting lineup has been emblematic of the Pelicans’ struggles as a whole on the year.
But LaVar wasn’t going to stay quiet forever and Fox Sports Australia gave him an ample platform to speak his mind. In a long interview released on Wednesday, LaVar had plenty to say about Lonzo’s situation in New Orleans.
“If you really believe in Lonzo, you’ve gotta let him go. You can’t spot play him. You give him 40 minutes, you’re gonna win games; a lot of games, on the fact that I’ve trained my boys to play the whole game. Now, you’ve got the best player with his hand on the game the whole time, so he’s not gonna let it get away.
“But if you start him, and then before the second half, take him out for six minutes, start him again then take him out, that’s how you’re gonna get injured… At the end of a game, it shows that you don’t have any faith in it, when you don’t let him finish the game. What I’m saying is, play him 40 minutes and you believe in him, you’re gonna do your thing.”
More than head coach Alvin Gentry moving him in and out of the starting lineup, LaVar made it known that the best way to utilize Lonzo is in the starting lineup.
“You’re not gonna get the best out of my son if he’s not starting the game. He’s been starting all his life, and now you’re trying to make him a role player. He’s not a role player. None of my boys are role players. They’re superstars, and that’s how you’ve gotta treat them.
“I don’t care how good you are. If that coach don’t believe in you like he should, you’re gonna be okay, and that’s where Lonzo’s at. He hasn’t run into a coach yet that says, you know what, here’s the keys. Every time he plays for me, successful. Chino Hills, the coach believed in him, very successful. UCLA, Steve (Alford) said go ahead… let him do what he do. Very successful. When you get to the league and they don’t believe in you like that…”
While Ball hasn’t been particularly good in either role this season, the numbers do back up LaVar’s argument that Lonzo is at his best as a starter.
In 15 games in the starting lineup, Ball has a net rating of -6.0 this season. Compared to his nine games off the bench with a net rating of -13.5, it’s a fairly sizeable difference.
Ball does shoot marginally better from range as a starter, 34.0% compared to 31.8% off the bench. While it’s only marginal improvements across the board statistically for Ball as a starter, those all add up to a better version of the third-year guard.
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