It’s no secret Stan Van Gundy is a fan of Lonzo Ball. His appearance on Zach Lowe’s The Lowe Post podcast where he talked for an extended time about Ball already serves as evidence enough. At Tuesday’s press conference to introduce Van Gundy as the new head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, he had plenty more positive to say about Ball.
Van Gundy, who gave some interesting thoughts on The Lowe Post about how he would use Ball, was asked for his thoughts on his new starting point guard on Tuesday. He had a number of things to say, starting with some glowing compliments about his ability to get the ball upcourt quickly.
“I don’t think there is anyone better in the NBA of advancing the ball up the floor for your team quickly to allow you to go on the attack before the other teams defense is set. So many times in watching the Pelicans both to do broadcasting and now starting to study our team, there’s so many times where he’ll catch an outlet or in-bounds pass and advance the ball up the floor with the pass without ever taking a dribble and that is very unique in the NBA and really puts guys like Jrue Holiday, like JJ Redick for shots, like Brandon Ingram on the attack, like Zion Williamson where the defense isn’t set and it’s tough to get into help.”
While there is no specific stat that marks Ball’s ability to throw hit-ahead passes, it’s an aspect of his game that multiple coaches have praised him for in the past. There is, however, a statistic that can mark Ball’s improvement as a shooter last season, which is another aspect Van Gundy commented on.
“The biggest step that Lonzo took last year is with his three-point shooting. He improved that greatly. Not only does that help him as a player but the space it creates on the floor for your other creators, for guys like Jrue Holiday and Brandon Ingram, is really good for your basketball team.”
After coming into last season as a 31.5% career three-point shooter, Ball shot 37.5% last season. Between Dec. 1 and March 8, a span of 45 games, Ball shot 39.2% from three on 6.5 attempts per game. While a particularly poor performance in the bubble lowered his percentages, Ball still improved drastically as a shooter.
The question now for Ball is how he improves his game in other areas. Van Gundy noted Ball’s need to become a scoring threat beyond just the three-point line, an aspect that Ball pledged to work on this off-season. But Van Gundy was optimistic about Ball’s future on Tuesday.
“Lonzo Ball seems like a very smart basketball player to me and smart basketball players eventually figure it out. I went through that with JJ Redick. He came in, it took him a little bit of time to figure out his career but smart, hard-working guys figure it out as time goes on. So, I think as good as Lonzo is now, and he’s very good, I think that we can expect a good arc of improvement for him over the next few years.”
While it’s very, very early in Van Gundy’s tenure in New Orleans, it certainly seems like he views Ball as a long-term piece of the franchise. That is particularly interesting given the fact Ball could be a restricted free agent next summer and is extension eligible this off-season.
While his long-term future may not be set in stone, his short-term future under Van Gundy is off to a very bright start.