Lonzo Ball Rumors: LaVar Ball Complains About Los Angeles Lakers, Coach Luke Walton Misusing His Son
Lonzo Ball just cannot escape the shadow of LaVar Ball. The elder Ball is complaining about the Los Angeles Lakers and how Coach Luke Walton is using his son this year. This piece of news came out on Tuesday (November 21), taking the spotlight away (again) from the rookie point guard of the Lakers. A report by Dan Devine for Ball Don’t Lie relayed the details of LaVar Ball’s comments, which fall in line with his preferred rhetoric of nobody knowing how to coach his son better than he can.
“Go get the W. Do whatever it takes. That’s why I’m down here saying, ‘Rebound.’ [Lonzo’s] been away from me too long. I see tendencies in his game — they’re trying to baby him a little bit. What I mean by babying [Lonzo], ‘He’ll figure it out.’ It ain’t about that. ‘Be patient with him?’ Ain’t no patience if you’re winning.”
It’s clear that LaVar Ball is referencing the coaching style of Luke Walton and how the Los Angeles Lakers are approaching the use of the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft (Lonzo Ball). Walton isn’t giving Ball special treatment, but rather forcing him to learn from his mistakes and trying to coach him up as the leader of the team. That’s the role that any point guard has to assume, as they become the default general on the court when trying to run plays on offense.
At @YahooBDL: LaVar Ball thinks Luke Walton and the Lakers are ‘soft,’ and ‘babying’ his son Lonzo Ball. https://t.co/5YLGzcRAEr pic.twitter.com/rJigYXZSm2
— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) November 21, 2017
Through 17 games this season, Lonzo Ball has been putting up decent stats for the Los Angeles Lakers. He is currently averaging 8.9 points, 7.1 assists, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game. Those aren’t bad numbers if the analysis ends with simply his game averages. The problem has become Ball’s sub-par shooting percentages and how badly some of those shots have looked on sports highlight shows.
Lonzo Ball is shooting just 31.3 percent from the field, 22.8 percent from three-point range, and 46.2 percent from the free throw line. It’s only because he is a rookie that Ball hasn’t been benched with percentages like these ones. He ranks among the worst shooters in the entire NBA and he hasn’t been improving either. In a recent game, Ball missed an open three-pointer, stole the ball back, and then missed another open three-point shot. The highlight drew a lot of ridicule on social media.
If LaVar Ball had his way, it seems that he would play Lonzo Ball more than the 33.1 minutes he averages each game. As the updated NBA standings show, the Los Angeles Lakers are actually playing better this season than last, despite the shooting woes of the starting point guard. At 7-10 on the year, the Lakers are also only a half-game out of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. Luke Walton also appears to be unfazed by the elder Ball, opting to instead coach his team the way he feels it should be done, no matter how many shots Lonzo Ball misses.
[Featured Image by Mike Stobe/Getty Images]
