New surroundings with New Orleans Pelicans doing little for Lonzo Ball

A new team was supposed to reinvigorate Lonzo Ball, but the third-year point guard has made little progress since joining the New Orleans Pelicans.

Amid injuries, a loud-mouth father and inconsistent play magnified under the bright lights of Southern California, it was made clear last offseason that Lonzo Ball needed a fresh start on a team with fewer championship expectations.

Ball was one of the lucky ones. Not every youngster gets the chance to start over, ending their careers before they really start. There he was, though, headed down south to a New Orleans Pelicans team with as good a young core as the NBA had.

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Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart served as familiar faces. Jrue Holiday can play alongside just about anybody. Lonzo and Zion Williamson projected to be an elite transition duo.

With a fresh start on a talented squad with a more ideal timeline, Lonzo was supposed to fall in line with the numerous players before him to have a breakout third season.

More than a month into the 2019-20 season and those improvements have yet to happen, and it’s part of the reason New Orleans sits a disappointing 6-17 on the year.

Taking into account Ball’s sophomore campaign when measuring his production this year is a bit unfair to the 22-year-old. He was never set up for anything close to success, not with the presence of LeBron James and his overlapping strengths.

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Even a comparison to his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers, though, yields disappointment. Ball’s points per game are slightly up, but his rebounds, assists and even steals per game have seen a decrease from his inaugural campaign.

His shot looks much-improved and it’s helped him can 34.0 percent of his 6.2 nightly 3-point attempts. That mark still ranks on the lower end of the efficiency scale, but it’s a step in the right direction, which is all you can hope for from a player whose shooting was his biggest question mark coming out of UCLA.

The improved stroke has also resulted in a massive uptick in free-throw percentage to 71.4 compared to sub-50 marks in years one and two.

Alas, over 100 players are shooting more than 10.0 times per game with a usage rate north of 19. Among then, Ball ranks dead-last in free-throw attempts per game with just 0.9.

Aggression has always been an issue for Ball. It’s why the most free-throw attempts he’s ever had in a game is seven. It’s also why he’s tried to overcompensate at times in the other direction with poor shot selection, resulting in a field goal percentage of 37.5 on the year.

Injuries have kept the Pelicans from remaining whole and subsequently restraining Lonzo from the full arsenal at his disposal. New Orleans is still waiting on the debut of Williamson, the No. 1 overall pick. Ingram has missed some time as has Hart.

Ball, however, is part of the problem, having only appeared in 15 of the Pelicans 23 games so far this season.

For Lonzo, it’s always been about when he gets consistently healthy, but nothing on his NBA track record suggests that’s a likely reality for him — he’s yet to play even 60 games in a single season.

At what point do outliers transition to the norm, does bad luck and unfortunate events become woven into a player’s identity?

Is New Orleans the ideal place for Lonzo to grow into his best self? According to the numbers, the answer is actually yes.

Aside from their obvious on-paper talent and low-stress environment, the Pelicans currently rank inside the top seven in 3-point attempts, makes and percentage. They also play at the league’s fifth-fastest pace, perfect for the up-tempo style that helped Ball become the No. 2 pick in 2017.

As long as Ball is under contract, a potential breakout campaign is always a possibility. Jimmy Butler became an All-Star in his fourth season. Stephen Curry overcame several early-career injury issues and began his rapid ascent to superstardom in Year 5.

That doesn’t mean the window isn’t closing on Ball’s opportunity to make a sizable impact as a no-brainer option in the starting lineup.

He’s up for an extension this summer and the figure New Orleans offers — if it extends an offer at all — will tell us a lot about his value both as an individual and to the franchise.

Lonzo was given the ability to begin anew with the Pelicans as a second start to his NBA career. Nobody’s asking for immediate results, only signs of linear progress that have yet to manifest.

If he doesn’t pick up the pace soon, the third time might not be the charm even with the Pelicans, and who knows the type of role that would follow.