New Orleans Pelicans: Lonzo Ball and his perennial All-Star potential

New Orleans Pelicans’ Lonzo Ball has shown enormous strides in his third year in the league. There’s no doubt that he has the tools to become an All-Star.

Following New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball‘s selection by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2017 draft, expectations were high for the playmaking guard. Coming into the league second overall is always going to leave a player with tremendous pressure on his shoulders. Ball’s case was rather unique though.

From his father, LaVar’s many television appearances to the ungodly amount of critics in regards to his ‘ugly’ jump-shot. It seems like so many have written Lonzo off and don’t really have many expectations for him outside of being a role-playing shot creator on this young Pelicans team. Don’t write him off yet though.

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Ball’s potential was massive and remains the same. Coming out of UCLA probably too many fans expected him to make an instant star impact. But his first few years in the NBA have all been about development. The main area he had to improve, offensively, was his 3-point shooting and he has improved ever so well this season.

From shooting 30.5 percent in his rookie year, to shooting 32.9 percent last season, this season Lonzo’s 3-ball success skyrocketed to an extremely respectable 38.3 percent. His true shooting currently sits at 52.9 percent – which highlights his efficiency as a pass-first point guard to be above expectations.

Ball is still only 22 years old and what we’ve seen this season has only been a fraction of what he can do, and, will hopefully be able to do in the coming years. This New Orleans Pelicans squad is finally shaping up to be an exciting one and one that isn’t too far away from being a tough playoff team.

With the development of Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson into what everybody hopes will be star players in the league, the pressure takes itself away from Lonzo Ball’s direction.  This should allow him to focus on his playmaking abilities – which are the fundamentals of his game – while still getting buckets in the flow of the offense.

The former Bruin is averaging 6.2 boards and 7.0 assists per game as his leadership at the one-spot has become crucial to this Pelicans team. Playing alongside veteran guard Jrue Holiday will have helped Ball’s game develop and getting reps as the primary ball-handler will be crucial to this too.

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The glaring weak-point of Ball’s offensive side of the game is his free throw shooting. He shot just 56.7 percent from the line on the season. It’s just something he’s going to have to nail down if he wants to fulfill his potential and get those free buckets in the flow of the game.

He already has the shot-creating ability which his teammates feed off of and his physicality has become evident, as he works to get stronger during this break:

As he continues to grow as a player in the league, his scoring will come along but we all know that’s not his main duty for his side. Defensively, Lonzo has shown himself to be a tough match-up. When he was in Los Angeles he played strong defense and this will need to become consistent with the New Orleans Pelicans. There’s no doubt he has all the tools to become a multiple-time All-Star, it’s just a matter of him being able to continue to bring his talents along and turn into a real star point guard.

All-Star teams aren’t easy to get into. There are many players who have excellent first halves and are left out due to the immense amount of talent the league has to offer. Think of the guards Ball is in this competition with – Damian Lillard, Luka Doncic, James Harden, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook.

It’d take a special year to topple the likes of these out of contention. However, Lonzo Ball has everything he needs to become that star everybody knows he can be, and he’s now in a great situation to put this into action.