He's straight to the point, doesn't come off as arrogant guy but more as a confident young man. You can tell he's a quiet guy doesn't like to give details in his conversation more like to the point. Let's get this kid and call it a good off season
Kid has IT. Now I'm getting paranoid about Boston f****** with our plan here. This is the player that is Reggie Jackson's famous "straw that stirs the drink". Will greatly help ensure the cadence of the play on the court that Luke asks for. Wanted the ball in his hands since 6 when dad asked him what he wanted to play. But the beauty is it never "sticks" in his hands.
Confident, concise, he doesn't sound like a 19 year old kid. I like it, he's definitely has a maturity about him that you won't get from a lot of these other Freshman prospects.
I'm sure he's a leader but hopefully its just not a lead by example, because we already have some of those guys on our team. From all the impressions of Lonzo so far I've seen he's not very vocal. This isn't necessary a problem, but I think Magic, Rob, and the FO are all looking for a vocal kind of guy. Again... not to say they don't draft him because of this just pointing out the difference in leadership from a high level perspective. Vocal or Lead By Example. Kobe could do both but was more lead by example as well.
Well Boston did work out Fultz and afterwards Fultz announced he wasn't going to work out with anyone else...
It's a fair point. Lonzo and his teammates say he's different on the court than off, maybe he's more vocal when he's playing?
rodg already did this for me to some degree, but your strongly stated premise is simply contrary to fact, according to some data. http://www.82games.com/nbadraftpicks.htm you can quibble with method, and you can make claims that this year is different and special. you can even point out the issues with applying general trends to a specific instance (i.e., this year's draft). but unless you're going to create a new, improved analysis, you CANNOT claim that moving a 2 for a 5 and 10 is always stupid. if anything, data suggest it's generally smart. the tiers, historically, are: 1, 2-5, 6-10, 11-25-ish, 25-ish to 40-ish, and the rest. thus, 2 for 5 is generally an even swap, and adding 10 is a win. obviously, if the #2 pick is kevin durant, you don't do this. but ball isn't durant.
A drop everything type of must read. I haven't even finished it yet. edit- I thought it came off very fair. The obvious points are of course what we've talked about: Ball isn't the defender that Kidd was. Schmitz brings up two points to that end: 1) it's a mentality thing, an edge, that helped make Kidd special and 2) it's a bit of a generational thing. The "dog" in a player isn't as finely tuned as it used to be. Kids these days aren't edgy on the floor anymore. The edgy thing you do is dunk on a guy, not catch him on a screen. Schmitz says it's totally fair to call out the difference, but sort of unfair to hold it against Ball. Who is to say he wouldn't be more like that in '93? Or who is to say Kidd wouldn't be more like Ball today? Tough call. I think that's a fair point and it's still an absolutely fair criticism of Ball. Besides that though, the similarity is in how damn smart both players are. I'll let you click and explore the article to get the details, but there's fantastic examples and evidence to show that Ball is the same sort of basketball savant. Ball is a genius on the floor and has the sort of natural feel that you just can't teach. Kidd lead with a fiery whip, putting his heart on the floor, and having a nasty streak in him. Ball is more collaborative and about having fun and that's okay too.
You can be a leader and grow into more into a vocal role as soon as you earn the respect. Patrick Willis was like this, obviously these guys are different around their boys.
I was going to say... in none of these photos does he look anything close to nervous. He doesn't exactly look bored, but his body language indicates he is very comfortable and confident.
Really good article and videos, thanks for posting realdeal. Ball isn't the defender Kidd is no doubt, nor is Kidd the shooter that Lonzo is. They have a lot in common as floor leaders as pointed out. Both are consummate passers. I hope we get Ball. I felt the similarities between Kidd and Ball all season long at UCLA. In terms of passing Ball is the closest I've seen to Kidd. Ball needs to turn his competitiveness up even higher in the NBA game, and I'm sure he will.
Dang it @therealdeal, I've been doing well with holding my anticipation of drafting Ball down. Then you just haaad to go post a reasonable video describing him as a basketball genius.
Great read. Having grown up in the Bay Area, not too far from where Kidd played, I was watching him early on. The running an offense and passing are similar. The shooting (at same age) isn't. Neither is the defense. I still think Ball is more Penny than Kidd, but I see the similarities.